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1992-04-12
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Klondike
version 3.1
Copyright 1992 by Eduardo Martins
_______
____|__ | (r)
--| | |-------------------
| ____|__ | Association of
| | |_| Shareware
|__| o | Professionals
-----| | |---------------------
|___|___| MEMBER
Klondike User's Manual
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
INTRODUCTION
============
Klondike, also known under a variety of local names such as Fascination
and China-Man, is probably the best known solitaire card game (actually,
many people are not aware of the fact that Klondike is just one of dozens
of solitaire games, and use the name 'Solitaire' to refer to it). There
are several implementations of Klondike available for MS-DOS machines,
but most of them have very crude graphics (when they do have graphics at
all!) and cumbersome user interfaces. This prompted me to write a version
that would take full advantage of high-resolution EGA graphics and was
intuitive and easy to use. Several months and a few thousand lines of
Turbo Pascal 4.0 source code later, Klondike 1.0 was released. User
response was very enthusiastic, and several users made suggestions that
were incorporated in later versions. This latest incarnation incorporates
a few more enhancements, and is generally regarded by its users as the
best solitaire card game available for the IBM PC and compatibles. I hope
you'll enjoy Klondike 3.1, and encourage the development of other
high-quality shareware programs by sending the registration fee together
with the enclosed registration form.
A little plug: if you enjoy solitaire games, chances are you will like my
other games, Poker Solitaire (current version as of March 1992 is 2.1) and
Pyramid (current version is 1.1). They can be found on CompuServe (IBMNEW
Library 8 as PSOL21.EXE and PYRD11.EXE, respectively), GEnie (IBMPC
RoundTable Library 7 as PKRSOL21.EXE and PYRMID11.EXE), and on major
Bulletin Board Systems all over the country.
SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS
===================
Klondike 3.1 runs on an IBM-PC or compatible running under MS-DOS 2.1 or
greater, with an EGA/VGA monitor and display adapter and 384 Kbytes of
available memory. A Microsoft-compatible mouse is strongly recommended,
but the game can be played from the keyboard. If you want to use the
mouse, the mouse driver (usually called MOUSE.SYS or MOUSE.COM) must be
installed before you load Klondike; please refer to your mouse
documentation for instructions. Make sure that the files KLONDIKE.EXE,
KLONDIKE.GX, and KLONDIKE.HLP are all on the current directory. If you
are running Klondike from a floppy disk, make sure that the disk is not
write-protected, since the program writes configuration information to
disk.
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KLONDIKE RULES
==============
One regular pack of 52 cards is used. Deal 28 cards into 7 piles. The
first pile at the left has one card, the second two, and so on, up to
seven in the last pile. The top card of each pile is face up; all the
rest are face down. On the piles you may build in descending sequence,
red on black or black on red. For example, on the 8 of spades you can
place either the 7 of hearts or the 7 of diamonds. All the face up cards
on a pile may be moved as a unit, and matched according to the bottom
card. When you uncover a face down card on a pile, turn it face up. If
one pile is entirely removed, you may put a king in the space. Each time
you free an ace, move it to the Foundation, a row above the piles. On the
Foundation you build up in suit and sequence. For example, the 2 of
hearts may be placed on the Ace of hearts, the 3 of hearts may be placed
over the 2 of hearts, and so on. To win the game, you have to build each
Foundation up to the king. Once placed on the Foundation, a card cannot
be moved anywhere else. From the rest of the pack, turn up cards one by
one. Put cards that you cannot use into a waste pile. You can always use
the top card of the waste pile. You may go through the pack only once.
The game ends either when you win by building each Foundation up to the
king, or when your moves reach a standstill.
Variations
Klondike, as played by its original rules, is very hard to win (it has
been estimated that the chances of winning are one in every thirty
games!) and thus can be a bit frustrating. Two popular variations
greatly increase the odds of winning. Under the first variation, cards
are moved from the Pack to the Waste Pile in groups of three, and you can
go through the Pack as many times as you wish, i.e., once the Pack is
exhausted, you move all the cards from the Waste Pile back to the Pack.
Under the second variation, cards are turned up from the Pack one by one,
as in the original rules, but you can go through the Pack an unlimited
number of times, as in the first variation. This is the easiest of all
three playing modes.
