Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!sdd.hp.com!hp-pcd!hpcvra!everett
From: everett@hpcvra.CV.HP.COM (Everett Kaser)
Newsgroups: comp.binaries.ibm.pc.d
Subject: Re: Shareware Poll: The Results
Message-ID: <27380004@hpcvra.CV.HP.COM>
Date: 2 Oct 90 21:14:56 GMT
References: <6208@uceng.UC.EDU>
Organization: Hewlett-Packard Co., Corvallis, OR, USA
Lines: 31


 peter@ficc.ferranti.com (Peter da Silva) writes...
>One thing I noticed is that people don't seem to care for the legalistic
>version of shareware. You see terms like snareware and extortionware. The
>folks who *write* such stuff, however, look down the noses of us folks
>who just ask for a donation... that becomes beggerware. I think there is
>a certain cognitive dissonance here.
>-- 
>Peter da Silva.   `-_-'

The problem here, Peter, is that many people will find a reason to justify
their use of a program without paying for it, regardless of the means of
distribution.
  1) if it's commercial software they've pirated, they "would have bought
       my own copy if the price wasn't highway robbery!"
  2) if it's freely distributed, but asks for donations, "It's BEGGARWARE!"
  3) if it's freely distributed, but requires donations, "It's EXTORTIONWARE!"
       or "It's BUGGY! (but I limp along with it anyway, unregistered)"
       or "It's FREE! (because I didn't ask for it, it just showed up on my
                   system!!)"
  4) or, if there's locks on the software (to encourage registrations),
      "It's CRIPPLEWARE!!!"
Basically, the people who use these arguments feel guilty that they're stealing
someone else's work, and they RESENT feeling guilty, they feel that it's the
author's fault that they feel guilty, and so they find defensive stances to
hide their feelings of guilt from themselves.  Hence, the "certain cognitive
dissonance" of their arguments.

Everett Kaser                   Hewlett-Packard Company
...hplabs!hp-pcd!everett        work: (503) 750-3569   Corvallis, Oregon
everett%hpcvra@hplabs.hp.com    home: (503) 928-5259   Albany, Oregon