Can You Make A Living From Shareware?

Grok Headline matches for Can You Make A Living From Shareware?

Would you make a living will?

Would you make a living will? 06/18/2004 06:17 AM
The government wants to introduce a law to allow people to make advance decisions on their health and welfare should they become incapacitated. Would you make a living will?

Boxers Who Make a Living Losing

Boxers Who Make a Living Losing 05/09/2004 10:39 PM
Tomato cans, palookas, bums, stiffs: boxing has myriad words to describe those with the singular purpose of losing to more promising fighters.

More People are Turning to the Internet
to Make a Living Online

More People are Turning to the Internet
to Make a Living Online 12/28/2004 09:29 PM
Promotion World Dec 29 2004 1:11AM GMT

Shareware

Shareware 10/30/2003 01:41 PM
Last night at the Innovators presentation at the O’Reilly OS X conference, Rael Dornfest brought up the old days of Mac shareware. (I immediately thought of Anarchie and MacHTTP; there are other great examples.)

The question got me wondering about the meaning of the word shareware.

I’m not sure what it means these days. My company may be small (my wife, me, and a fierce gray tabby), and we don’t have a physical box for our product, but I don’t think of our business as being fundamentally different from larger software companies. I’ve never called NetNewsWire a shareware app (though other people have, and it doesn’t bother me.)

Three types of companies

You could break software companies down into three groups if you want. One group is the very small—companies like mine, like UserCreations and Flying Meat Software. The next group is the small companies: Bare Bones Software, the Omni Group, and so on. The last group is the large companies: Adobe, Macromedia, Apple, and so on.

What’s common to all three is that they develop and sell software. Some companies have boxes and large advertising budgets, sure, but I don’t think that’s the difference between shareware and commercial software.

You might say that there’s a difference of culture. Many small developers have weblogs, they’re open and accessible, outspoken but also good at listening. (Being good at listening is perhaps the key attribute of a successful small developer.) They are, in short, not corporate.

But the definition of shareware has traditionally had to do with how the software was distributed and not the attributes of the developer. What I think has happened is that the Internet has made even large companies shareware developers. Not long ago I downloaded Adobe Photoshop Elements, evaluated it during a demo period, then bought the software. I did the same thing with Transmit by Panic, which is a far smaller company. The experience was the same.

Is Transmit shareware? Is Photoshop Elements shareware?

Software

I prefer to think that Transmit and Photoshop Elements are, purely and simply, software. Software these days is often distributed online and has an evaluation period built in. Try before you buy. In that sense, I think the shareware model caught on all over the place, so much so that it’s now hard to talk about shareware as being different from the normal practices of software companies.

But... there clearly is something different about small developers. Something to do with weblogs and chat and talking and listening and sharing code and ideas. A community thing.

I just don’t know what to call it. Shareware community isn’t quite right (but I don’t really mind it, either). I’m not sure it needs a name, but maybe a name would be helpful? I don’t know.

Update: further reading

There are some good previous posts on this topic—here’s Buzz Andersen; here’s Slava of Unsanity: Shareware Is Dead.

Shareware Tracker v1.8.1.9

Shareware Tracker v1.8.1.9 01/08/2004 08:29 PM
A complete solution for shareware developers who wish to submit their applications to the many download web sites for review and listing. It not only automates much of the submission process, but keeps track of what is listed and where, including version information, number of downloads, etc. Submitting and checking on the various sites is quick and easy, while allowing the developer complete control. [Shareware $89.00 45 Days 3.51 MB]

Shareware Business Blunders

Shareware Business Blunders 06/30/2004 04:17 PM

NetCaptor's Adam Stiles just announced his new eBook, Shareware Business Blunders...and How to Avoid Them. Adam contacted 38 shareware authors - including myself - and asked them to talk about their mistakes, then compiled their answers into a 124-page PDF eBook.

If you're a shareware author or you're interested in becoming one, this book is certainly worth the $47 Adam is asking for it.

