Preschool Edutainment/Pre School Edutainment.iso/pbgshare.txt

Text File | 1994-11-04 | 13KB | 263 lines

^C^BWhat is SHAREWARE?^b^c

^CCopyright (c) 1994, Pacific Buyers' Group^c
^CCopyright (c) 1994, Another Company^c

Please feel free to copy and distribute THIS file (PBGSHARE.TXT) to
your friends and associates, as long as this file remains intact and
unchanged. This does NOT give right or authority to use this file (or
any portion of it) for commercial purposes or combined with any
product(s) for resale without separate agreement.

As payment for gathering the information contained within, all we ask
is that you consider doing business with the following companies:

^C^BMicro Media - CD ROM's, Shareware and Proprietary^b^c
^C1(503)471-7881 VoiceMail    1(503)471-8836 Fax^c
^C329 N.E. 6th Street, Grants Pass, OR  97527^c

^C^BPacific Buyers' Group  -  PBG CD Launcher and CD Rom discs^b^c
^C1(503) 535-4194 Voice   1(503)535-8151 Fax^c
^C4184 Hilsinger Rd.  Phoenix,  OR  97535^c

For Information on Electronic Publishing, contact:

^C^BANOTHER COMPANY for your shareware purchases.^b^c
^CP.O. Box 3429, Ashland, OR  97530  1(503)482-3611 Voice^c

^C^BNeoSoft - The best in DOS based front ends & Multi-media^b^c
^C354 NorthEast Greenwood Ave., Suite 108  Bend, OR  97701^c
^CSee the NeoSoft Sub-Directory on this Disc for Working Samples^c

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^C^BEXACTLY WHAT IS SHAREWARE?^b^c
^C(From a User's Point of View)^c

Imagine going to a shoe store where the proprietor lets you try on
several pairs of hiking boots, not just in the showroom, but lets you
wear them for several weeks through all sorts of continuos hiking and
bad weather. Lets say this shoe store initially charges only for the
cost of the leather and rubber, perhaps $3 per pair of boots. Later
you pay the full price only for the boots you like and give the other
boots away for your friends to try out. You'd shop at that store,
wouldn't you? The store would d get lots of customers, and wouldn't
have to do any advertising at all! This store could actually charge
less for the boots than other stores, because there would be no
advertising costs to cover. Of course, as good as it sounds, this
wouldn't work because boots wear, and it is lots of work making many
pairs of boots.

But computer programs are different. Each copy is as good as the last,
they don't wear out (well, disk do, but programs don't), and there is
very little manufacturing involved. A minute to format and a minute to
copy, even less, with the right software, and that's it! So you see
the shareware concept. Anyone can be an author. Anyone can get a copy
of the author's work by paying a shareware distributor merely the cost
of librarying, copying and sending the disk, (typically $3 to $5) or
can even get it for free from an electronic bulletin board or from a
friend.

The authors make no money from all this. So, they put commercials in
their programs asking for payment. Specifically, you are allowed to
try the program, then if you like it, you are required to pay the
author for the work of creating it - but remember, only if you like
it! This is the American free enterprise system working at its best!
The author of a great program retires to the Bahamas. The author of a
so-so program, gets some money, and hopefully, keeps improving. The
author of a junker is paid exactly what the program is worth. All the
customers are happy, or they wouldn't be customers. Unlike shareware,
when you buy a regular retail program from a store, you pay first,
then hope you'll be a happy customer.

Shareware can be anything. Here are some typical shareware
applications:

Astrology
Algebra tutorial
Database for baseball card collectors
Video games such as Pacman, Monopoly, Chess
Drafting and drawing programs
Classroom management
Thesaurus

The appeals for money can be as varied as the applications. Each
author is in charge their own work, so there are no rules as to how
their commercials may be written. But there are some typical
approaches. They are:

^C^BThe Types Of Shareware^b^c

* PUBLIC DOMAIN: The author writes a program, not for commercial gain,
but for some other reason, perhaps as a hobby or as a donation to the
computer community. These free programs are called public domain. The
definition of public domain software as of March 1991 is that it
carries no copyright. All users are free to do with it what they like.

* FREEWARE: This material is copyrighted, so some rights are reserved
by the author, but copying, sharing and (usually) professional
distributing is allowed. The advantage of freeware for the authors and
the public is that changing the material is illegal. It must be copied
verbatim. Therefore, if you receive a copy that is ten generations
old, no one up the line has fiddled with it. You can be fairly certain
it is the same as the author intended, with nothing changed or
removed.

* ADVERTISING FOR OTHER PRODUCTS: The author has something to sell and
uses shareware as the method for advertising the products for sale.
Here are two examples: A maker of video game programs gives away a
game as freeware, but at the end of the game, a list of other games
available for $15 each is shown. A radio antenna manufacturer gives
away software that helps radio engineers with their technical
calculations. In the program is a chart that shows which of the
manufacturer's antennae would suit certain applications.

* DONATION REQUESTED: The author simply states that donations are
requested. Sometimes a specific donation amount is requested. It is
typical to see at the end of a video game, a screen that states, "If
you like XYZ Game, please send $5 donation to Author."

* REGISTRATION REQUESTED: The author requests that you send money to
become a registered user. The rights and advantages of registration
vary. Minimum advantage of registration is simply that you have
honorably paid the author for the author's work.

* REGISTRATION REQUIRED: The author plainly states that you have a
copy of the program for trial purposes only. If you continue to use
it, you are required to send money. In other words, you own only a
copy of the program, not the right to use the program, until you pay
for it. There is no way for the author to catch up with everyone who
uses the program without paying, and many people simply ignore the
payment requirement. It is an honor system. However, honest people do
send money. (We figure you are one of those people!)

