What is shareware? What was shareware?

  • Thread starter Thread starter David R
  • Start date Start date
To me the difference between traditional shareware and non-shareware marketed
software was that you could try it before buying it. I never saw any other
difference whatsoever.
 
No. Where did I mention "everything"?
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Your example is not relevant. Charities don't provide a free service, they
provide a service that is paid for by the donors, and delivered to the
recipients.
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Are you suggesting that computer users *deserve* free software and that
programmers *should* be charitable organizations?
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No, no, that's not what anyone is saying at all. I had the same "gut"
reaction to your message and I was going to say basically the same
thing, but I had to shove off for class.

The fact is many students use freeware projects to hone skills. Many
of the more popular have a slew of people who contribute in some way
to foster the project, even if it's maintaining a forum to answer
questions and report bugs to free the author to develop.

Many of these applications are outstanding!

The "market" is there. The generosity is there. It is no aberration
that does not deserve to exist. It is a natural condition that does
exist.

Since you cannot beat the price, you must make extremely great and
unique programs to sell.
 
I can't argue with the fact of that. The only ones left making money will
be companies developing products that need a whole team of people. I'm not
convinced that open source collaborations will make much impact on the
major software companies, for the simple reason that people who write
software in their own time want to write what they want, not what someone
else wants them to. So it's really the archetypal shareware "one man
bands" who will be hurt most by this free competition.
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You have not been scoping your competition very well. I cannot think
of a single freeware project in which the author does not incorporate
any suggestions that make sense to incorporate!
That may be true as well. That doesn't make it any more palatable, though,
to have chosen a profession where you're having to compete against people
who will do your job for nothing.
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When you're over 50, not many people want to employ you, and it's not easy
to learn new skills, either...
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At last poll, almost everyone in ACF is "quite mature." I was the
"kid" at 45. We are junkies with some developers en group.
 
This thread is cross posted. I was wondering why all these freeware freaks
were appearing in alt.comp.shareware.authors!
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However, while I'm at it, haven't any of you freeware evangelists noticed
that the general trend is that successful freeware soon stops being freeware
and adopts the shareware marketing model?
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Some do go to the "dark side." Most discontinue development at some
point of stability and remain freeware.

Have you noticed previously shareware that reverts to freeware? There
are several of these. It just doesn't sell to the educated customers.
By that, I mean those aware of the fantastic freeware alternatives
that are available.
 
Roger said:
Very few shareware authors ever made any money at all from their program.
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Where did you get that statistic that I am in a very good position to hotly
dispute?
 
*ProteanThread* said:
It used to be most shareware cost the users no more than $5 or $10 at the
most.
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When was that?

I have been involved at the deep end of shareware since 1986 and I can not
remember any decent quality software marketed as shareware being that low in
price until fairly recently.
 
Martin said:
Seems $29,99 is common now.
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The average sales price on SWREG is now down to $41 from $55 4 years ago.

Admittedly our pricing policy does not encourage low value sales (below $15).
 
Julian <[email protected]> wrote:
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If programmers want to contribute something to society then most of the
time it would be far more effective if they employed their valuable skills
writing payware and donated the proceeds to a good cause.
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Approval is required of how people freely contribute to society? I
would think that his is for each individual to decide for themselves,
and, in this case your opinion is in the minority.
In fact, I did
something similar a few years ago. Seeing the ridiculous sums being
charged for Millenium Bug fixes by unscrupulous developers who were
exploiting the ignorant, I wrote my owm, released it as freeware but asked
users to make a voluntary donation to a local charity.
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You have it in you and that's a really good thing.

And don't knock the ability to show individual accomplishments to
prospective employers. There might be non-monetary rewards in creating
great free apps, like making a good impression. Or, goodness makes the
rounds right back to the originator.

As you say, I doubt many minds will be changed. It's interesting to
hear from you guys though.
 