Under the original Klondike rules, you must move all face-up cards on a
pile as a unit (except when you are moving from the pile to the
Foundation, in which case you move the top card of the pile alone).
Klondike 2.3 has a relaxed movement rule. Under it, you can move all
face-up cards as a unit; the top card alone, or any contiguous block of
cards beginning at the top card. Suppose you have a pile with a 4-5-6-7-8
face-up. If you're using the relaxed movement rule, you can move all five
cards as a unit, or the 4-5-6-7 block, or the 4-5-6, or 4-5, or the 4
alone. Through skillful manipulation of the cards, you can free cards
that would otherwise be unavailable, and win games that would be
unwinnable under the regular rules. This makes the game more challenging,
because it gives you a greater chance of winning against a bad deal.
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The currently selected variation is displayed on the top of the screen,
below the Pass number. The first character is either a 0, 1 or 2, and
represents the variation number, and the second character is either an S
or R, for Strict and Relaxed movement rules, respectively.
SCORING
=======
Klondike 3.1 uses Vegas-style scoring. You pay $50 for the deck, and get
$5 back for each card you are able to place on the Foundation piles.
Under variations 1 and 2, you can go thru the Pack multiple times, but
you lose $3 for each extra pass on variation 1 and $10 for each extra
pass on variation 2. Note that you cannot lose more than the initial $50;
so, if your score is already -$50, you won't lose anything for extra
passes.
The maximum possible score is $210 (52 cards in the Foundation piles at
$5 each, minus $50 for the deck). If you win the game in a single pass
thru the deck, you receive a $90 bonus, for a score of $300.
TOP TEN AND CAREER STATISTICS
=============================
A Top Ten list is kept for each variation (thus there are three different
Top Ten lists). You can change variations in the middle of a game, but
note that if you do change variations after you have moved a card from
the Pack, the variation that will be used for Top Ten purposes will be
the easiest one selected during the game, variation 0 being the hardest
and variation 2 the easiest. When you view the Top Ten list during a
game, the list displayed will be the one for the easiest variation
selected at any time after the first card from the Pack was moved,
regardless of the variation you have currently selected. The Top Ten
lists are kept on a file called KLONDIKE.TOP. To reset the Top Ten
lists, simply delete this file.
Career statistics are kept for each player, including the number of games
played, number of games won, total earnings (or losses), and average
earnings (or losses) per game. They are kept on a file called
KLONDIKE.SCO. If KLONDIKE.SCO is not found on the current directory, a
new one will be created.
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GAME PLAY - MOUSE
=================
To move a card, first place the mouse cursor over the card (or pile) you
want to move and press the left mouse button (the selected card will be
highlighted), then place the cursor over where you want to put the card
(or pile) and press the left button again. If you select a card to be moved and decide
not to move that card, simply select it again to cancel the move command.
To move a card from the Deck to the Waste Pile, press the right mouse
button.
If a card is face down, just place the mouse cursor over it and press the
left mouse button to turn the card face up.
At the beginning of each session, you are prompted to enter your name.
The name used in the previous session is offered as a default. Press any
mouse button to accept that name, or just type in a new name (there's no
need to erase the old one, as soon as you type any letter it will be
erased for you). You can change the name at any time during a session by
placing the mouse cursor inside the box that displays the current
player's name and score and clicking the left mouse button. You will then
be prompted to enter a new name. Note that this is the only way to change
the name other than quitting the game and starting a new one.
The following commands are available during play, and can be issued by
placing the mouse cursor over the corresponding 'command button' (on the
lower right hand corner of the screen) and pressing the left mouse
button:
UNDO: undoes the last successful move executed. UNDO cannot be used
after a FINISH or another UNDO command.
FINISH: automatically moves all cards that can legally be moved from
the Tableau and the Waste Pile to the Foundation. Caution: you cannot
undo a FINISH command!
HELP: displays a help file. Use the cursor keys (Up, Down, PgUp, PgDn,
Home, and End) to move around the file, and press [Esc] when you are
done viewing it.
PEEK: shows all the face-down cards in the piles, and then all the
Pack and Waste cards, if any.
