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1989-12-31
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9KB
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166 lines
*********************************
* SHAREWARE - THE GREAT DEBATE? *
******** BY DAVE HOBDAY *********
******************
What follows is my reply to an article on Shareware in the August 92
edition of PDP Magazine. I wrote this article nearly four months ago and I
now realise it is lacking in certain terms. Although I still think that I
was correct in what I said, I now think I could have said it better.
I also realise that, at the time, I had not taken into account all the
problems that can arise with Shareware. I make no apologies for this as it
was not ment to be the first and last word on the principles of Shareware.
I was just trying to put across a different view than the one that had
been expressed in PDP Magazine. And in doing so, to generate further
discussion.
At the original time of writing I had also intended to write to STEN. This
was to have been, on my part, an attempt to gain a greater understanding
of what the general opinion was on the subject. However, at this point I
began to have problems of my own which kept me away from my ST for over
two months. And along with the fact that I had been too late to have my
article printed in the following issue of PDP, I have not been able to
obtain any response as yet.
Now that things have sorted themselves out with me, I am able to pick up
where I left off. Although I realise a lot of people read both STEN and
PDP, there are those who only read one or the other. So I am submitting
the original article to STEN for comment now. In doing this I hope to
obtain a similar level of response from the readers of STEN, as from the
readers of PDP.
///////////////////////
First off, I have written this in response to a number of
things, not just the article in PDP. I have had discussions with friends
on the subject, read about it in other magazine articles and had letters
about it from those connected with Shareware.
From what I can gather a lot of people seem to think that
registering a piece of Shareware entitles you to somthing extra. Well that
is fair enough. And if you send off your hard earned sopndies and then
receive nothing in return, then you have every right to feel cheated. But
only if you have been told that you will get somthing in return for your
registration.
It's just a matter of common sense. We all know how Shareware
works. You buy the disk from the PD library, you try it out. If you want
to keep it then you send off the registration fee. If you don't want to
keep it then you wipe it and use the disk as a blank, though rather an
expensive one.
This may sound rather hit and miss, but not if you chose your
software correctly.
Any good PD library catalogue should give a full discription of
the software. Such things as how much the registration fee is, if there is
any documentation on the disk itself, and if not, weather or not you will
receive anything upon registration.
If the catalogue dosn't give enough information on the software
then contact the PD library and ask them about the contents of the disk
first. If they are not too sure as to what the disk contains (and if this
is the case then maybe the PD library you are using isn't that good after
all), but you are still interested, then order it anyway.
If, once you get the programme up and running, you find that
there is no extra documentation on the disk when there clearly needs to
be, in order for you to be able to get full use of the software, then
check the registration details. If there is no mention of extra support
upon registration then contact the address in the programme and ask them
if they will supply any support upon registration. If the answer is no,
then tell them that if they cannot supply the backup support you need you
will not register, as you are unable to make proper use of the software
without it. If they still refuse to offer any help then blow them out. It
is as simple as that.
If you send off a registration fee for an item of Shareware,
expecting to receive somthing in return, but without bothering to find out
in the first place if this will be the case, then you only have yourself
to blame if you get nothing back.
Look at this way. You go into a shop and buy a piece of
software. When you get it loaded up you find you havn't a clue as to how
to use it, and on the back of the box it came in it clearly states "this
item dose not include any documentation and no further help is available".
Do you have a right to complain? Yes you do. But not because you were lead
to believe that the box the software came in would contain more than it
actually did.
If you just make a little effort then, because of the way
Shareware works, there is no way you can end up paying for somthing you
will not receive, unless, that is, it is an out and out con by the person
who wrote the software. Although I don't see as how this could work, as it
would only be a very short time before the PD librarys became aware of
this and took it out of circulation, if it got that far in the first
place.
Shareware is summed up in the words "try before you buy". Good
Shareware "should" sell itself, while bad Shareware shouldn't even find
its way into PD librarys in the first place. It is up to the people who
run PD librarys to make sure this dose not happen. But I am sure this has
always been the case with all good PD librarys.
If you feel a piece of Shareware is lacking in some way, then
contact the person or people who wrote it and tell them. You don't have to
be hard faced about it. More often than not, along with the registration
details, they ask for any comments or criticisms you may have. But they
are not mind readers. If you don't tell them that you think the people who
register could use bit of extra help in the way of documentation etc, then
what can they do. If there is no feed back, then there is no input.
The same can be said for the registration fee itself. What
percentage of people who have Shareware disks actually register? Well if
the replies I have been getting from the people I have registered with is
anything to go by, and from the reports I have read on the subject, then I
would say it was less than 20%. Maybe a lot less.
A lot of shareware comes complete on the disk with nothing more
needed to help you to use it, though this can be said more for games than
utilities. Even then you usually get somthing back, if only a letter
saying thanks. All that is required is that the punter send off there
registration fee. But how many actually do? Not many benny. And it is this
that will kill Shareware.
Why is it that a lot of people do not seem to mind handing over
thirty or forty quid, sometimes a lot more, to the big software companys
for an item of software, but get tight fisted when it comes to paying a
registration fee to a programmer who has worked through all their spare
time, between going to work or school, to produce the item of Shareware?
How long will it be before the programmers get tired of being ripped off
by the punters and stop writing Shareware programmes?
If the people who do not register think they are getting
somthing for free, then they are going to find out that it is the most
expensive free gift they ever had. But it is not just these people who
will suffer. Everyone who uses Shareware will lose out.
It is up to us, the punters, to make Shareware the success it
deserves to be. If we don't do the right thing, then the only ones to gain
will be the big software companys, and Shareware will die. And that's the
bloody truth.
Dave Hobday.
///////////////////////
Like I said at the begining, I wouldn't mind changing the structure a bit.
And I could add a thing or two to help make it more complete, but I would
like to see some response first.
Well, am I right or wrong? Is there anything that I have missed out? If
your opinions differ then why not tell the rest of us. I know you are out
there, and I don't for one second believe that everyone agrees with me.
That is, after all, why I bothered to write this in the first place. If
you have anything to say, then STEN is the place to say it.
For the eagle eyed among you who read this article in PDP, you may have
noticed a sentence missing from the middle section. This was a comment
written in by the Editor. And uncredited at that.
One last thing. If you think that if you all keep quiet I'll just go away,
then you are very much mistaken.
Dave Hobday.