An open letter to Shareware Authors User-supported software is, unfortunately, often thought of as belonging to the public domain. After all, shareware authors are assuming a risk when making their products available through public distribution channels, since it co-exists with true public-domain software. And, unfortunately, there is some devious enjoyment about getting something for nothing. Interestingly, legitimate businesses that produce and/or market personal computer software have learned a lot from shareware: good products need not cost a lot. As a result, a number of excellent commercially-distributed software packages are competing with available shareware as far as price is concerned. Of course, the reverse is also true: shareware authors realized that professional marketing, advertising, and distribution often yields better financial results than any honor system--they went commercial. PC-File, PC-Write, and PC-Outline, Automenu, and ARC, just to name a few, are such products. What makes the difference between a product that sells and one that does not? What does the potential buyer expect of shareware? What specific attributes of a software package will compell him to send in his contribution, and which others will cause him not to? Here are a few observations. Functionality obviously ranks high on the list. After all, I download a program because it supposedly performs a function which I have a need for. Does it do what it is supposed to, and does it do it well? Has it been thoroughly tested against most hardware and software configurations and can it be configured to run in various environments? Has it been circulated among users' groups and has their input been taken into consideration? What would you think if the documentation read "Use caution....some programs will trash you royally when attempting to....". Would anyone in their right mind use anything that could "trash you royally"? Does the program have an intuitive human interface, or does the user have to read the documentation each time he wants to perform a trivial function? Some shareware which is otherwise outstanding requires incredible convolutions to perform the simplest tasks. Again, the product should be tested by a large number of people other than its author. Anyone who has ever written a program knows that your personal opinion is always biased in favor of your brainchild. In fact, you may have to make significant changes to a program--even going as far as completely re-writing it-- before it can gain acceptance. Bugs are deadly, especially in shareware. Since the user didn't have to pay for it until satisfied, not only will they not use the product, but they will quickly share their feelings about it--ie, on bulletin boards, one of the quickest and most effective implementations of electronic grapevine--. This again reinforces the need for testing the product as much as possible prior to formal release. Don't get greedy until you are reasonably sure that it works. Do not partially implement features or even give a hint that new ones will become available in future releases of the product unless you already have an unblemished reputation and a loyal following. People won't pay for what they have; they will just wait for the next set of goodies. Some shareware products out there have literally gone through dozens of releases in a few months, each one bringing forth new features or correcting errors. There is no way you can build user trust unless the product you are peddling is reasonably stable. I have personally given up on half a dozen shareware products that went through monthly updates --regardless of their usefulness--. As with the boy who cried wolf, this will quickly damage your credibility and could permanently affect your reputation. Do not cripple your product or its documentation in any way. Doing so goes directly against the spirit of shareware since all you have released is a purposely limited demonstration copy of your product. People will no more pay for that than for demo copies of bona fide commercial software. Although this is somewhat controversial, there is some question as to the usefulness and purpose of a logo screen which asks for a monetary contribution, especially when this is a permanent fixture of your program. A much better method is to have a copyright notice and an optional display of the shareware moto (ie, option "P" for program information). Be assured that hackers will go to work immediately to remove that display from your program and replace it with a public domain notice. Since we're on the subject of logos, remember that your "Welcome Screen" is the first thing the user sees; use wisdom in designing it. Jumping right into the program may be an indication that it was put together quickly without concern for cosmetic detail. WHAT you display on your logo screen can also detract from the overall value of the program. A skull and crossbones, for example, may not be well suited for an otherwise serious program and is revealing of the author's playful nature. Some people may never get past your opening screen.... Online help is a very nice feature which has been adopted by most commercial software and is slowly finding its way into Shareware. Even better is context-sensitive help which takes into account what you were doing at the time you invoked the help function. Cosmetic appearance may or may not be a concern depending on what the program does. Use of color, graphics, even as rudimentary as box-drawing characters, can add to the attractiveness of a program. It also increases the user's confidence in the program's author. Spending the extra time to make it look good--besides working good--indicates care and craftsmanship. Documentation and other textual information which are part of the product are extremely important and often overlooked. Some absolutely outstanding products never made it because of lousy documentation, while others with fewer features made it because its documentation was well above par. An awful lot of people who are true programming geniuses just cannot express themselves very well in writing, and vice-versa, although there are exceptions. A good recommendation would be to seek qualified help in developing good, complete, and readable documentation. Don't forget to run it through a spelling checker and submit it to beta testing also. Of course, this also applies to the help screen or any textual information within the product itself. Street talk in software documentation is not desirable and unfortunately lends an amateurish flavor to the product. An interesting fact is that successful shareware authors have spent a significant portion of their time developing good, understandable, and readable documentation. Last, but certainly not least, are the administrative and support responsibilities which go right along with selling a product. From a legal standpoint, accepting remuneration for any type of product or service makes you a business. If a big corporation decides to buy your product, you may be faced with far more demands for non-productive time than you can handle. If you state that you will provide support once a contribution is received, you must be prepared to do so. This means maintaining mailing lists of registered users and making good on all the promises stated on your shareware notice, such as "Registered users will be notified of all new releases when they become available" or "Telephone support will be provided at no charge for 90 days following the purchase". These seemingly innocent statements which are included in a lot of shareware products become legal, binding agreements once you accept payment. Remember, nasty users can easily sue the shirt off your back if they can prove that you have not performed as stated. If your shareware sales grow, seriously consider incorporating into a legitimate business; many shareware authors have. This will pretty much eliminate your personal liability in the event you encounter legal problems. ********* Who am I and what business do I have giving this unrequested advice, you may ask. Well, my name should appear at the end of this document, unless someone else hacked it. I've been in commercial data processing for 18 years and responsible for PCs in a fairly large company for about 5 years. I have spent quite a bit of the company's money on shareware products--but only good ones--. One thing for sure, Shareware can't be beat as far as cost and convenience. Try it all you want, and pay only if you use it. I have seen a lot of outstanding products, and a lot of junk. Some shareware products are hastily thrown together, uploaded to a few bulletin boards, and it's obvioous that the author's only motivation is to take the money and run. Some others are absolute jewels that could easily fetch 3 to 10 times their shareware price in the commercial market. From personal experience, though, it looks like the junk to jewel ratio is about 300 to 1. Maybe this document can help reduce this sad state of affairs. Dan Moore 1531 13th St. Columbus, IN 47201 (812)379-3426 (c) 1987 Dan Moore This document is intended for public and free distribution as long as the author's name and copyright notice appear. It may not be published commercially in any form without the author's permission.