State of Shareware on the Mac - Part 3

State of Shareware on the Mac - Part 3 08/13/2004 11:19 PM
Word processors are among the earliest applications for the personal computer and allow the user to compose, format, edit and print chiefly textual documents. Although early word processors used tag-based markup (think HTML) for document formatting, most modern word processors take advantage of a graphical interface to provide what-you-see-is-what-you-get (WYSIWYG) editing. Currently the alternative word processor market appears to be thriving, with applications like Mellel and Z-Write offering unique features not available using other word processor giants such as <a href="http://www.microsoft.com/office/word/prodinfo/default.mspx& quot; target="_blank">Microsoft Word</a>. "You can"t survive by offering an MS Word clone and hope to survive just by the merit of being cheaper, because in several significant markets, especially education, Word gets pretty close, price-wise, to other WP"s pricing," Ori Redler of <a href="http://www.redlers.com/mellel.html">Mellel</a> ; told Spymac. "To make it in the market, you have to offer something that Word doesn"t offer." Redler"s Mellel is a multilingual word processor designed for scholars and writers offering innovative page, paragraph, and character styles, tables, headers and footers, citations and bibliography, and tabs. New features are being added to Mellel in the near future, "with the main purpose being not only to compete with MS Word and other word-processors, but to offer significant advantages over what Word and [other large word processors] offer." Though the word processor market is dominated by Microsoft, many are looking for a Microsoft alternative. Mellel recently did an extensive survey of its users and found that 22% of the participants "chose Mellel because they simply cannot or will not use Microsoft products." That large percentage of the market is left open for word processors like Mellel or <a href="http://www.stonetablesoftware.com/z-write/">Z-Write </a> to jump in and provide users with what they need. Z-Write from Stone Table Software is a word processor for creative writers with several features designed for making it easier to find and keep track of a large amount of divergent material. "One feature that almost every customer of mine mentions is simplicity: with its myriad options, Microsoft can never compete with that," Stone Table Software"s Marc Zeedar told Spymac. "Instead of offering every feature under the sun, I focus exclusively on the features writers need most." Sales in the Macintosh word processor shareware market seem to be doing exceptionally well. Mellel just celebrated 2 years as a shareware product with sales during that time exceeding company expectations. "We hoped for a 20% growth year to year but got, instead, a 20% growth month to month" Redler said. "Before we ventured into the market, we had no idea whether internet-based shareware sales truly works or if we can turn a profit making a Mac only product. Happily, it turned out that shareware products that are good, make a very nice profit. " Zeeder would "like Apple to do more to promote small developers," but overall he is "happy with [Apple"s direction]." Currently, Z-Write is beta-testing the new version and sales have more than doubled though the update is not complete.

the case of the GPLed shareware

the case of the GPLed shareware 08/30/2004 05:14 PM
An Open Letter to Zed. Someday people will realise that the GPL offers no protection from anything, and use a real free software license instead.

State of Shareware on the Mac: Part 4

State of Shareware on the Mac: Part 4 09/09/2004 10:53 AM
In the fourth and final installment of Spymac's look into the Macintosh shareware market, <a href="http://www.mireth.com/" target="_blank">Mireth Technology</a>'s VP Research & Development, Robert Wiebe, and Josh Hague of <a href="http://www.koingosw.com/" target="_blank">Koingo Software</a> let us in on what they think of the state of shareware in the Mac market. Developing several products such as ShredIt, NetShred, ToTheTrash, iVCD, MacVCD, MacMP3CD, Trailer Tracker, iTickTalk, and Mireth Gamma Screensaver, Mireth Technology has made a name for itself among the shareware industry. The company is doing well enough that its "software sales in all categories are exceeding operational requirements," Wiebe told Spymac. "The pace of development could be improved if users with pirated software would make the effort needed to register their copy." Mireth Technology's "revenues in excess of operational requirements are used to fund development which in turn improve existing products and allow [for] development of new products." With Apple constantly releasing new applications that compete with popular shareware, the shareware authors are forced to compete with Apple for a part of the market. Apple ships its applications free with new computers, leaving small-fee shareware to compete with a free product. This would seem to somehow affect shareware authors in a negative way but perhaps having increased competition is good for the shareware market. "While Apple does offer competing products at no cost, I still believe they should continue to do so," Josh Hague of Koingo Software told Spymac. "As a shareware author, I am continually looking for ways to improve my product line, both feature- and interface-wise, [and] having these highly competitive products on the market forces me to accept new challenges and continue to develop while taking my products to a new level. Many developers simply need that extra push to enhance their own products. " "The state of the Mac shareware market right now is vibrant, everyday there's something new released." Graham Barlow, Editor of <a href="http://www.macformat.co.uk/" target="_blank">MacFormat</a> in the UK told Spymac. "Of course, if you make a program that really enhances the functionality of OS X then you run the risk of Apple incorporating your ideas into the next operating system release and making your program irrelevent!" Taking products to a new level, improving the quality of the Macintosh experience, and providing support to small developers are a few items that Apple provides for shareware authors. Perhaps these reasons are why shareware authors are "encouraged by Apple's direction" and generally think the Mac market is doing very well.

