Shareware
Shareware is a type of proprietary software that is initially shared by the owner for trial use at little or no cost.[1] Often the software has limited functionality or incomplete documentation until the user sends payment to the software developer.[2] Shareware is often offered as a download from a website. Shareware differs from freeware, which is fully-featured software distributed at no cost to the user but without source code being made available; and free and open-source software, in which the source code is freely available for anyone to inspect and alter.
There are many types of shareware and, while they may not require an initial up-front payment, many are intended to generate revenue in one way or another. Some limit use to personal non-commercial purposes only, with purchase of a license required for use in a business enterprise. The software itself may be time-limited, or it may remind the user that payment would be appreciated.
Types of shareware
Trialware
Trialware or demoware is a program that limits the time that it can be effectively used, commonly via a built-in time limit, number of uses, or only allowing progression up to a certain point (e.g. in video games, see Game demo).[3] The user can try out the fully featured program until the trial period is up, and then most trialware reverts to either a reduced-functionality (freemium, nagware, or crippleware) or non-functional mode, unless the user purchases a full version.[4] Trialware has become normalized for online Software as a Service (SaaS).[citation needed] WinRAR is a notable example of an unlimited trialware, i.e. a program that retains its full functionality even after the trial period has ended.
The rationale behind trialware is to give potential users the opportunity to try out the program to judge its usefulness before purchasing a license. According to industry research firm Softletter, 66% of online companies surveyed had free-trial-to-paying-customer conversion rates of 25% or less. SaaS providers employ a wide range of strategies to nurture leads, and convert them into paying customers.
Freemium
Freemium works by offering a product or service free of charge (typically digital offerings such as software, content, games, web services or other) while charging a premium for advanced features, functionality, or related products and services. For example, a fully functional feature-limited version may be given away for free, with advanced features disabled until a license fee is paid. The word freemium combines the two aspects of the business model: "free" and "premium".
Adware
Adware, short for "advertising-supported software", is any software package which automatically renders advertisements in order to generate revenue for its author. Shareware is often packaged with adware to lower the shareware fees or eliminate the need to charge users a fee. The advertisements may take the form of a
Crippleware
Crippleware has vital features of the program, such as printing or the ability to save files, disabled or unwanted features like watermarks on
Donationware
Donationware is a licensing model that supplies fully operational unrestricted software to the user and requests an optional donation be paid to the programmer or a third-party beneficiary (usually a
Nagware
Nagware (also known as begware, annoyware or a nagscreen) is a pejorative term for shareware that persistently reminds the user to purchase a license.[10] It usually does this by popping up a message when the user starts the program, or intermittently while the user is using the application. These messages can appear as windows obscuring part of the screen, or as message boxes that can quickly be closed. Some nagware keeps the message up for a certain time period, forcing the user to wait to continue to use the program. Unlicensed programs that support printing may superimpose a watermark on the printed output, typically stating that the output was produced by an unlicensed copy.
Some titles display a dialog box with payment information and a message that paying will remove the notice, which is usually displayed either upon startup or after an interval while the application is running. These notices are designed to annoy the user into paying.
Postcardware
Postcardware, also called just cardware, is a style of software distribution similar to shareware, distributed by the author on the condition that users send the author a postcard. A variation of cardware, emailware, uses the same approach but requires the user to send the author an email. Postcardware, like other novelty software distribution terms, is often not strictly enforced. Cardware is similar to beerware.
The concept was first used by
History
In 1982,
In 1983 Jerry Pournelle wrote of "an increasingly popular variant" of free software "that has no name, but works thus: 'If you like this, send me (the author) some money. I prefer cash.'"[19] In 1984, Softalk-PC magazine had a column, The Public Library, about such software. Public domain is a misnomer for shareware, and Freeware was trademarked by Fluegelman and could not be used legally by others, and User-Supported Software was too cumbersome. So columnist Nelson Ford had a contest to come up with a better name.
