Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!think.com!mintaka!bloom-beacon!eru!hagbard!sunic!isgate!krafla!frisk
From: frisk@rhi.hi.is (Fridrik Skulason)
Newsgroups: comp.misc
Subject: Re: Shareware is junk
Message-ID: <3111@krafla.rhi.hi.is>
Date: 6 May 91 08:10:49 GMT
References: <1991Apr30.174659.9082@aplcen.apl.jhu.edu> <5101.281dc791@miavx1.acs.muohio.edu> <1991May1.163820.15665@amc.com> <22231@duke.cs.duke.edu>
Reply-To: frisk@rhi.hi.is (Fridrik Skulason)
Organization: University of Iceland (RHI)
Lines: 31

>Personally, I neither cripple nor put reminders in the shareware I write.
>And I get no registrations, either. 

Well, I am the author of a fairly successful anti-virus program (which
was just posted on c.b.i.p.) and it not crippled or has any registration
reminders other than a few lines in the documentation.  In fact, the only
difference between this program and the full version which is available in some
countries is the lack of a printed manual and a lower level of support.

Do I get registrations ?

I sure do :-) but most of them turned out to be from various companies and
institutions, so I simply made the package freeware for personal use.

>Has anybody else out there had the
>experience of an unregistered user writing email like "Your stuff is great,
>I use it all the time. Do you suppose you could add feature X?"

Yes, all the time.  In fact, I even got mail from a virus writer once saying
"Your program is very good, but I have found that it can be bypassed by...."
Needless to say, I closed that loophole at once.

If I get a request for a new feature, I evaluate it regardless of whether
the person requesting it is registered or not, and even if he is not, I
will send him an update if I add the feature.

-frisk

---
Fridrik Skulason                 Technical Editor of the Virus Bulletin (UK)  
(author of F-PROT)               E-Mail: frisk@rhi.hi.is    Fax: 354-1-28801