🚀 go-pugleaf

Further writes alberg@netlan,jpr.com (Al Berg):

> OK, we agree a bit more here.  Crippling of shareware *is* a real 
> turn off.  I usually don't even evaluate crippled programs unless 
> there is no alternative.

OK, and I'd like to remind you also that I was discussing a program 
that was recently acquired by a new publisher, who has seemed 
fit to introduce a new, additional nag screen *and* cripple a new 
function at the same time.  What a turn off!

Telix is a GOOD program. It is a COMPETENT program. It has an 
established following and a mystique all its own. It sports
compiled scripts that have lightning-fast execution, unlike the
sloooow interpreted scripts in Qmodem.  But Qmodem seems to have 
beaten it commercially mainly because Qmodem catered to the "base 
instincts" more openly (more color options, many more help 
screens, more automation, more flashy features, more ease of use by 
non-tech users, etc.) and reacted quickly to user input, while Telix 
seemed to remain proudly aloof... an unwise thing to do in business.

> To me, when an author cripples his program, it signals their 
> feeling that the program itself will not get the user to register.  
> Of course I am looking at this as a greedy user, not a person 
> trying to make a living writing shareware!

There's something else I'd like to say: in business, the ONLY 
opinion that matters is that of the greedy users!  The *opinions* 
of the authors are totally irrelevant.  The software business is 
a process of catering to greedy users. When you cater to their 
desires/fears/hopes/concerns, then they become paying customers.

When you nag them, they tend to go away and get catered to by
someone else. 

The dilemma of shareware marketing lies in the concept of shareware
itself.  It has weaknesses, and it has strengths. The strength is 
costless distribution. The weakness is that only a low registration 
(i.e., sales) rate can realistically be expected. 

It is true that the user gets to use a program without paying for
it. BUT IT IS ALSO TRUE that the publisher gets to reach an enormous
number of prospects at absolutely no cost. Such wide advertising is 
normally very expensive, much more than the production of many 
shareware programs themselves.  So letting the prospect use the 
program is an accepted cost of doing business, not any kind of 
favor.  Keep that in mind.