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Shareware is a marketing method for computer software in which the software can be obtained by a user, often by downloading from the Internet or on magazine cover-disks free of charge to try out a program before buying the full version of that program. In popular usage "marketing" is the promotion of products especially Advertising and Branding However in professional usage the term has a wider meaning of If the "tryout" program is already the full version, it is available for a short amount of time, or it does not have updates, help, and other extras that buying the added programs has. Shareware has also been known as "try before you buy". A shareware program is accompanied by a request for payment, and the software's distribution license often requires such a payment.

Contents

Definitions

The term shareware refers to commercial software that is copyrighted, but which may be copied for others for the purpose of their trying it out with the understanding that they will pay for it if they continue to use it. In contrast, retail software is a term used for commercial software which may not be copied for others, and public domain software refers to software which is not protected by copyright and may be copied and used without payment. Freeware generally refers to software that is copyrighted, but for which the author solicits no payment, even if the user continues to use it.

History

In 1982, Andrew Fluegelman created a program for the IBM PC called PC-Talk, a telecommunications program, he used the term freeware. Andrew Cardozo Fluegelman ( November 27 1943 - c July 6 1985) was a publisher Programmer and Attorney best known PC-Talk was a communications software program It was one of the first three widely popular Software products sold via the Marketing method that became known as Modem (from mo dulator- dem odulator is a device that modulates an analog carrier signal to encode Digital information About the same time, Jim "Button" Knopf released PC-File, a database program, calling it user-supported software[1]. Jim Knopf, nicknamed Jim Button ("Knopf" meaning "button" in German) is considered by many to be one of the "fathers" of Shareware PC-File was a flat file Database Computer application most often run on DOS. A Computer Database is a structured collection of records or data that is stored in a computer system Not much later, Bob Wallace produced PC-Write, a word processor, and called it shareware. Bob Wallace ( May 29 PC-Write was a computer text processor and was one of the first three widely popular Software products sold via the Marketing method that became known as Appearing in an episode of Horizon titled Psychedelic Science originally broadcast 5 April, 1998, Bob Wallace said the idea for shareware came to him "to some extent as a result of my psychedelic experience. Horizon is a current and long-running BBC popular Science and Philosophy documentary programme Bob Wallace ( May 29 "[2]

In 1984, Softalk-PC magazine had a column, The Public Library, about such software. Public domain is a misnomer for shareware, and Freeware was trademarked by Fluegelman and could not be legally used by others, and User-Supported Software was too cumbersome. So columnist Nelson Ford held a contest to come up with a better name. Nelson Ford was one of the founders of Shareware software distribution of HAL-PC (the Houston Area League of PC Users, a PC user group which grew to over

The most popular name submitted was Shareware, which was being used by Wallace. However, Wallace acknowledged that he got the term from an InfoWorld magazine column by that name in the 1970's, and that he considered the name to be generic, so its use became established over freeware and user-supported software. InfoWorld is an Information technology online media and events business operating under the umbrella of InfoWorld Media Group a division of IDG (International [3]

Fluegelman, Knopf, and Wallace clearly established shareware as a viable software marketing method. Via the shareware model, Button, Fluegelman and Wallace became millionaires. [4][5]

During the late 1980s and early 1990s, shareware software was widely distributed over bulletin board systems globally and on diskettes (and subsequently, CD-ROMs) by commercial shareware distributors who produced catalogs of up to thousands of public domain and shareware programs. A Bulletin Board System, or BBS, is a Computer system running software that allows users to connect and login to One such distributor, Public Software Library (PSL), began an order-taking service for programmers who otherwise had no means of accepting credit card orders.

As Internet usage grew, users turned to downloading shareware programs without paying long-distance charges or disk fees, spelling the end of bulletin board systems and shareware disk distributors. A Bulletin Board System, or BBS, is a Computer system running software that allows users to connect and login to In addition to shareware libraries online, the authors of programs had their own sites where the public could learn about their programs and download the latest versions, and even pay for the software online.

The Internet also made it easier to locate niche software, as well as the best and most popular general software. During the early 2000s, and with the increasing popularity of Web 2.0, new ways to filter the software became available. Web 20 is a term describing changing trends in the use of World Wide Web technology and Web design that aims to enhance Creativity, secure Major download sites began to rank titles based on quality, feedback, and downloads. Popular software was sorted to the top of the list. Blogs and online forums further enabled individuals to spread news about titles they like. A blog (a contraction of the term " Web log " is a Web site, usually maintained by an individual with regular entries of commentary descriptions of With this pruning in place, consumers can more easily find quality shareware products while still preserving the ability to find obscure and niche software.

