
 *** FREE SOFTWARE ***

QuArK is Free Software, as stated by the GNU General Public Licence.
Be careful ! This expression has the following meaning :

 * "free software" means freedom, in that anyone who receive or buy the software
   can do whatever he wants with it, including giving it to other people, either
   gratis or for a fee; he just can't remove the "free" status of the software.

 * "free software" is about freedom, not price. If anybody wants to distribute
   such a software, he can make people pay for it, and he can make money out of it.

 * "free software" is not "public domain". The author (me) of the software remain
   its owner, with the usual intellectual property rights.

All this means that free software may be commercial as well, with technical
support, etc. (there is an Ada compiler in this case.) On the other hand, there is
gratis software that is not "free" : most "freeware" or promotional software.
QuArK is "free" but not "gratis".

What the "free" status adds, is that anyone who received or bought the program
has access to the source code as well. Anyone may modify the program, or make
something else using my code and sell it, and so on, as long as the resulting
program is also "free", in the same sense.

Once again, "free" does not means "gratis" ! It is about freedom !


 *** So what's the price ? ***

Previous versions of QuArK were Shareware, with a modest registration fee of 20$.
In this "free" version, 20$ is the fee for downloading the software from my web
page : download QuArK, and if you use it, please pay me. Of course, this is
legally less strict as "shareware" : if you can get QuArK from a friend instead of
from Planetquake, you don't owe me anything. But anyway, how pays the shareware
registrations ? Fans ! And if you are so enthusiast and want to send me 20$, you
are welcome !

In summary : if you download QuArK from the PlanetQuake web site, and if you use
it regularly, you are required to pay me 20$. Please -- QuArK represents a lot of
work for me.


 *** Registering ***

I call this fee a "registration", mainly to show the analogy with Shareware, and
because people who register will be added to my official list. Of course, people
who registered the Shareware QuArK should not register again !

I tell people who register how they can remove the flashing text about "free
software" that cause delay when QuArK starts up. Note to programmers : the GNU
General Public Licence prevents you from distributing modified versions of the
program that don't display this text !

I don't live in the U.S. But it might be a bit complicated to make international
cheques for such a small sum. So I think the easiest for you is to mail me a $20
bank note under cover (in a letter) along with your name and your e-mail address,
if any. If you don't live in the U.S, just send me the equivalent sum in your
currency.

Put $20 in a letter (shipping is $0.60 from the U.S.) and post it to :

             Armin Rigo
             La Cure
             CH-1854 Leysin
             Switzerland


A single registration is valid for all current and future versions of QuArK.


Armin Rigo.                             (arigo@planetquake.com)
http://www.planetquake.com/quark
