Command Post 6/Command Post 6.iso/pbgshare.txt

Text File | 1995-08-22 | 13.5 KB | 260 lines

^C^BWhat is SHAREWARE?^b^c

^CCopyright (c) 1994,1995 Pacific Buyers' Group^c
^CCopyright (c) 1993,1994 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
(wholesale, retail, rental, lease, BBS, or governmental distribution)
without separate written agreement from Terry E. Mercer at Pacific Buyers'
Group.

As payment for gathering the information contained within this file and
the Technical specifications (Having Problems?) file, all we ask is that
you consider doing business with the following companies:

^C^BWiz Technologies, Inc. - CD ROM's & Floppy based Shareware^b^c
^C^Band Proprietary Commercial Programs to the End-User^b^c
^C1(714)443-3000 Voice    1(714)443-2333 Fax^c
^C32951 Calle Perfecto, San Jaun Capistano, CA  92675^c

^C^BMicro Media - CD ROM - Licensing, Mastering, and Replication^b^c
^C1(503)471-4133 VoiceMail    1(503)471-8836 Fax^c
^C329 N.E. 6th Street, Grants Pass, OR  97527^c

^C^BPacific Buyers' Group  -  PBG CD Launcher for DOS & Windows^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 ^b^c
^CP.O. Box 3429, Ashland, OR  97530  1(503)482-3611 Voice^c

--------------------------------------------------------------------

^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 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:

Video games such as Doom, Pacman, Monopoly, Chess
Algebra, Computer, Reading, and Science tutorials
Astrology, Bio-Rythums, Tarot Card
Database for baseball card, Video, and Stamp collectors
Drafting and drawing programs
Classroom management
Spell Checkers, Thesaurus, Zip Code Verifiers
General Business - and specific industry needs

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 wants 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.
^C_____________________________________________________________^c
^CChapter End^c