The most popular name submitted was Shareware, which was being used by Wallace. However, Wallace acknowledged that he got the term from an InfoWorld magazine column by that name in the 1970s[failed verification][citation needed], and that he considered the name to be generic,[20] so its use became established over freeware and user-supported software.[21]
Fluegelman, Knopf, and Wallace clearly established shareware as a viable software distribution model by becoming wealthy.[22][23]
Prior to the popularity of the
Commercial shareware distributors such as Educorp and Public Domain Inc printed catalogs describing thousands of public domain and shareware programs that were available for a small charge on floppy disk. These companies later made their entire catalog available on CD-ROM. One such distributor, Public Software Library (PSL), began an order-taking service for programmers who otherwise had no means of accepting credit card orders. Meanwhile major online service provider CompuServe enabled people to pay (register) for software using their CompuServe accounts. When AOL bought out CompuServe, that part of CompuServe called SWREG (Shareware Registration) was sold to UK businessman Stephen Lee of Atlantic Coast PLC who placed the service on to the internet and enabled over 3,000 independent software developers to use SWREG as a back office to accept various payment methods including credit, debit and charge cards, Paypal and other services in multiple currencies. This worked in realtime so that a client could pay for software and instantly download it which was novel at the time. SWREG was eventually bought by Digital River, Inc. Also, services like Kagi started offering applications that authors could distribute along with their products that would present the user with an onscreen form to fill out, print, and mail along with their payment. Once telecommunications became more widespread, this service also expanded online. Toward the beginning of the Internet era, books compiling reviews of available shareware were published, sometimes targeting specific niches such as small business. These books would typically come with one or more floppy disks or CD-ROMs containing software from the book.[24]
As Internet use grew, users turned to downloading shareware programs from FTP or web sites. This spelled the end of bulletin board systems and shareware disk distributors. At first, disk space on a server was hard to come by, so networks like
Major download sites such as
Registration
If features are disabled in the freely accessible version, paying may provide the user with a
Some shareware relies entirely on the user's honesty and requires no password. Simply checking an "I have paid" checkbox in the application is all that is required to disable the registration notices.[26][27]
Games
This article needs additional citations for verification. (December 2016) |
In the early 1990s, shareware distribution was a popular method of publishing games for smaller developers, including then-fledgling companies Apogee Software (also known as 3D Realms), Epic MegaGames (now Epic Games), Ambrosia Software and id Software. It gave consumers the chance to play the game before investing money in it, and it gave them exposure that some products would be unable to get in the retail space.
With the Kroz series, Apogee introduced the "episodic" shareware model that became the most popular incentive for buying a game.[28] While the shareware game would be a truly complete game, there would be additional "episodes" of the game that were not shareware and could only be legally obtained by paying for the shareware episode. In some cases these episodes were neatly integrated and would feel like a longer version of the game, and in other cases the later episodes would be stand-alone games. Sometimes the additional content was completely integrated with the unregistered game, such as in Ambrosia's Escape Velocity series, in which a character representing the developer's pet parrot, equipped with an undefeatable ship, would periodically harass and destroy the player after they reached a certain level representing the end of the trial period.
Racks of games on single 5 1/4-inch and later 3.5-inch
The important distinguishing feature between a shareware game and a game demo is that the shareware game is (at least in theory) a complete working software program albeit with reduced content compared to the full game, while a game demo omits significant functionality as well as content. Shareware games commonly offered both single player and multiplayer modes plus a significant fraction of the full game content such as the first of three episodes, while some even offered the entire product as shareware while unlocking additional content for registered users. By contrast a game demo may offer as little as one single-player level or consist solely of a multiplayer map, this makes them easier to prepare than a shareware game.
Industry standards and technologies
There are several widely accepted standards and technologies that are used in the development and promotion of shareware.
- FILE_ID.DIZ is a descriptive text file often included in downloadable shareware distribution packages.
- Portable Application Description (PAD) is used to standardize shareware application descriptions. PAD file is an XML document that describes a shareware or freeware product according to the PAD specification.[30]
- DynamicPAD extends the Portable Application Description (PAD) standard by allowing shareware vendors to provide customized PAD XML files to each download site or any other PAD-enabled resource. DynamicPAD is a set of server-side PHP scripts distributed under a GPL license and a freeware DynamicPAD builder for 32-bit Windows. The primary way to consume or submit a DynamicPAD file is through the RoboSoft application by Rudenko Software, the DynamicPAD author. DynamicPAD is available at the DynamicPAD web site.
- Code signing is a technology that is used by developers to digitally sign their products. Versions of Microsoft Windows since Windows XP Service Pack 2 show a warning when the user installs unsigned software. This is typically offered as a security measure to prevent untrusted software from potentially infecting the machine with malware. However, critics see this technology as part of a tactic to delegitimize independent software development by requiring hefty upfront fees and a review process before software can be distributed.[31]
See also
References
- ^ Bink, Thomas (April 4, 1996). "Shareware Profitable and Popular". The Kingston Whig-Standard (Kingston, Ontario, Canada). p. 17.