TOP TEN: shows the Top Ten list, and then the career statistics for
the current player. The career statistics window shows the total
number of games played, number of games won, percentage of games won,
total career earnings (or losses), and average earnings (or losses)
per game.
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RULES: allows you to select which variation you want to play. Choose
the variation by placing the mouse cursor over the number you want and
pressing the left mouse button. Press the right mouse button when
done. The currently selected variation is highlighted. You can then
choose either the strict or relaxed movement rule. Place the mouse
cursor over the desired rule and press the left mouse button, and
press the right mouse button when done.
BACK: allows you to choose from five different card backs. Choose the
design you want by placing the mouse cursor over it and pressing the
left mouse button. Press the right mouse button when done. The
currently selected card number is highlighted in light blue.
CONFIG: brings up the Configuration menu. This allows you to customize
your copy of Klondike. The first option, Mouse, can be set to 'Yes'
(always use the mouse; this option is ignored if a mouse driver is not
found when you start Klondike), 'No' (always use the keyboard, even if
a mouse driver is present), or 'Ask' (if a mouse driver is found, asks
at the beginning of each game whether or not you want to use the
mouse). The second option, Sound, can be set to 'Full' (songs and
beeps are enabled), 'Partial' (songs disabled, but error beeps
enabled), or 'Off' (both songs and beeps disabled). Finally, the third
option, Error Messages, can be set to 'Yes' (displays a
context-sensitive error message each time an error occurs), or 'No'
(does not display the error messages, errors are indicated by beeps if
Sound is either Full or Partial). To select an option, place the mouse
cursor over it and press the left mouse button. Currently selected
options are highlighted. Press the right mouse button when done. If
you are playing from a floppy-disk, do NOT write-protect the disk,
otherwise Config will not be able to write the configuration
information.
INFO: displays Copyright and Version information, and your
registration number if you have a registered copy. Press any mouse
button to return to the game after you are done viewing the
information.
NEW: interrupts the current game and starts a new one. You are asked
to confirm by selecting either 'Yes' or 'No' from a dialog box. Use
the left mouse button to enter your selection.
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QUIT: quits Klondike. You are asked to confirm by selecting 'Yes',
'No' or 'Ignore' from a dialog box. Use the left mouse button to enter
your selection. 'Yes' will quit the game and add the score to your
career statistics file, 'No' will get you back to the current game,
and 'Ignore' will quit and ignore the current score.
If you are using Variation 1 or Variation 2, press the right mouse button
after the Pack is exhausted (as if you were moving one more card from the
Pack to the Waste) and the Waste will be moved back to the Pack. The
appropriate amount ($3 if using Variation 1, $10 if using variation 2)
will be deducted from your score.
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GAME PLAY - KEYBOARD
====================
To Move a card, first press the key corresponding to the Origin (the
selected card will be highlighted), then press the key corresponding to
the Destination. For example, to move from the Pack to pile 1, press [P]
then [1]. Valid Origins are 1 to 7, P, and W. Valid Destinations are 1 to
7, W, and F. If you select a card to be moved and decide not to move that
card, press the Esc key to cancel the move command.
If a card is face down, press the key corresponding to that card and it
will be turned face up. You can turn only the first card of the Pack and
cards on the Tableau (1 to 7) that are face down.
At the beginning of each session, you are prompted to enter your name.
The name used in the previous session is offered as a default. Press the
[Enter] key to accept that name, or just type in a new name (there's no
need to erase the old one, as soon as you type any letter it will be
erased for you). You can change the name at any time during a session by
pressing [Ctrl][N]. You will then be prompted to enter a new name. Note
that this is the only way to change the name other than quitting the game
and starting a new one.
