🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <1991Mar19.172138.4340@Solbourne.COM> imp@Solbourne.COM (Warner Losh) writes:
>By distributing your software via shareware, you are accepting the
>risk that people will not pay you for programs they really use.

This is true if you distribute your software. Shareware distribution
merely exposes the author to somewhat more more risk.

However, we could also argue that the shareware author enjoys
higher total revenues, despite the (somewhat) higher rate of
piracy. If this were not true, then shareware authors would have
all gone shrinkwrap by now.

If you run a business, you must plan to have some losses in the
ordinary course of business. For example, if you open up a grocery
store, customers will drop your produce on the floor and step on
it, accidentally break open glass and plastic containers, fill
grocery carts and then realize they didn't bring any money, etc.
Some of these losses are truly accidental, while others are the
result of customer malice.

One way to run a tidy grocery store is to keep the front doors
locked. Then the customers won't come in and mess up all your
nice displays. However, you won't earn much money this way.

The shareware pirate is one of the ordinary business losses for
the shareware author. However, if we look at the overall picture,
we might see that this is not the most useful way to look at
things. The shareware pirate is often a pirate for two reasons:
(1) (s)he isn't very wealthy to begin with, and (2) (s)he has
collected SO MUCH shareware that registering all of it would cost
a small fortune.

This doesn't excuse breaking the rules, of course. As we all know,
writing a computer program grants a person a sort of Divine Right
to dictate the behavior of hundreds of thousands of strangers.
But consider whether the shareware pirate is really hurting the
shareware author.

Recall point (2) above. The shareware pirate often is an enthusiast
who collects a lot of software, spends a lot of time getting it to
run, and generally has a reputation for knowing a lot about software.
People who have other job responsibilities often contact the 
computer enthusiasts they know to get advice on what products to
buy. As we all know, experts tend to recommend what they use.

The shareware pirate who acts as an unpaid consultant could well be
generating a lot of indirect revenue for the shareware author (s)he is
"ripping off". However, I have not seen a shareware license that
attempts to compensate a shareware user for advertising the product.
The shareware author earns higher profits by replacing, in part,
for-profit dealers with volunteer consultants. Is that fair?

Every shareware registration form should include a field for 
identifying the registered user who influenced the new registrant's
decision. Then the shareware author should send a kickback to
that person. This would motivate the unpaid-consultant-pirates to
register, as well as give *them* an incentive to pressure their
clients to register.


--
Dan Mocsny				
Internet: dmocsny@minerva.che.uc.edu