Re: Shareware on the i - Need some opinions.... -- MIDRANGE-L

IMHO, shareware is an outdated concept.

Prior to the Internet, distributing software for the mass market was an expensive and difficult proposition. If you had a great application, how would you get it to people? You could, of course, buy shelf space in the computer stores, but that would require a lot of money to be spent on distribution. Big companies like Microsoft, IBM, etc can get the folks at Best Buy to put their products on the shelves, but could you? Could you afford it?

It furthermore let people try the software before buying it. That's nothing different from what was possible with commercial software (giving a 30 day trial or whatever), but since you had to buy the commercial software in order to take it home from Best Buy (or wherever) there was no point to a 30 day trial for commercial software.

Shareware provided a way to let people distribute it themselves. You let people copy the program from computer to computer and try it. This was much more practical for the guy in his basement who wanted to provide an application. If folks liked it, they could buy it. It further gave them a chance to try before they buy, which was with commercial software of the day.

Since the Internet, however, this has all changed. You can easily find commercial software, download it and get a 30 day trial. You don't need shelf space at a retailer to sell software to the mass market anymore, setting up a web page costs very little. The difference between "Shareware" and "commercial product with a trial period" is a very blurry line today.

You seem to imply that shareware means that no technical support is expected by the end-user. In my experience, the end-user always expects technical support with anything... (including code snippets given as an example in a magazine!)

Dave wrote:

Hi All,

I have created a tool that has proven very effective in reducing program dumps and help desk calls in our company. It also adds a couple of 'nice to have' features for users and programmers. I have spent some time the past couple of weeks turning it into something customizable enough to run in most any shop.
At this point, a lot of my personal time has gone into the program, and I have been considering releasing it as shareware. I have not seen a lot of shareware for the System i, and I do not know how well the market has received shareware in the past. I am considering a very inexpensive package - maybe a couple of dollars per user.
Definitely not going to make me rich, but maybe help get some return on my time investment. My logic is that if it saves even one or two help desk calls per year, then the program more than pays for itself. I want near instant ROI. And I also do not really have time to consider rolling out a full-blown commercial product -- although I did consider letting someone else distribute it...
Has anyone in the group ventured into shareware for the I?
One area I wonder about is piracy. I have never used hacked/stolen software on the I, nor do I know of any company that has done so, or even of any software vendor who had their products illegally distributed. Just debating how much time I should put into licensing/anti-piracy... Would it be ridiculous to expect people to be honest about their usage?

Anyhow, thanks for letting me think aloud. If anyone has any feedback I would like to hear it.

Thanks,
Dave

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