What is Shareware ?
I have been asked that question a lot over the years. The term Shareware has been used, mis-used, abused and bandied around as a bit of ‘buzz’ over time.
I had to explain it to my parents (who are not technical people by any stretch of the imagination) when I told them what I was doing. Of course they had read the occasional media piece which mentioned the word, but they just didn’t grasp the essence of it.
Shareware is simple … it is a generic term for a method of marketing software …
The term shareware is synonymous with trialware and try before you buy.
All three refer to the fact that you, as the potential customer, get to download the software and try it out before you actually commit to spending any money.
The ultimate goal for most (not all) software authors is to get people to buy their software. It’s the simple old commerce thing … I’ll provide you with something useful … you may me some money to compensate my for my thought and hard work.
Without large marketing budgets and the ability to get boxed software in pretty packaging in front of retail consumers, authors who write software need a method of getting there software purchased by the end user.
Most users would not be happy to pay money for something that :
- Is not a household name
- Is not proven and reliable
- May not do what they want
… unless of course they could try it out for free before having to commit their hard earned cash.
Software developers, there are many resources you can find on the Internet which will help you with developing and marketing your software :
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