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From: dorner@pequod.cso.uiuc.edu (Steve Dorner)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.programmer
Subject: Re: Obligations
Keywords: Shareware
Message-ID: <1990Dec11.200457.17296@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu>
Date: 11 Dec 90 20:04:57 GMT
References: <3124@sequent.cs.qmw.ac.uk>
Sender: news@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu (News)
Organization: University of Illinois at U-C
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>What do people consider to be the obligations that a shareware author
>has towards people who have paid the registration fee for the software?
>I'm thinking of upgrade charges (or not), advance notification of new
>releases, etc etc.

I suggest that you are obliged to do what you say you will do.

If you promise to send people new releases free of charge, you should do so.
If you promise to send people notice of new releases, you should do so.
If you don't promise anything, I don't think you have any obligations,
legal, ethical, or otherwise.

I do think it is best that you make your terms explicit.  Let people know
exactly what they're getting for their shareware fee.  Let them know your
upgrade policy, your bug fix policy, and the level of support you will
provide.
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Steve Dorner, U of Illinois Computing Services Office
Internet: s-dorner@uiuc.edu  UUCP: uunet!uiucuxc!uiuc.edu!s-dorner