Note that the NumLock option is automatically turned on when you play
using the keyboard. You can then use the numeric keypad to play. The
keypad keys work as indicated below:
+------+ +------+ +------+ +------+ +------+ +------+ +------+ +------+
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | |- |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | |Quit |
+------+ +------+ +------+ +------+ +------+ +------+ +------+ +------+
+------+ +------+ +------+ +------+ +------+ +------+ +------+ +------+
|7 | |8 | |9 | |PrtSc | |7 | |8 | |9 | |+ |
|Pile 7| |Pack | |Waste | |New | |Pile 7| |Pack | |Waste | | |
+------+ +------+ +------+ +------+ +------+ +------+ +------+ | |
+------+ +------+ +------+ +------+ +------+ +------+ +------+ | |
|4 | |5 | |6 | |- | |4 | |5 | |6 | | |
|Pile 4| |Pile 5| |Pile 6| |Quit | |Pile 4| |Pile 5| |Pile 6| |Finish|
+------+ +------+ +------+ +------+ +------+ +------+ +------+ +------+
+------+ +------+ +------+ +------+ +------+ +------+ +------+ +------+
|1 | |2 | |3 | |+ | |1 | |2 | |3 | |Enter |
|Pile 1| |Pile 2| |Pile 3| | | |Pile 1| |Pile 2| |Pile 3| | |
+------+ +------+ +------+ | | +------+ +------+ +------+ | |
+---------------+ +------+ | | +---------------+ +------+ | |
|0 | |. | | | |0 | |. | | |
|Foundation | |Undo | |Finish| |Foundation | |Undo | |New |
+---------------+ +------+ +------+ +---------------+ +------+ +------+
Standard AT keyboard Enhanced keyboard
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The following commands are available during play, and can be issued by
typing the highlighted letter from the corresponding 'command button' (on
the lower right hand corner of the screen):
UNDO: undoes the last successful move executed. UNDO cannot be used
after a FINISH or another UNDO command.
FINISH: automatically moves all cards that can legally be moved from
the Tableau and the Waste Pile to the Foundation. Caution: you cannot
undo a FINISH command!
HELP: displays a help file. Use the cursor keys (Up, Down, PgUp, PgDn,
Home, and End) to move around the file, and press [Esc] when you are
done viewing it.
PEEK: shows all the face-down cards in the piles, and then all the
Pack and Waste cards, if any.
TOP TEN: shows the Top Ten list, and then the career statistics for
the current player. The career statistics window shows the total
number of games played, number of games won, percentage of games won,
total career earnings (or losses), and average earnings (or losses)
per game.
RULES: allows you to select which variation you want to play. Choose
the variation by typing the corresponding number. Press [Enter] when
done. The currently selected variation is highlighted. You can then
choose either the strict or relaxed movement rule. Press either [S]
for strict or [R] for relaxed, and press [Enter] when done.
BACK: allows you to choose from five different card backs. Choose the
design you want by pressing the corresponding number, and press
[Enter] when done. The currently selected card number is displayed in
light blue.
CONFIG: brings up the Configuration menu. This allows you to customize
your copy of Klondike. The first option, Mouse, can be set to 'Yes'
(always use the mouse; this option is ignored if a mouse driver is not
found when you start Klondike), 'No' (always use the keyboard, even if
a mouse driver is present), or 'Ask' (if a mouse driver is found, asks
at the beginning of each game whether or not you want to use the
mouse). The second option, Sound, can be set to 'Full' (songs and
beeps are enabled), 'Partial' (songs disabled, but error beeps
enabled), or 'Off' (both songs and beeps disabled). Finally, the third
option, Error Messages, can be set to 'Yes' (displays a
context-sensitive error message each time an error occurs), or 'No'
(does not display the error messages, errors are indicated by beeps if
Sound is either Full or Partial). You will be prompted to enter the
desired option for Mouse, Sound and Error Messages, in that order.
Press either [Y], [N] or [A] for Mouse; [F], [P] or [O] for Sound; and
[Y] or [N] for Error Messages. Press [Enter] after selecting each one.
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Currently selected options are highlighted. If you are playing from a
floppy-disk, do NOT write-protect the disk, otherwise Config will not
be able to write the configuration information.
INFO: displays Copyright and Version information, and your
registration number if you have a registered copy. Press any key to
return to the game after you are done viewing the information.
NEW: interrupts the current game and starts a new one. You are asked
to confirm by selecting either 'Yes' or 'No' from a dialog box. Press
either [Y] or [N] to enter your selection.
QUIT: quits Klondike. You are asked to confirm by selecting 'Yes',
'No' or 'Ignore' from a dialog box. Press [Y], [N] or [I] to enter
your selection. 'Yes' will quit the game and add the score to your
career statistics file, 'No' will get you back to the current game,
and 'Ignore' will quit and ignore the current score.
