NOTE: You MUST supply an email address to receive notice of new versions.
InformINIT is shareware. That means that if you try it out and find yourself using it, you are expected to purchase it.
InformINIT, which in my opinion should have been written by Apple long ago and should be part of the documentation on every Macintosh, has taken up much of my free time over the past couple years. Countless hours have been spent putting it together. Like many shareware products out there, this project started out as a personal interest/hobby, and soon snowballed into proportions that I never imagined. Because of InformINIT and the Mac Pruning Pages on the Web, every day I get many, many emails from people asking me for help on an extension, or a crash, or some other problem. I do my best to help out everybody who asks.
I have had queries from book publishers about InformINIT, but for the most part I feel that the quick pace at which system software changes is far too dynamic for the printed word. Keeping InformINIT as a shareware application allows me to update it quickly and is the most effective way to keep the Mac community informed. (One exception: InformINIT was the basis of a small book published in July by MacFormat UK called "Inside Your System Folder," but this book was accompanied by InformINIT itself.)
PLEASE REGISTER!!!
"What? Why should I pay for it?"
That is a very good question. The fact that you downloaded InformINIT, or that you visited the Mac Pruning Pages, proves that having all this information in one place, and not having to spend a large number of hours (or even days or weeks or months... hey, I've been doing it for over two years!) searching through every Apple Tech Note, Web page, book, manual, etc. (Apple or otherwise) is valuable to you. In addition, there is a good deal of information here which is not available anywhere else.
So how do you justify paying for it? I find it appropriate to think of InformINIT as a reference book you might find in the Mac help section of your local bookstore (that is, assuming your local bookstore has a Mac section :-) ). Or an encyclopedia. Sure, everything in an encyclopedia is "public" information, available to anyone who searches hard enough, but the effort to compile the information and turn it into something comprehensible is truly monumental. You purchase a reference book because the time it would take you to compile the information yourself is prohibitive.
THE SHAREWARE AUTHOR'S DILEMMA:
A GENERAL REMINDER (not just for my shareware)
Shareware authoring seems rather unrewarding at times, especially when the authors have to make decisions between spending time with their families, working their real jobs, studying, and working on their 'wares. The small fee most shareware authors ask usually can't compensate fully for the time spent on their products; however, it provides encouragement, shows appreciation, gives a bit of hard cash, and provides a bit of inspiration for updating the product ("Hey, people actually use this... I should put some work into updating it!"). I say this not only for my own sake, but for the sake of shareware products everywhere. If you use a shareware product, pay for it. How many of you have actually registered that certain piece of software you use everyday? (I bet you've even forgotten that it's shareware!)
I have often considered limiting the features of this document (no printing, no "find," less content, etc.) until I received a registration. However, I decided to follow the Ambrosia Software example, and provide a full-featured version and trust that the user would live up to his/her end of the bargain. InformINIT contains information, and in my opinion, withholding information would be wrong.
BENEFITS OF PURCHASING/REGISTERING?
Since I took the leap of faith of providing a fully-functioning version here, purchasing InformINIT won't get you a "better" version with more information. However, it will get you:
ΓÇó On the mailing list of updates -- if a new version is released, you'll be the first to know. You will be able to get new versions a few days before the general public.
ΓÇó On the mailing list of important changes, revisions and tips. If I discover a major mistake in InformINIT, or find some info which I feel is very important, you'll get an email. These are rare, but as a registered user, you'll be sure to get them.
ΓÇó Access to the "Registered User Archive" on the web, which has the latest registered user version of InformINIT and an archive of all of the announcements and help sheets that I have sent out.
ΓÇó If you purchase a site or world license, you will receive a version personalized for your company/ organization/ institution.
ΓÇó The removal of the "splash screen" registration reminder every time you open InformINIT.
ΓÇó My gratitude and a personal "thank you" :-)
ΓÇó Good shareware karma... some people have said that the more unregistered software you have on your hard drive, the greater chance of a "mysterious" crash... (just kidding!)
I generally try to respond very quickly to my registered users and offer them any help I can provide.
Purchasing InformINIT is just like buying a book. However, at least with InformINIT you can hope for an update and email the author!
ΓÇó A single user license covers the use of one copy on one computer.
ΓÇó A site license covers all locations for your organization within a 100 mile (160km) radius of your site (NOTE: for non-educational institutions, I do request some amount of consideration. If your organization has hundreds and hundreds of computers within a 100 mile radius, a World-Wide license is more appropriate :-) ).
ΓÇó A world-wide license covers all locations for your organization on the planet.
ΓÇóΓÇó If you or your organization simply cannot afford these fees, email me. ΓÇóΓÇó
As the note at the top of the page states, you MUST include your email address in order to receive update notices! If you do not have email, you are still welcome to purchase, which supports me in my efforts at updating InformINIT, but due to the costs, both in money and time, of sending postal mail (especially since many users are not in the U.S.), I cannot support InformINIT via postal mail. Sorry for any inconvenience this may cause.
There are two ways to purchase/register:
1) If you would like to pay by credit card over the World Wide Web, you can go to Kagi's InformINIT registration site at:
  <http://order.kagi.com/?DF>
 
2) If you would like to pay by cash, credit card, First Virtual, or with international currency, please use the "Register InformINIT" program which is in the InformINIT folder. Complete instructions for this method of payment follow:
Open the "Register InformINIT" program in the InformINIT folder. Enter your name, your email address, and the number of single user licenses you desire (or Site or World-Wide licenses). If you are an educational institution purchasing a Site or World-Wide license, check the appropriate box (BE HONEST!). Save or Copy or Print the data from the Register program and send the data and payment to Kagi via one of the following methods (NOTE: some people have had problems with the "Print" function in the Register application. If you have this problem, "Save" the data and open it in SimpleText or another text editor and print it from there):
ΓÇó If paying with Credit Card or First Virtual, you can email or fax the data to Kagi. To email payment, you can use the "Copy" command in the Register window to copy the data from Register and paste it into the body of an email message (the email address is sales@kagi.com) You can also "Save" the data to a text file and then attach that file to an email message. To fax payment, "Print" the data and fax it to +1 510 652-6589. If you have a fax modem, just "Print" the data to the Kagi fax number.
Payments sent via email are processed within 3 to 4 days. You will receive an email acknowledgement when it is processed. Payments sent via fax take up to 10 days and if you provide a correct internet email address you will receive an email acknowledgement.
ΓÇó If you are paying with non-US currency or cash you should print the data using the Register application and send it to the address shown on the form, which is:
Kagi
1442-A Walnut Street #392-DF
Berkeley, California 94709-1405
USA
You can pay with a wide variety of cash from different countries but at the present time Kagi cannot accept checks in other currencies. The conversion rate for non-USD checks is around USD 15 per check and that is just not practical.
ΓÇó If you have a purchasing department, you can enter all the data into the Register program and then select "Invoice" as your payment method. Print three copies of the form and send it to your accounts payable people. You might want to highlight the line that mentions that they must include a copy of the form with their payment.
Kagi cannot invoice your company; you need to act on Kagi's behalf and generate the invoice and handle all the paperwork on your end. Please do not fax or email payment forms that indicate Cash, Check or Invoice as the payment method. As far as I know, there is still no technology to transfer physical objects via fax or email and without the payment, the form cannot be processed. Payments sent via postal mail take time to reach Kagi and then up to 10 days for processing. Again, if you include a correct email address, you will hear from Kagi when the form is processed.
