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From: galt@baby.dsd.es.com (Greg Alt - Perp)
Newsgroups: comp.binaries.ibm.pc.d
Subject: Re: A better reminder/cripple? (Was Re: Shareware is junk)
Message-ID: <1991May3.161211.2382@dsd.es.com>
Date: 3 May 91 16:12:11 GMT
References: <1991Apr30.174659.9082@aplcen.apl.jhu.edu> <1991May01.022439.16596@osh3.OSHA.GOV> <1991May1.153211.21245@agate.berkeley.edu> <1991May3.133447.21207@nmt.edu>
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Reply-To: galt@baby.dsd.es.com (Greg Alt - Perp)
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In article <1991May3.133447.21207@nmt.edu>, nraoaoc@nmt.edu (Daniel Briggs) writes:
> After listening to all the "I hate crippleware" and "I hate
> reminders", I wonder if we might not be able to put our heads
> together, and come up with a scheme that would satisfy most people.
> It seems pretty clear to me that either one of the above approaches
> will alienate a substantial fraction of the author's buying public.
> 
> I'm just free associating here, but could we come up with a hybrid
> approach that would work?  I'm thinking of a scheme where the user can
> select which kind of annoyance they would like.  I can see the thing
> being used as a crippleware editor with some sort of page limit, and
> no nag screens.  When the user needs to edit something larger, he
> throws a software switch, and it magically becomes nagware.  No
> limits, but the user is reminded that the copy is unregistered, and he
> really *should* do it.  No one gets caught by the "I have to edit N+1
> pages by Monday" syndrome, the user gets reminded occasionally that
> the product is unregistered, and he also isn't inundated by obnoxious
> nag screens.  No, it's not perfect, but are there any gaping holes
> that I have missed?  Can they be plugged?  Would the people who have
> expressed extreme displeasure with one or the other of the mentioned
> schemes be satisfied with a product that behaved like this?

How about have a counter of some sort that keeps track of how many times the
program has been run...  Then, have it be crippleware 3/4 of the time?  Or
have an annoying pause and reminder the first time and then every 10th time...
Of course you could always get around this by making a copy, running it, doing
a diff on the files and modify the counter with debug...  Maybe use something
that looks at the current date?  Or it could be completely random...  How
about if you use the counter idea, but have it work perfectly for a certain 
amount of time, then it magically becomes crippleware.
Another idea I have been kicking around is to release a fully functional 
version, but give people something extra if they register.
Anyway, I'd like to hear any comments or other ideas...
   Greg