If you are using Variation 1 or Variation 2, press P after the Pack is
exhausted (as if you were moving one more card from the Pack to the
Waste) and the Waste will be moved back to the Pack. The appropriate
amount ($3 if using Variation 1, $10 if using variation 2) will be
deducted from your score.
COMMAND-LINE OPTIONS
====================
The following options can be specified when you load Klondike:
-mouse selects the mouse as the input device. This option is
ignored if a mouse driver is not found.
-nomouse selects the keyboard as the input device.
-ask asks whether or not you want to use the mouse. This option
is ignored if a mouse driver is not found. [Default]
-fullsound turns full sound (songs and error beeps) on. [Default]
-partsound turns partial sound (error beeps, but no songs) on.
-nosound turns both songs and error beeps off.
-var[n] selects Variation [n], where [n] is a number from 0 to 2.
[Default is -var0]
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-strict selects the Strict movement rule. [Default]
-relaxed selects the Relaxed movement rule.
-back[n] selects card back [n], where [n] is a number from 1 to 5.
[Default is -back1]
-errormsgon turns error messages on. [Default]
-errormsgoff turns error messages off.
Note that the command-line switches have precedence over the settings
selected through the Config command. So, if you have Klondike currently
configured to use card back 2 and the relaxed movement rule, but you load
it as
klondike -back5 -strict
card back 5 and the strict movement rule will be used.
REGISTRATION
============
You are granted a license to try this program for a period of 21 days. If
you continue to use it after the trial period is over, you must register
by sending the registration form and $15 plus $5 shipping and handling to
EM Software
Station A P.O. Box 2052
Champaign, IL 61825-2052
You will receive a disk with the latest version and a printed manual.
When you register Klondike, you receive a registration number and
instructions on how to store it into your copy. This number will then be
displayed instead of the 'Unregistered Evaluation Copy' message on the
opening screen and on the Info window, and the Shareware screen that is
displayed after you quit the game will be supressed.
Note that, except for the differences listed above, the evaluation and
the registered copies are identical. The evaluation copy is fully
functional.
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TECHNICAL SUPPORT
=================
If you have any questions or comments about Klondike, please write to
EM Software
Station A, P.O. Box 2052
Champaign, IL 61825-2052
or leave electronic mail to 73300,267 on CompuServe or E.MARTINS on
GEnie.
While I have made every effort to ensure that this software works
properly, I know better than to claim that you will never experience
problems while using it. If you believe you have found a bug, please
report it in as much detail as possible, including a reproducible
sequence of events that leads to the problem, a complete description of
your hardware (including mouse manufacturer and mouse driver version
number), DOS version used, amount of free memory reported by CHKDSK, and
a copy of your CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT files.
NOTES FOR USERS OF PREVIOUS VERSIONS
====================================
Version 2.1 and below
* When using the mouse, you no longer have to press the right button to
finish moving a card. Simply press the left button again and the move
will be made. Press the right button to move a card from the Pack to
the Waste Pile. You can still place the cursor over the Pack, click
the left button, then place the cursor over the Waste Pile, and click
the left button again, but it is obviously a lot easier just to click
the right button (the cursor doesn't even have to be over the Pack).
* The RE-USE command is gone. After the Pack is exhausted, simply press
the right mouse button (as if you were moving one more card from the
Pack to the Waste) and the Waste will be moved back to the Pack
(assuming, of course, that you are using either variation 1 or 2). If
you're playing from the keyboard, press P (for Pack) instead.
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* A new Registration procedure has been added. After you register, you
will receive a registration number and instructions on how to 'burn
it' into your Klondike copy. This number will then be displayed when
you issue the INFO command, and the Shareware screen that is displayed
on unregistered copies will be suppressed. Note that these are the
ONLY differences between registered and unregistered copies; the
evaluation copy is fully functional, and is not crippled in ANY way.
Version 2.2
* The top card of the Pack is now ALWAYS face down. When you 'click' on
the Pack, the cards are automatically moved to the Waste pile, either
one or three at a time, depending on which rule set you are using. The
top card of the Waste pile is always available for play. This conforms
more closely to the 'official' Klondike rules.
* An UNDO command has been added. You can now undo your LAST move. Undo
can only be used after a SUCCESSFUL move command, i.e., after you have
successfully moved a card from one location to another. It CANNOT be
used after you turn a card face up, or use the FINISH command.
