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Current Shareware 1994 January
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SHAR194.ISO
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freeb40.zip
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YREG
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1993-05-13
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189 lines
╔══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╗
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║ REGISTRATION INFORMATION ║
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One concern of shareware users is, "Why should I register my file and
what do I receive in return?" The primary concern of all shareware
authors is that you, the shareware user, find our files useful and
valuable. Just from contacting the companies here with little effort
there is a lot that you can receive. You already are
familiar with the wide variety of items and information available in this
shareware version. But what exactly is in the registered version and why do
I feel it is well worth the price of registration?" Following is some of
what is available in the registered version and ALL free with NO 'catches' or obligation:
o 1,000+ demo disks
o 385 helpful booklets - not sales literature or advertisements
o 34 free passes to Expos all over the country (passes bought at the
'gate' are at least $15 each.)
o A free quality camera from a major manufacturer
o Easy to use colorful menu system - locate and search by company, product
name, or search with your own words or phrases.
o 79 Actual software program - not demos.
o 1 megabyte glossary of computer terms - 300+ pages.
o 60 day free evaluation of 300 mainframe applications
o 1,000 computer clubs
o Adobe Type Manager - a commercial software program - $100 value
o 102 seminars on helpful computer topics. Meet in top quality
hotels and locations.
o Free breakfasts in fancy hotels when attending seminars
o Package of 250 sheets of 8 1/2 x 11" quality copy paper
o Additional packets of paper from 5 other companies
o 11 computer related magazines
o Listing of 200 organizations and locations for free health care
o 32 TrueType Font families
o 5 Type 1 Postscript Font familes (normal price for each font is
$80.00. Courier, GillSans, Perpetua, Symbol and Times New Roman. (Bold, Italics also
included.) Note - these fonts are from the major font manufacturers!
o 90 day trial of home postage meter machine
o Non-computer free items such as - calendars, pens, binders, a mug,
desk digital clock, small calculators, CD Rom holder, facial moisturizer, 10 day free
rental of a CD Rom player, plastic report
covers, vinyl folders, ruler, sample of optical fiber cable, coupons,
vinyl diskette holder for 8 disks, 45 rpm record, towel, room deodorizer, can of rust
preventer, magnetic tape head cleaner, tape
dispenser, packet of Post It notes, bookmark - gold plated!, self-
adhesive labels, letter opener, small wallet with 2 thin calculators,
stationery (packet of envelopes, sample letterhead), coupons for
cat and dog food, more.
o 90 Days trial for home electronic scale - for postage
o A disk with up to the minute flight and airline information. Can search
in many ways. Every flight in the U.S.
o Discount coupons for Florida tourists
o 20 hours of live stock market information - available through your modem
o Postcard samples
o Large hotel and travel planners
o Free ad in a magazine for job seekers
o Coupons for film - $9.00 total
o Free mouse pad
o Clipart worth $150.00 - same package sold in stores
o 25 game demo disks - some of which are playable
o Screen cleaners
o Can of spray-duster
o 735 computer companies listed in mailing address format
o T-shirt
o A CD Rom with one hour of music
o Toll-free tech support numbers to top companies
o 8 free membership BBS's.
o demos which are hi density diskettes clearly indicated
o re-usable large, padded envelopes and diskette mailers
o 19 Videos - with attractive cases
o From author receive notification of future updates, sample photo-images
(GIF's - G rated) and 3 fun shareware programs.
A total of 1500 free items.
Note: See REGISTRATION FORM on main menu
to order.
You may be thinking, "How can companies give away so much?" Don't
they go broke? The fact is that market share is very important, especially
in a competitive area such as computers and office supplies. For example,
I recently bought 10 reams of quality 8 x 11" paper for $17.79 - that's
$1.79 per ream. Even without the $10.00 coupon the price is normally
$3.29 - with free postage. A listing of companies offering quality,
inexpensive products would be quite huge. Perhaps in the future I may have
a listing of places to get rock bottom computer equipment, office supplies
and other things. The other thing to remember is that there are hundreds
of thousands of companies out there all competing for scarce customers.