* OFFER IN TRADE: This method, often combined with requested or
required registration, offers incentives to send the registration
money. Typical offerings are printed owners manual to the program,
telephone support in which the user can call the author if there are
any technical questions about the program, a newer or better version
of the same program, and/or a newsletter that is sent to the
registered users.

* CRIPPLED SHAREWARE: The author makes a limited version of the
program that doesn't do everything it is supposed to. The crippled
version works only sufficiently to demonstrate the real program's
capabilities. If you want the real thing, you must send money to the
author, who will then send to you the real program. The extent of
crippling varies as much as the authors vary. Some examples: A video
poker game that runs for only ten minutes, then erases itself from the
disk. A special database for keeping track of video tapes that only
allows records for 20 tapes until you buy the registered version. Most
shareware distributors will not distribute crippled shareware unless
their catalogs and disk labels plainly state the limitation of the
programs. Crippled shareware is rapidly becoming a rarity.

* DEMOS: A manufacturer will often make a disk that only shows what
the real product can do, but this off shoot disk doesn't actually do
anything more than demonstrate the product. Again - generally
considered undesirable by most shareware distributors. There is one
demo exception - products that are nice pictures. One paint program
maker, for instance, has a nice set of outer space pictures that
really make your VGA monitor look good. Users often like this sort of
demo - just to show off their equipment to their friends.

^C^BHow Good Is Shareware?^b^c

Once again, the quality of shareware varies considerably. Some of it
is written by beginning authors and is very simple. In many, if you
press a wrong key, the computer needs to be re-booted. Some shareware
doesn't even work! Fortunately, most of these are not distributed by
anyone unless the limitations are mentioned in the distributor's
literature.

Other shareware programs are fantastic. Some of the best business
programs in the world are shareware. Many, perhaps most, of the great
video games are shareware. Some special programs can be had as
shareware only. The only oxy-acetylene welding tutorial that I know
about is a shareware product.

The word processor that this text is being written with is shareware.
It is called Galaxy. Galaxy is similar to WordStar, a big commercial
product costing hundreds of dollars, but in my opinion, Galaxy is much
better, yet the registration costs only $59. I like Galaxy better
because it does searches faster, has pull-down menus, and writes plain
ASCII files, which is important if you operate on text files with
different programs. (For instance, the MS-DOS "type" command cannot
read files created by WordStar.)

^C^BHow Can Better Programs Cost Less?^b^c

How can a better program cost less? Remember, the author has never had
to spend a dime on advertising. When you send $59.95 to the author,
you might typically get a printed owner's manual, a toll-free phone
number to call if you need help and another program disk. All this
costs the author much less than $59. So, the author makes money, and
you save money, because no one pays for advertising. On the other
hand, if you go into a computer store and buy a retail* spreadsheet
program for $300, the store gets $90 for the service of selling it to
you (of the $90, most of it goes to the rent, payroll, etc). Of the
remaining $210, probably $180 goes to cover the advertising costs, and
only $30 ends up in the author's h ands. And, of that $30, a
substantial portion covers the costs of technical writers, packaging,
and other costs.

* The word RETAIL or COMMERCIAL will often be used to describe
non-shareware programs.

In general, but by no means the rule, shareware is a bit simpler than
other software. Many of the big packages such as Word Perfect or Lotus
123 were developed by a huge team of programmers working full time for
years at a time. Shareware is often developed by a single programmer
in spare time after work. What this means, is that the shareware
product may be less colorful, sort of plain vanilla, but it gets the
job done. For instance, a mailing label program from the world of
shareware may come up on your screen in one color only and with very
few boxes and fancy icons on the screen. But it will do complicated
searches and track 20,000 names. The store-bought, fancy
plastic-wrapped, glossy-box label program comes on your screen with 8
colors and fancy shadows around all the pop-up windows. It comes with
6 features not generally associated with label programs.

^C^BSurprises^b^c

GUESS WHAT? There are little surprises in the world of software. The
glossy retail program might only handle 10,000 names, while the plain
shareware program handles 20,000. Sometimes you can buy a shareware
program and find out that it doesn't do everything you would like. You
are out only the $3 or $4 that the copy cost, because if it doesn't
satisfy your needs, you don't have to register with the author. But
all too often you can buy the glossy retail product and find it has a
glitch, too. For instance , there is a very popular $149 database
program that can handle only 4096 records. If you buy it to track
6,000 customers, you lose $149!!!

The shareware programs may not be as fancy (although many are
incredibly fancy, complete with all the bells and whistles you can
imagine, and some you can't), but they almost always get the job done
that they are supposed to do. This is because the author s want you to
send money, and you sure won't do that if they have left a hole in
their programs.

This lack of fanciness combined with straightforward functionality
which is typical with shareware makes it much better than conventional
software in so many cases, because it is easier to learn to use.

^C^BRequirements^b^c

The requirements of shareware vary too. The majority are written to
run on most IBM-compatible computers, many can run on any
IBM-compatible, but many more require at least CGA graphics
capability. Nowadays there are several that require hard disks, 640k
RAM or VGA monitors.

^C^BWhat About Instructions?^b^c

Some shareware programs, especially video games, are so easy to run
that you just start the program and can use it. Others, such as
databases and programming languages, require reading extensive
instructions first. Those that require instructions almost always come
with an instruction file on the disk. Sometimes these instruction
files are elaborate disk-based owner's manuals.
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^Cchapter end^c