Implementations

Free/open source software and shareware are similar in that they can be obtained and used without monetary cost. Free software or software libre is Software that can be used studied and modified without restriction and which can be copied and redistributed in modified or unmodified Open source is a development methodology which offers practical accessibility to a product's source (goods and knowledge Usually shareware differs from free/open source software in that requests of voluntary shareware fees are made, often within the program itself, and in that source code for shareware programs is generally not available in a form that would allow others to extend the program. In Computer science, source code (commonly just source or code) is any sequence of statements or declarations written in some Human-readable Notwithstanding that tradition, some free/open source software authors ask for voluntary donations, although there is no requirement to do so. Free/open source software is usually compatible with the strict Association of Shareware Professionals shareware guidelines. The Association of Shareware Professionals (ASP was formed in April 1987

Sometimes, paying the fee and obtaining a password results in access to expanded features, documentation, or support. In some cases, unpaid use of the software is limited in time or in features — in which case the software is vernacularly called crippleware. Crippleware is any product whose functions have been limited (or " Crippled quot thus the name with the express purpose of requiring the user to pay for those functions Some shareware items require no payment; just an email address, so that the supplier can use this address for their own purposes.

Shareware is available on all major computer platforms including Microsoft Windows, Macintosh, Linux, and Unix. Microsoft Windows is a series of Software Operating systems and Graphical user interfaces produced by Microsoft. Macintosh, commonly nicknamed Mac is a Brand name which covers several lines of Personal computers designed developed and marketed by Apple Inc Linux (commonly pronounced ˈlɪnəks Unix (officially trademarked as UNIX, sometimes also written as Unix with Small caps) is a computer Titles cover a very wide range of categories including: business, software development, education, home, multimedia, design, drivers, games, and utilities.

Logistics

With shareware, a developer bypasses the normal distribution channel eliminating the normal retail middleman markups and directly markets to the end user. The end result is a reduced end-user price compared to the retail channel. Users of shareware are encouraged to copy and distribute unregistered versions of the software to friends, coworkers and other acquaintances. The hope is that users will find the program useful or entertaining and will pay to register to be able to access all the features.

Pertaining more towards shareware games, large online distribution channels known as "portals", such as Yahoo! Games and RealArcade, have emerged in recent years. These portals act as media of distribution for the shareware developers, providing an audience base for a percentage of the software's sale.

Many shareware developers are individual computer programmers who take a risk on a product — entrepreneurs. Online shareware author communities, like the newsgroup alt. A newsgroup is a Repository usually within the Usenet system for messages posted from many users in different locations comp. shareware. authors, are often used by software seekers to post their novel software ideas for potential implementation.

Distribution

In the early 1990s, shareware distribution was a popular method of publishing games for smaller developers, including then-fledgling companies such as Apogee Software (now also operating under the brand 3D Realms), Epic Megagames (now Epic Games), and id Software. 3D Realms (legal name Apogee Software Ltd) is the name of a video and computer game producer (not publisher and developer based in Garland Texas, a suburb of 3D Realms (legal name Apogee Software Ltd) is the name of a video and computer game producer (not publisher and developer based in Garland Texas, a suburb of Epic Games, also known as Epic and formerly as Epic MegaGames, is a Video game development company based in Cary North Carolina, United id Software (ɪd officially is an American computer game developer based in Mesquite, Texas, a suburb of Dallas. It gave consumers the chance to play the game before investing money in it, and gave them exposure that some products would be unable to get in the retail space.

With the Kingdom of Kroz series, Apogee introduced the "episodic" shareware model that became the most popular incentive for "registering" (or buying) the game. The Kroz series is a series of Video games created by Scott Miller. While the shareware game would be a truly complete game, there would be additional "episodes" of the game that were not shareware, and could only be legally obtained by paying for the shareware episode. In some cases these episodes were neatly integrated and would feel like a longer version of the game, and in other cases the later episode(s) would be stand-alone games.

Racks of games on single 5 1/4 inch and later 3. 5 inch floppy disks were common in retail stores. A floppy disk is an increasingly Obsolete data storage medium that is composed of a disk of thin flexible ("floppy" Magnetic storage medium encased However, bulletin board systems (BBS) and computer expositions such as Software Creations BBS were the primary distributors of all early low-cost software. A Bulletin Board System, or BBS, is a Computer system running software that allows users to connect and login to Software Creations was a division of Linton Enterprises located in Clinton Massachusetts, and run by Dan Linton Free software from a BBS was the motive force for consumers to purchase a computer equipped with a modem, so as to acquire software at no cost. At PC expositions, extant today, shareware was essentially free; the cost only covered the disk and minimal packaging.

In the mid-1990s, the shareware market declined and within a few years had virtually disappeared as a means for distributing computer games. The reasons for this are various, but could be closely linked with the decline of garage coders. Shareware was often a great means for games that were unable to get traditional marketing and retail exposure to get noticed. However, as technology improved, independent games were less able to be competitive in a commercial market, and larger developers found it unnecessary to release extensive shareware episodes, instead offering more limited demos in their stead. A game demo is an often but not always freely distributed demonstration or preview of an upcoming or recently released computer or video game.