On The Meaning Of The Word Shareware

On The Meaning Of The Word Shareware 10/30/2003 09:23 PM
I'm not sure what it means these days. (Brent Simmons via MyAppleMenu)

Packager puts shareware into the big box

Packager puts shareware into the big box 04/20/2004 06:15 PM
French-based Avanquest helps independent developers make the jump from shareware obscurity to the bright lights of Wal-Mart.

Macworld, "Shareware", And The Future

Macworld, "Shareware", And The Future 11/17/2003 08:52 PM
The best independent software companies who don't do boxed software can hope for is someone like Tim who's out on patrol, looking for the next big thing. Hopefully this will change, because a lot of the best damned software on the Mac is coming out of someone's garage - just like the original Apple-1. (Under The Microscope via MyAppleMenu)

Favorite Mac Utilities / Shareware?

Favorite Mac Utilities / Shareware? 06/27/2004 10:48 PM

State Of Shareware On The Mac -- Part
One

State Of Shareware On The Mac -- Part
One 07/27/2004 06:10 PM
By Kristie Masuda, Spymac (via MyAppleMenu)

Four Shareware Programs Every Mac
Designer Should Try

Four Shareware Programs Every Mac
Designer Should Try 09/15/2004 07:34 PM
By Jason Walsh, Low End Mac (via MyAppleMenu)

Shareware Industry Conference

Shareware Industry Conference 07/13/2004 01:50 PM

This morning I leave for the annual Shareware Industry Conference, so things will be quiet around here until I return on July 18. While I'm away I'll continue to answer support questions posted in the forums, but most likely my replies will be slower than usual.

Giving Shareware As A Gift

Giving Shareware As A Gift 12/15/2003 09:18 AM

Will free software kill shareware?

Will free software kill shareware? 08/28/2004 09:44 AM
Will free software kill shareware? Every day we celebrate the victories of open source software against the big guns, enjoying each corporate and governmental adoption as it comes. We talk about how wonderful it is that open source software is taking part in a larger social and economic revolution and comment on how we're looking forward to the day when open source software will dominate the software industry. The little guys, the story will go, put together a series of tools that evolved into a complete operating system which ultimately took over and threw down the big monolithic software giants. And all along, we, the little guys, kept to our values and ideals, held strong in the face of corporate threats, and banded together to Fight the Good Fight. What started as a bunch of little guys turned into several companies, and these companies grew until they were big guys. Then we garnered the support of several large companies and flirted with even more. Until one day we looked around and realized we weren't the little guys anymore.

MacWorld and ‘shareware’

MacWorld and ‘shareware’ 11/17/2003 07:46 PM
The Rogue Amoeba folks write in Macworld, “Shareware,” And The Future about how it can be difficult to get your software reviewed in MacWorld unless you’re a large software company.

NetNewsWire has been reviewed in MacWorld, but that doesn’t take away from the good points made in this article. (And the article also points out that MacWorld has made progress in this area with its new capsule reviews.)

Does Shareware X-Chat for Windows
Violate the GPL?

Does Shareware X-Chat for Windows
Violate the GPL? 08/30/2004 05:44 PM

Apple Claims Ownership of Shareware

Apple Claims Ownership of Shareware 11/18/2003 10:24 AM

Shareware Can Beat Off-The-Shelf Version

Shareware Can Beat Off-The-Shelf Version 12/28/2003 10:15 AM
If you haven't delved into the world of shareware, the new year may be an opportune time. By Allan Hoffman (Star-Ledger via MyAppleMenu)

SHareware Collection CD's Wanted

SHareware Collection CD's Wanted 06/22/2004 09:21 AM

As many of you know I have been running a old school BBS for a very long time and it's home on the Internet is at www.bbsnets.com the site has one of the largest shareware collections on the Internet dating from present back a significant number of years. One of my hobbies is collecting old shareware CD's. My current collection is close to 200 disk but I have gaps in the collections.