* A NEW (for New Game) command has been included. To quit the current
game and start a new one, simply click the NEW button. You'll be asked
to confirm your choice, and, if you reply 'yes', a new game will be
started. The QUIT command now does NOT ask whether you want to play
again, since you can start a new game directly from NEW. This saves
keystrokes both when quitting the game and when starting a new one.
* The FINISH command now moves cards from the Waste pile to the
Foundations.
* The Help system was completely rewritten. Now, instead of viewing a
single Help screen, you can browse through a much longer and more
detailed Help file. Error handling was greatly enhanced, and you now
get an Error Message telling WHY a particular move cannot be made
(this can be optionally turned off either through the CONFIG command
or through the -nomessage command line option).
Version 2.3
* Vegas-style scoring was added, with Top Ten lists and career
statistics for each player.
* A PEEK command, which lets you see the face down cards in the Piles
and the remaining cards on the Pack and Waste, was added.
* New card layout, with the face down cards on the Piles represented as
a tiered stack.
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Version 3.0
* The mouse routines have been totally rewritten. The problem with
jerky mouse response when using certain mouse drivers has been
eliminated.
* The file KLONDIKE.PCL has been replaced by KLONDIKE.GX.
* The mouse cursor no longer changes to a pointing hand when placed
over the piles or over the stack and waste cards.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
================
Klondike was written using Borland's Turbo Pascal 5.0, Turbo Power
Software's Turbo Professional 5.0, and Genus Microcomputing's PCX
Programmer's Toolkit and PCX Effects.
I wish to thank everybody at CompuServe's Borland (BPROGA) Forum. Their
help and support has been invaluable. I also wish to thank the following
individuals:
* Neil Rubenking, author of PianoMan, used to add the title and
congratulation screen songs;
* Scott Bussinger, author of the BackPlay unit, used to play the
PianoMan tunes in the background;
* Tim Godfrey, author of the GrafText unit, used for the extremely fast
graphics-mode screen writes;
* and, last but not least, all the users and friends who beta-tested
Klondike and made significant contributions, especially Mael Martins,
John Middleton, David L. Blair, Karl Zero, and Bill Mullin, and the
'Bug Busters' - Angel Cruz, Tom Canaday, Neil Rubenking, Joan
Friedman, Howard Silverman, Diane Clayton, Martin Schiff, Marilyn
Ratcheson, and Keith Brown, the toughest beta-test team I could ever
hope for!.
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ABOUT SHAREWARE
===============
(Definition supplied by the Association of Shareware Professionals)
Shareware distribution gives users a chance to try software before buying
it. If you try a Shareware program and continue using it, you are
expected to register. Individual programs differ on details -- some
request registration while others require it, some specify a maximum
trial period. With registration, you get anything from the simple right
to continue using the software to an updated program with a printed
manual.
Copyright laws apply to both Shareware and commercial software, and the
copyright holder retains all rights, with a few specific exceptions as
stated below. Shareware authors are accomplished programmers, just like
commercial authors, and the programs are of comparable quality. (In both
cases, there are good programs and bad ones!) The main difference is in
the method of distribution. The author specifically grants the right to
copy and distribute the software, either to all and sundry or to a
specific group. For example, some authors require written permission
before a commercial disk vendor may copy their Shareware.
So, Shareware is a distribution method, not a type of software. You
should find software that suits your needs and pocketbook, whether it's
commercial or Shareware. The Shareware system makes fitting your needs
easier, because you can try before you buy. And because the overhead is
low, prices are low also. Shareware has the ultimate money-back guarantee
-- if you don't use the product, you don't pay for it.
* * * * *
This program is produced by a member of the Association of Shareware
Professionals (ASP). ASP wants to make sure that the shareware principle
works for you. If you are unable to resolve a shareware-related problem
with an ASP member by contacting the member directly, ASP may be able to
help. The ASP Ombudsman can help you resolve a dispute or problem with an
ASP member, but does not provide technical support for members' products.
Please write to the ASP Ombudsman at 545 Grover Road, Muskegon,
MI 49442-9247, or send a Compuserve message via CMAIL to
ASP Ombudsman 70007,3536.
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