Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!swrinde!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!usc!ucselx!crash!hrlaser
From: hrlaser@crash.cts.com (Harv Laser)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga
Subject: Re: Pirates and swapware
Message-ID: <3338@crash.cts.com>
Date: 29 Jun 90 01:37:34 GMT
References: <90U702Unb2ZK01@amdahl.uts.amdahl.com> <18721@well.sf.ca.us> <25535@usc.edu>
Organization: Crash TimeSharing, El Cajon, CA
Lines: 33

In article <25535@usc.edu> papa@pollux.usc.edu (Marco Papa) writes:
>I've seen quite a number of studies that have quantified, foe example, the
>lost sales that Micropro had of their Wordstar program.  The numbers are
>staggering. A one point Micropro had 100,000 registered users and an
>approximate user base of 500,000.  No lost sales?  Give me a break, man :-)
>
>
>-- Marco
>

Micropro did something real interesting a couple years ago. They took out
full page ads in PC World and that ilk and announced the "WordStar
Upgrade Amnesty Plan."

They'd just released a new MAJOR upgrade of WordStar (can't remember
which version it was) which listed for $495.00.  They would sell this
upgrade (the FULL sales package - box, manuals, buncha disks, warranty,
etc.) to anyone who provided a serial number from ANY older version of
WordStar, for $79.95.  YOu edidn't have to send in any old-version disks,
you didn't have to send in _anything_ except a remittance and a serial
number. 

I have no idea how their amnesty upgrade turned out nor how many new
sales it generated (I'd like to know these things) but it was a novel
approach to the old problem . BTW, WordStar's serial number appears
onscreen each time any version of the program is run so one didn't even
have to have any original label disks to get the number... it was 
obviously an appeal to get WordStar pirates to go legit and buy the
real thing.  I've never seen this done before or since by any software
company.

Harv
People/Link: CBM*HARV