Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!usc!rpi!batcomputer!cornell!uw-beaver!ssc-vax!coy
From: coy@ssc-vax (Stephen B Coy)
Newsgroups: comp.os.msdos.programmer
Subject: Re: Shareware Distribution
Message-ID: <3880@ssc-bee.ssc-vax.UUCP>
Date: 20 Apr 91 05:00:31 GMT
References: <1991Apr10.183550.18420@bigsur.uucp> <1991Apr17.134253.8931@bhpmrl.oz.au> <1991Apr18.174809.27389@sun1.ruf.uni-freiburg.de>
Sender: news@ssc-vax.UUCP
Reply-To: coy@ssc-vax.UUCP (Stephen B Coy)
Organization: Boeing Aerospace & Electronics
Lines: 36

In article <1991Apr18.174809.27389@sun1.ruf.uni-freiburg.de> hartnegg@sun1.ruf.uni-freiburg.de (Klaus Hartnegg) writes:
>paulg@bhpmrl.oz.au (Paul Gallagher) writes:
>
>Could please somebody with better experiences enlighten me how
>to state in the docs that this is shareware to ensure that at least
>some people pay for the programs that they use?

I've written a ray tracer for DOS called Vivid which I'm
distributing as "beggarware".  In the docs I state that I'm more
into this for the fun than the money but that all money would be
appreciated.  Beer, too.  Just to give people something to shoot at
I also mention the figure $30 as a good starting point for those
that would like to send money.  Since I released Vivid 1.0 last fall
I've had about a dozen people send anywhere from $5 to $40.  I'm
surely not getting rich off this but getting a check in the mail
with a nice letter beats getting bills any day.

So far all the registrations I've gotten have been from the US with
Texas and California leading the pack.  I have also had mail from
Canada and England about Vivid.

An aside: even if you don't include your phone number in the docs
people will find it and call you, even from Europe.

While its not been a commercial success the goodwill it has
generated and the people I've been in contact with really make it
worthwhile.  I feel a lot less cynical than I used to

>Klaus Hartnegg, Kleist-Str. 7, D-7835 Teningen, Germany | include standard
>Bitnet : hartnegg@dfrruf1 or hartnegg@cernvm            | disclaimer here!
>Internet : hartnegg@ibm.ruf.uni-freiburg.de             |  

Stephen Coy
coy@ssc-vax.UUCP

				BDIF