735 companies offering free items seems large but in comparison to the
total number of companies in the U.S. 735 is not that great. But what about
the quality of these free items? You may wonder. Most companies that give
away items on a national scale and can afford an 800 number, postage,
etc. to send them out are actually large. There are many Fortune 500
companies in the registered version. If companies gave away a cheap pen,
poster, tape dispenser, booklet, etc. how would that look for the company?
Not very good. Of course, you won't get a Parker pen but interestingly
enough they're very good. I have found that free does not mean cheap.
Also, there is a lot of goodwill created with promotions and 'giveaways.'
But what about those demo disks - diskettes are inexpensive today.
The main point about demo disks is - what is on the disk that can be
used? and not so much the actual plastic media. Many demo disks come with
tutorials about the software category - for example - WordPerfect's
Presentations working model comes with a large tutorial about Desktop
publishing and creating great looking documents. Working Models have the
best information but there are many of these listed in the registered
version. A good rule of thumb is that if you have a working model of any
software program - Word Processing, Printed Circuit Board design, Desktop
publishing, Databases, Utilities, Network-related, etc. you WILL without a
doubt learn a great deal from the disk and the large manual that comes with
it. Working Models have many features, and most companies send a very large
manual. This is so that you have everything you need to evaluate their product.
As a side note, some companies send out 5 or more hi density demo disks at
one time as part of their evaluation working model.
What about the phone numbers and addresses in the list? Are they accurate?
Because the information is on a diskette it is easily updated. Many free
item listings are on paper. They are not easy to update. Also, many other
"Freebie" listings out there require a stamped, self-addressed envelope,
or 25 cents to $3.00 to obtain the 'free' item. With our listing all you need
is a telephone, some time and a large mail box.
Many people have registered in the few years that CompuFreebies
has been around. Not one person has complained or been dissatisfied.
That includes orders for paper listings.
Finally, one way to know for sure whether the $20.00 price for registration
is really worth it to you is to do the following. For each of the items
described above next to the small 'o' place a dollar value. What is each item
worth to you? For example, nearly everyone uses film. Right there you have
'gotten back' $9.00 of your $20 investment. You may not use Clipart but paper
is always handy. 250 sheets goes for about $2.50. If you use fonts then you
have easily $500.00 worth of valuable typefaces. You get the idea - simply go
down the list and assign your own value to each item. Although this is a quick
way to see what the registered version is actually worth to you - there is
something that is not so easy to measure right now - the value of what you can
learn over the years. That is something you will find out over time by using the
registeredversion. I can guarantee you that you would have more than enough
computer-related information to keep you busy for quite a while.
ACTUAL DESCRIPTIONS FROM THE REGISTERED VERSION
These are only a few of the actual descriptions from the 'Booklets' category: (Total No. of
items is 385)
- 54 pages. Basics of using Windows 3.1 On a network. $25.00 Value -
free!
- Free book - "People, Managing Your Most Important Resource."
- 20+ Demo disks for national-brand video games.
- monthly report of every software upgrade reported.
by manufacturer. With names, addresses, prices.
- A free tutorial. $20.00 Value. Fully explains decision tables in
programming.
- Basics about PC maintenance.
- Booklet describing some basics of law.
- 74 Pages. Basics of database servers, sql, client server,
concurrency, measurement, lots more.
- A 75.00 Value. Describes many things about case.
- Free - 470 pgs. Has listings of truly portable software for 88000
risc processor hardware.
- Sample issue of magazine related to windows. Help, tips, stories,
ideas, more.
Following are some descriptions of Seminars: (102 Total).
- basics of communications and frame relays.
- yearly seminar - april. Discusses how to build client/server
applications that run in Windows.
- data integration.
- describes SCO Zenix Operating System.
- discusses all their Windows software and how it can help.
- implement an open systems strategy, choose between many operating
systems, integration, application development.
- describes software which streamlines application development process.
- describes data management systems, client/servers, open integration,
on-line data management. 3 Hrs.
- discusses graphical user interfaces, intelligent gateways,
application development, more.
- discusses networks.
Some companies give away software to those who attend. Many have free
lunches or breakfasts.