Path: utzoo!censor!geac!torsqnt!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!uunet!van-bc!ubc-cs!alberta!edson!news From: jpenne@ee.ualberta.ca (Jerry Penner) Newsgroups: comp.sys.apple2 Subject: Re: Auto-deleting shareware (was:Re: Shareware) Message-ID: <1991Jan14.032231.8339@ee.ualberta.ca> Date: 14 Jan 91 03:22:31 GMT References: <1991Jan13.153544.12059@mintaka.lcs.mit.edu> <11014@darkstar.ucsc.edu> Sender: news@ee.ualberta.ca Organization: University of Alberta Electrical Engineering Lines: 43 In article <11014@darkstar.ucsc.edu> unknown@ucscb.UCSC.EDU (The Unknown User) writes: > >In article <1991Jan13.153544.12059@mintaka.lcs.mit.edu> dcw@lcs.mit.edu (David C. Whitney) writes: >>Now, I tell people, you wanna make a couple of bucks? Write a neato >>program and distribute it as shareware. You wanna make a living? Get a >>real job. > > This is going to probably cause a very big discussion, as it >is something that many many people will be against. > > I think that a good way to get people to pay for shareware programs >is to make them only work a few times.. I know that this technique is >already used sometimes, but I think it should be used a lot more.. > > Instead of making a crippled demo, release the actual program, >but after a person runs it a few times, it DELETES itself.. > [lots of stuff about how to make a program delete itself and how this will increase shareware sales ] No, this will never work. You see, when I download something, I keep it in a Shrinkit archive EXACTLY the way it came. And I archive these things. Then if I trash a program, well off the archive disk it comes. Your method is very easy to circumvent, like all copy protection type schemes. And I'm not a pirate either. To make money at shareware, your program has to be useful. Asking $15 for a dumb program that people are only going to use a few times is ludicrous. No one will pay. Ask $5 or so. And tell people they will get a card or upgrade as SOON as they pay. Sending a card to people would impress them by your honesty with their money. Sending away a few bucks to nowhere is a loser idea in most people's minds, IMHO. Don't expect people to pay for buggy stuff either. Or ultra crippled. I congratulate any who sent $$$ to the Dreamgrafix guys but I'm too cynical of sheisters (sp) to pay for something that's not even developed yet. Well, that's my 2 cents... -- ------------- Jerry Penner alberta!bode!jpenne Edmonton, Alberta, Canada