The true is, most
Excuse my quiet laughter.
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How do you manage to keep it quiet; with a puter full of cracking free
progs AllChars. Stickies, Kerio, AVG,Geodisk, Regseeker, Avant browser,
Thgunderbird,Cartes de Ciel,Neutron, Birthday reminder, Treepad Wiz,
Ransack, Clean9x,Gapa, Irfanview, Spybot, Crimson Editor, Calendar Magic,
Tformat, plus loads of others in less common use..

and Xnews,

I couldn't keep it below a guffaw

mike
 
Some of these free programs are low end versions (AVG) and/or are meant to
bring traffic to the site where other products are sold (Regseeker).
Many of them I never heard about and I don't think Kerio is free, anyway.
I have used Spybot, it asks for donations and says that "the best way to
remove the advertisement is pay the shareware fee". How come?
 
John said:
Most shareware offerings are clearly better than freeware equivalents.
This is the only explanation for quite a lot of people making a living from
shareware.
Don't be mislead into believing that buyers are fools,they are not.
Were most freeware any good, people would take it. The true is, most
freeware, 99% is pure junk. Were they not pure junk, the authors would be
selling it.
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lol - you're looking in the wrong places then. :)

Other than games all I use is freeware, and an OS I bought, but I could
replace that were it not for my being lazy with a freeware alternative.

Freeware isn't free because it sucks. If that were the standard
WindowsME would be a free download. :P Freeware is free because the
author wants it to be. :)

(PS. I understand the difference between "most" and "all.")


--
**** http://www.simplerich.com ****
**** Buy my book at http://www.lulu.com/content/70536 ****

"Dude, dolphins are intelligent and friendly!" ~ Wendy
"Intelligent and friendly on rye bread, with some mayonnaise." ~ Cartman
 
John said:
I have used Spybot, it asks for donations and says that "the best way to
remove the advertisement is pay the shareware fee". How come?
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How come what? I have a question for you. How come you can't quote
accurately?

http://www.safer-networking.org/en/donate/index.html

<q>
Spybot-S&D has long grown a full-time job for me and causes quite a lot
of work for our volunteers. I'm working hard and it's great fun to do
it. Of course all the infrastructure we use causes costs, and I've got
to live on something, but at the same time I believe in free software.
Therefore I decided to keep Spybot-S&D free and give you the freedom to
decide if and how much it is worth to you.

If you can spare a few bucks, please donate to our cause. This is purely
voluntary though - if you do not donate, you won't get less support from us.
</q>

Susan
 
Freeware isn't free because it sucks. If that were the standard
WindowsME would be a free download. :P Freeware is free because the author
wants it to be. :)
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How come you charge for your branded mugs and tee-shirts? Why aren't these
free? Don't you want them to be free? :-)

Regards

Andrew
 
I quoted directly from their software Spybot Search and Destroy in the Info
and Destroy page.
How come you you don't know what you are talking about?
 
I would pay higher than that if has lifetime upgrades. I don't think you can
make any sort of headway if your price is just 20$. You'll have to sell 100
a month just to make any sort of gain. even 50 a month would be hard to do
 
Andrew said:
How come you charge for your branded mugs and tee-shirts? Why aren't these
free? Don't you want them to be free? :-)
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lol they're not mine to give away - if cafepress were willing to give
'em away I'd be more than happy to.
(The part where I charge more than the minimum is cuz I'm a greedy bixxx
and won't say no to a buck now and again.)

http://www.simplerich.com


"Dude, dolphins are intelligent and friendly!" ~ Wendy
"Intelligent and friendly on rye bread, with some mayonnaise." ~ Cartman
 
Conor said:
Shareware is a freely distributable limited, either by time or
functionality, version of a program designed to give you an
idea of what it does. Then to either unlock the extra features,
add levels or remove the time limit then you pay the price they
want.
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How does this definition of shareware differ from commercial software?
 
I quoted directly from their software Spybot Search and Destroy in
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the Info and Destroy page.

Which self-destructed after you read it? And you had the only copy?

That would explain why no one else has ever seen such a statement.

Susan
 
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