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From: domino@sunybcs.uucp (Michael Domino)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac,comp.sys.ibm.pc
Subject: A Solution to the Shareware Dilemma?
Message-ID: <8502@sunybcs.UUCP>
Date: 12 Feb 88 19:55:00 GMT
Sender: nobody@sunybcs.UUCP
Reply-To: domino@sybil.UUCP (Michael Domino)
Organization: SUNY/Buffalo Computer Science
Lines: 54

As a programmer I have always agreed with the shareware philosohy:
give users a reasonably priced product, let them try it out, and,
if they find it useful, send the author a relatively small amount.
Cuts out the middleman, makes the software market a more dynamic
place, more responsive to the needs of users.  OK.  The problem is,
of course, that it doesn't work too well.  It's just too damn hard
for the user of a shareware product to go through all the trouble of
addressing an envelope, writing a check, finding a stamp and then
remembering to drop the whole thing in a mailbox.  The independent
developers of software, who more often than not work in their spare
time, don't have the resources to make the payment process more
convenient, like the big mail order and software publishing houses,
with a toll-free number, credit card accounts, and extended hours.
To make matters even worse, we have for-profit companies like
Educomp and Public Brand Software that *charge* for a disk full of
shareware, making it even more unlikely that the end user will
pay a second time.

The point of all this rehash is that it occured to me that what
shareware developers need is a way to make payment for their pro-
ducts just as easy and convenient as ordering from an ad or a
catalog...a co-op of some sort that would maintain the toll-free
line, MC and Visa accounts, so that users could just pick up their
phone, blurt out their account number and ease their consciences
with little effort.  Members of this organization would receive
periodic payment with a statement, and maybe even a list of buyers
to notify their users of upgrades, new products, etc.  Maybe this
organization could publish its own newsletter with that kind of
information...there would have to be a percentage deducted from the
payment to support the service, but 80 or 90% of something is a lot
better than 100% of nothing.  How to remind users to call in their
payment?  Create a standard piece of code that would put a notice
up x number of times each time the program is run, with the phone
number, and emphasize how easy it is and how much better you'll
feel by supporting such a worthwhile product.  Make it humorous.
This way people who never use the program will of course never be
bothered, but those who do will be reminded lots of times about
their obligation to the creator of the software.  The pitch could
be supported by advertising in magazines, reminding shareware users
that there won't be any shareware if they don't do their small part
to support the concept, and then we'll all be at the mercy of the
big developers, who shall go unnamed.  A similar technique works
very successfully for public TV and radio; I know after a few of
those "membership breaks" I go to the phone if I am a regular user
of the broadcast service and believe I'm getting something worth-
while and should contribute whatever I can afford to support it.

So has this idea been hashed out and rejected?  Has anyone ever
thought about it?  Send me mail.

Michael Domino @ SUNY/Buffalo
internet: domino@cs.buffalo.edu
uucp:     ..!{rutgers,watmath,boulder,decvax}!sunybcs!domino
BITNET:   domino@sunybcs.BITNET       phone:    716-881-6420