SHAREWARE - A CONCEPT WHOSE TIME HAS COME In my shop I am often asked, "How can you sell software for the price you are selling it for - what is the catch?", or "How can a program that cost only $5.00 be worth anything?" One of the first things we attempt to make our customers aware of is that we are not "selling" the software in our library. The author receives no part of our small copy fee, nor does the author compensate us for distributing his software. The small fee that we receive for the disks you purchase covers the acquisition and maintenance of the library, the cataloguing, labeling, disk cost, what support we offer, etc. What you are purchasing is a disk that contains one or more functional pieces of software for you to review to see if it will work for you. If it does what you expect it to do, you are obligated to register it with the author. When our customers register a program they got from us with the author, we give them a credit that can be used to purchase any other disk in our shareware catalog. All we need to issue this credit is the name of the program, name and address of the author, and a photocopy of the author's acknowledgement. Our library consists of over 40,000, many of which you can download from computer bulletin boards, obtain from friends, etc. Most of our customers feel that our "added value" is well worth the small copy fee. When you purchase a shareware disk from us, we encourage you to share it with your friends (and also tell them where you obtained it.) The vast majority of our programs come directly from the author. The major advantage of that is that you are assured that all of the files are intact, the latest version is being offered, and the documentation and text files have not been altered. The only thing we do is to add our GO.BAT file and, if there is room, our viewing utility and text file. Where appropriate, we may rename the author's start-up information file to be consistent with all of the other disks in our library, but never modify the file itself. Shareware is simply a marketing concept - try before you buy - the ultimate in money-back guarantees. It is not "free" software. Authors write a program, put it into the shareware pipeline, and expect to be compensated for their efforts by those who use and find their efforts useful. You are encouraged to use the program(s) for a few weeks, then if you find that it is something you intend to continue to use, you are obligated to "register" the program with the author. The registration fee and author's address will be in the documentation on the disk. This registration is far less than the cost of comparable commercial software. It is not uncommon for a customer to come in and claim that they "know" about this type of software - and that it is, for the most part either junk, demo versions or incomplete versions. Much like the post World War II efforts of those smiling young men who brought us Pearl Harbor, in the early stages of the shareware concept those comments might have been valid. But as the concept matured, so did the product, and today some of the finest software available anywhere is in the shareware pipeline. With a library of well over 40,000 programs, it is obvious that each and every one is not a top-quality product any more than every book in your public library is a magnificent piece of literature. But we do have many, many top-quality programs. We do not knowingly carry "demo" or "crippled" versions of software except for rare cases, and in those cases the program is labeled as such. It is also not uncommon for a customer to come in and inform us that shareware is made up primarily of games and normally is of interest only to kids. We don't hesitate to politely show that customer where he or she is dead wrong. Who uses shareware? Corporations and individuals all over the world use shareware. Among the customer list of a single word processor - Galaxy Word - you will find such giants as 3M Corporation, Hewlett-Packard, AT&T, Rockwell International, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, MCI, United Auto Workers, the United Nations, NASA, and even IBM (who has their own word processor), to name a few. If you are interested in a word processor, database, spreadsheet, or virtually any other type of software, you can purchase a commercial application for several hundred dollars, or you can try several shareware programs in our library at $5 each. If you find that the commercial program simply doesn't do what you thought it would do, once you have broken the seal on the package, all your dealer can do is say, "I'm sorry", and you are stuck with an expensive piece of "shelfware" - and I have more of that than I like to think about. If, for example, you try four word processors in our library before you find one that you are comfortable with, when you register that one you like (at a fee substantially less than the commercial program), you know that you have a program that will work for you at a cost of only $5 per disk for the shareware disks you purchased plus the registration fee that will be anywhere from 10% to 50% of the comparable commercial program. What is the real difference between commercial software and shareware? The bottom line is nothing more than the method in which the two are marketed. It takes millions of dollars to get a good (or bad) commercial program into the marketplace. However, it doesn't take full page ads in national magazines, an impressive office building, expensive autos and perks, fancy packaging, and beautifully produced manuals to produce an outstanding program. An individual with an organized mind, an inexpensive personal computer, and a lot of patience can do it on his kitchen table. There are numerous examples of commercial programs which were later changed to shareware programs and a few shareware programs which later changed to commercial programs. What do I do about a manual? Some of the programs in our library are menu driven and no manual or documentation is required. Others have full documentation on the disk. The documentation may range from a few paragraphs to several hundred pages - depending upon the program. What kind of support is available? Depending upon the individual author, support can range from little or none on some of the smaller programs to some of the finest support available, including toll-free support lines. Our support is limited to assisting you in the installation of the program on your computer, getting you to the author's main screen, and printing the documentation (if any) that is on the disk. From that point the software is "user supported". Questions should be directed either to the author or a local expert. Read and understand the manual before you attempt to use the program. The obvious question is, "Who is going to know whether or not I register the software I use?" You are going to know! It doesn't take too swift a mind to realize that if the authors do not get compensated for their efforts, they will stop putting software into the shareware pipeline and we will lose an incredible source of fantastic programs and a ridiculously low price. The next question is , "How many programs have you registered? Obviously we have not registered every program in our library, but we have registered each and every program we use. these include our menu program, disk labeling program, copying software, numerous utilities, word processor, communications software, several games and numerous personal programs. We also have three other types of software in our library - Public Domain, Bannerware, and Commercial software. The Public Domain software is software that has been placed into the public domain with no copyright retained by the author. It comes from any number of places. As an example, all software (except classified) that is created by the government or with tax dollars belongs in the public domain. In other cases, people simply create programs for the fun of it and place it in the public domain for others to enjoy. Many utilities and games fall into this category. Then there are programs created by professionals, universities, etc. who do so simply for the exposure. Bannerware is similar to Shareware in that the author retains the copyright and all rights to the software, but offers it to the public with no request for compensation. You would not be able to legally modify Bannerware and re-distribute it, where with the Public Domain software you could do anything you wanted to do with it. The final type of software we carry is Commercial software. It is far more expensive than the Shareware, Pubic Domain and Bannerware, and its disadvantages have been noted above - the major one being that you might pay some $500 for the software, find that it doesn't do what you want it to do, resulting in an expensive piece of "shelfware". The advantage of commercial software is that in some types of applications there are not yet any shareware programs of the quality of those specialty commercial programs. The bottom line is that we have an incredible array of outstanding software. You have the opportunity to try one or more of these programs for our small copy fee. If you find nothing on the disk you can use, all you have done is purchased a fairly expensive data disk that can be reformatted and used for something else. If you find a program or programs that you can use, and if you register those programs with the author, you will both perpetuate the shareware concept and enable us to provide you with the finest software available at a most reasonable price. If you support shareware, shareware will support you.