The important distinguishing feature between a shareware game and a game demo is that the shareware game is, at least in theory, a complete game. Where modern demos are often a single level or less, shareware games usually had many hours of play with a beginning, middle, and end. Shareware episodes most commonly offered 1/3 or 1/2 of the entire registered version, and many even offered the entire product as shareware with no additional content for registered users.

Criticism

In the 1980s and early-to-mid 1990s shareware was considered to be a concept for independent software writers to receive a degree of remuneration for their labor. However, after that the shareware model began to degrade as the term was used by commercial startups offering (sometimes substandard) commercial software and labeling non-functional or limited demo versions (known as crippleware) as shareware. Crippleware is any product whose functions have been limited (or " Crippled quot thus the name with the express purpose of requiring the user to pay for those functions As a result, the term shareware has shown reduced usage in recent years, replaced by either demo for trial software or freeware for full editions. Freeware is computer Software that is available for use at no cost or for an optional fee However, shareware software is not always so limited in function, as demonstrated with programs such as The Bat!, GetRight, WinZip, and WinRAR, as well as various games. The Bat! is a Shareware E-mail client for the Microsoft Windows Operating system, developed by RitLabs, a company based in GetRight is Download manager developed by Headlight Software. WinZip is a proprietary file archiver and compressor for Microsoft Windows, developed by WinZip Computing (formerly Nico Mak Computing WinRAR is a Shareware File archiver and Data compression utility developed by Eugene Roshal

Some shareware groups have liberal standards, allowing 'nag screens' that remind the user to buy the software, demonstration or "demo" versions and trialware. Some have refused to accept any software with limited functionality, including demos, trial use, or crippled software [6]. Most groups, such as the Association of Shareware Professionals, the Software Industry Professionals group and PC Shareware clearly state their position that any software marketed as 'try before you buy' is shareware.

Another issue is the high percentage of projects that are either unsuccessful or just abandoned. Sites like Tucows, download.com, and Handango list hundreds of thousands of shareware projects, many of which are abandoned. Tucows (originally an acronym for The Ultimate Collection of Winsock Software that has long since been dropped was formed in Flint Michigan, Downloadcom is an Internet Download directory Website, launched in 1996 as a part of CNET. Handango is an online store that sells Mobile software. Handango offers worldwide distribution support and e-commerce services to its partners One sampling found 76% of listed projects were abandoned or no longer being updated. Active projects commonly see less than 0. 5% of downloaders convert to paying customers [7], and projects may be victims of software piracy, dropping sales by as much as half again [8]. It is argued that many projects could become successful by following some simple business practices.

Derivatives

Other types of software distribution, taking the suffix "-ware" have followed shareware's lead. They usually do not require the user to make a specific payment to the author. Rather, they sometimes require the user to send the author a postcard (postcardware) or donate to a specific charity (careware); for more examples see otherware. Postcardware, also called just cardware, is a style of software distribution similar to Shareware, distributed by the author on the condition that users send the author Careware (or charityware, charityware, helpware, goodware) is Software distributed in a way that benefits a charity. Otherware, sometimes called requestware, is a collective term referring to software that is not distributed as Freeware, Shareware or commercial software

Industry standards and technologies

There are several widely accepted standards and technologies that are used in the development and promotion of shareware.

Developer organizations

See also

References

  1. ^ Callahan, Michael E. The Association of Shareware Professionals (ASP was formed in April 1987 In Economics and especially in the theory of Competition, barriers to entry are obstacles in the path of a firm which wants to enter a given Market . The History of Shareware. Paul's Picks. Retrieved on 2008-05-13. 2008 ( MMVIII) is the current year in accordance with the Gregorian calendar, a Leap year that started on Tuesday of the Common Events 1497 - Pope Alexander VI excommunicates Girolamo Savonarola.
  2. ^ Horizon: Psychedelic science by Bill Eagles, video.google.ca (about 41 mins into video)
  3. ^ "History of Shareware". Association of Shareware Professionals
  4. ^ Bob Wallace Timeline
  5. ^ Article about Jim "Button" Knopf, from Dr. Dobbs Journal
  6. ^ "Exposing the Myth of "Shareware". www.sustworks.com
  7. ^ "Tips to Improve conversion". www.oisv.com
  8. ^ Slashdot: "Do You Pay for Your Shareware?"

External links

The Open Directory Project ( ODP) also known as dmoz (from directory

Dictionary

shareware

-noun

  1. (Computing): A type of software that is distributed without payment but is limited in any combination of functionality, availability, or convenience.
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