Path: utzoo!utgpu!water!watmath!clyde!rutgers!umd5!purdue!i.cc.purdue.edu!j.cc.purdue.edu!pur-ee!iuvax!bobmon
From: bobmon@iuvax.UUCP (Bob...Mon)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc
Subject: Re: enforcement of Shareware
Message-ID: <6156@iuvax.UUCP>
Date: 13 Feb 88 05:33:59 GMT
References: <8055@g.ms.uky.edu> <174@piring.cwi.nl> <39450@sun.uucp> <8255@g.ms.uky.edu> <1556@bgsuvax.UUCP>
Reply-To: bobmon@iuvax.UUCP (Bob...Mon)
Organization: Schizophrenics `R` Us
Lines: 30

In article <1556@bgsuvax.UUCP> ritzenth@bgsuvax.UUCP (Phil Ritzenthaler) writes:
>In article <8255@g.ms.uky.edu>, sean@ms.uky.edu (Sean Casey) writes:
>> In article <1012@sask.UUCP> long@sask.UUCP (Warren Long) writes:

[ A "shareware" disk utility has a delay built into it that makes it not-very-
  useful; registration removes the delay.  ]

{Another twopence of opinion...}  Personally, I think this is a valid marketing
tactic.  However, I DON'T think that it is shareware.

Case in point:  Some years ago I sent away for and received a demo disk of a
spreadsheet.  It was a pretty-much complete program; the only thing it lacked
was the ability to save or print anything.  In other words, you could play
all you wanted, but you couldn't do anything useful.  If you liked, you bought.
(If not, you had a free disk.)

The package didn't claim to be shareware, it was purely commercial.  In that
light, it seems reasonable to me to show someone the features of your neat
program to entice them into buying the real thing.  But that isn't (wasn't)
the premise of shareware.  The original idea, as I understand it, was that
you GOT the real thing via public distribution channels, thereby saving the
author & company the cost of delivery.  In return for a lower price, you
were supposed to be honest and cooperative enough to send in your payment.

And a program that isn't completely functional, that requires something further
to be supplied upon payment, is something different.  It's a higher-pitch
marketing ploy.

-- 
You TOO Can Defeat The 4-Line .signature Limit And Be Obnoxious To Your Friends And Neighbours!!!!!								...---...									Charles Cabbage on the Difference Engine running SE grade 10W40 at UKnoWhere	Babble@diffEQ	bob,mon@iuvax.cs.indiana.edu	Chucky on Ada	The Slide Rules!"Spaceship Earth!  There IS no substitute!"