- ^ Gnoffo Jr., Anthony (July 4, 1993). "The Shareware Computer Industry, A Growing World Of Innovation, Trust". Night-Ridder Newspapers. Rutland Daily Herald (Rutland, Vermont). p. 8D.
- ISBN 978-2-84822-169-4. Retrieved June 4, 2022.
- ^ Flynn, Laurie (November 14, 1993). "Cheap, Easy Shareware Big Business". Knight-Ridder Newspapers. Sun Herald (Biloxi, Mississippi). p. C7.
- .
- ISBN 1-59327-105-0. Retrieved June 4, 2022.
- S2CID 26291227.
- ISBN 978-1-68217-139-4.
- ^ Milian, Mark (June 13, 2011). "Reading apps sell subscriptions to fuzzy feelings". CNN. Archived from the original on May 22, 2014. Retrieved May 22, 2014.
- ^ Parberry, Ian (June 1995). "The Internet and the Aspiring Games Programmer" (PDF). Proceedings of DAGS 95, "Electronic Publishing and the Information Superhighway". Boston: Birkhauser. p. 2. Archived (PDF) from the original on March 4, 2016.
- Giles, Aaron. "Aaron's Computing History". Archived from the originalon March 16, 2012. Retrieved August 7, 2006.
- ^ "Exifer for Windows". www.friedemann-schmidt.com. Archived from the original on November 12, 2006. Retrieved January 18, 2016.
- ISBN 0-06-662072-4.
- ^ Jump 'n Bump (Archived 2015-12-22 at the Wayback Machine). readme.txt: "JUMP 'N BUMP by Brainchild Design in 1998 Jump 'n Bump is e-mailware. That means you're supposed to send us an e-mail. Write for example where you're from and what you thought about this game. If you do that, you will greatly encourage us to make more games for you!"
- ^ "Postcards".
- ^ Magid, Lawrence J. (August 1982). "PC-Talk". PC Magazine. p. 143. Archived from the original on May 26, 2021. Retrieved October 21, 2013.
- ^ Callahan, Michael E. "The History of Shareware". Paul's Picks. Archived from the original on February 2, 2008. Retrieved May 13, 2008.
- ^ Horizon: Psychedelic science by Bill Eagles, (about 41 mins into programme)
- ^ Pournelle, Jerry (July 1983). "Interstellar Drives, Osborne Accessories, DEDICATE/32, and Death Valley". BYTE. p. 323. Retrieved August 28, 2016.
- ^ Markoff, John (September 26, 2002). "Bob Wallace, 53, Software Pioneer, Dies". The New York Times. Archived from the original on June 25, 2016. Retrieved May 26, 2016.
- ^ "Association of Software Professionals - A community of real people using real names running real software businesses". www.asp-shareware.org. Archived from the original on April 2, 2010. Retrieved April 28, 2018.
- ^ "Bob Wallace Timeline". Erowid. January 12, 2004. Archived from the original on March 2, 2013. Retrieved March 7, 2013.
- ^ Article about Jim "Button" Knopf Archived 2007-02-10 at the Wayback Machine, from Dr. Dobb's Journal
- ^ "PC Mag Nov 24, 1992". November 24, 1992. Archived from the original on August 17, 2021. Retrieved April 1, 2015.
- ^ "Software That is both Shareware and Guiltyware". Archived from the original on May 24, 2014.
- ^ "FTP". Archived from the original on February 21, 2016.
- ^ "Anarchie v1.1.3 © 1993-94 Peter N Lewis". Archived from the original on October 28, 2015.
If you purchase a site license, contact me for information on how to make Anarchie automatically set the ÒI PaidÓ flag in the Preferences dialog (for those who are interested, I leave the ÒI PaidÓ checkbox off on my machine to ensure that the About box is not too annoying and it doesnÕt trouble me, so live with it :-)
- ^ Hague, James (February 8, 1999). "Gimme Your Money: A Half-Baked History of Shareware". Loonygames. Archived from the original on February 23, 2020. Retrieved February 23, 2020.
- ^ Driscoll 2022, pp. 117–120.
- ^ "PAD specification". Archived from the original on June 12, 2007. Retrieved May 12, 2006.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link) - ^ "Code Signing and You". rogueamoeba.com. Archived from the original on October 18, 2016. Retrieved April 28, 2018.
Works cited
- Driscoll, Kevin (2022). The Modem World: A Prehistory of Social Media. ISBN 978-0-300-24814-2. Retrieved June 4, 2022.