Does shareware still work?

I need to make yet another Masters of Doom reference, this time to the idea of shareware. The original Doom and Commander Keen series made a ton of money by going the shareware route. Is this still possible today?

Two things about software have changed. The first thing is the Internet, and everything that comes with it. From piracy to file trading and just the sheer volume of free stuff out there, do you really think anyone is interested to pay for stuff anymore? My personal stance is that I'll pay for something I intend to use if it's good software. It's the reason I paid for Trillian, for example. It's good stuff and worth it to me, and the developers deserve to be compensated for it. I'm probably a tiny minority that feels that way.

The second thing that has changed is the open source movement. It was with great reluctance last New Year that I started giving POP Forums away, because I knew its days of being paid for were over after three years. There were better free packages out there on different platforms. Even with my forthcoming version, which I think will finally “catch up” and even exceed other .NET packages, I can't see people paying for it. If I put a link up there to take $25 from people that thought it was cool, would anyone bite? Somehow I doubt it.

Is shareware dead?

4 Comments

  • no.

  • OK, so shareware doesn't work for *you*.



    Ask Thomas Warfield how much money he makes from Pretty Good Solitaire.



  • I remember in the 90s I wrote some little applications that I sold for $10 a pop. They actually became pretty successful, even having a set of cracks developed for them by the pirating community (kind of an honour eh? :))



    My experience was, a lot of people will pay for something they use as long as the barriers are removed. Charge a small fee, a fee small enough for people not to think twice about the charge. I found $10 a license worked really well. Maybe I could have upped the charge, who knows, I'm not a business mind by any means :)



    There were free products available that did similiar, but concentrating on service, care, and the areas where free software can't compete...it did me alright, at least :)

  • My rule of thumb is get it on my machine and try it out. If I find myself using it on a steady basis or if it is truly useful but only once in a while, then I'll buy it. I have no software on my machines that I didn't pay for if it's not free. Gee, I am fully licensed! That feels good.

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