I know a lot of you purchased shareware CD's and have them stashed away. My goal is to collect every shareware CD ever produced. This is a huge undertaking so if you have CD's collecting dust and you have been trying to figure out if you are going to toss them in trash etc. Consider donating them to help me fulfill my dream of having a complete collection. My ultimate goal is to have all of those programs on the BBS. We already have nearly 500,000 shareware programs on-line.

When hard-drive space was a premium most BBS operators could not afford to keep more than a year or two's worth of releases on-line but that is not the case now and would be nice to be able to have 15 years worth of shareware releases on-line.

The Toll Piracy Takes on Shareware

The Toll Piracy Takes on Shareware 01/04/2004 09:33 PM

On Piracy: Nick Bradbury, creator of TopStyle and FeedDemon explains the damage done by the casual, supposedly harmless, pirating of shareware. To find out the depth of the problem, he created a version of TopStyle that was supposedly cracked, and posted it on a warez site.

This cracked version pinged home the first time it was run, providing a way for me to find out how many people were using it. To my dismay, in just a few weeks more people had used this cracked version than had ever purchased it. I knew piracy was rampant, but I didn't realize how widespread it was until this test.

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Japanese Mac Shareware and Freeware
Games

Japanese Mac Shareware and Freeware
Games 05/28/2004 11:14 AM
Mac Games and More has posted a selection of Japanese Mac Shareware and Freeware Games with descriptions and explanations of game play, otherwise in Japanese. Download links are also available.

widespread piracy is against shareware
authors

widespread piracy is against shareware
authors 01/05/2004 04:58 AM
Nick Bradbury on software piracy .. oh god not again: on piracy .. test

nick.typepad.com/blog/2004/01/on_piracy.html
track this site | 4 links

Freeware and shareware help monitor nets

Freeware and shareware help monitor nets 05/14/2004 01:50 AM
Computerworld Singapore May 14 2004 5:34AM GMT

PMS Alert - Download.com - Free
downloads, shareware, and more.

PMS Alert - Download.com - Free
downloads, shareware, and more. 11/19/2003 12:50 PM
PMS Alert - Download.com - Free downloads, shareware, and more .. amusing $5 program that married men might find helpful

download.com.com/3000-2124-10219171.html?tag=lst-0-15
track this site | 6 links

TopStyle and FeedDemon nominated for
shareware award

TopStyle and FeedDemon nominated for
shareware award 05/19/2004 04:26 PM

TopStyle and FeedDemon have both been nominated for the 2004 Shareware Industry Awards :)

Ask MacSlash: Small Company Shareware
Visibility

Ask MacSlash: Small Company Shareware
Visibility 01/01/2005 06:51 PM

Shareware Vs. Commercial-Style Marketing
Of Software

Shareware Vs. Commercial-Style Marketing
Of Software 01/16/2004 11:03 AM

"Nick Bradbury (FeedDemon) om
piratkopiering av shareware"

"Nick Bradbury (FeedDemon) om
piratkopiering av shareware" 01/04/2004 09:40 PM

Shareware makers team up for utilities
bundle

Shareware makers team up for utilities
bundle 11/14/2003 10:19 AM
Several Mac software makers have teamed up to offer Mac OS X Utilities: Volume 1, which costs US$45 now through Dec. 13. Separately, the seven applications would cost $120.

Mac Shareware Company Raises $30,000 for
Tsunami Relief

Mac Shareware Company Raises $30,000 for
Tsunami Relief 02/01/2005 08:43 PM

Kudos to Babel Company for raising $30,000 for the tsunami relief effort.

Para la SGAE, Linux es una version
shareware de Unix

Para la SGAE, Linux es una version
shareware de Unix 04/29/2004 04:56 AM

Ocloud Software Integrates SwiftCD
Service Into Shareware Assistant

Ocloud Software Integrates SwiftCD
Service Into Shareware Assistant 07/13/2004 03:08 AM
Ocloud Software (www.ocloudsoft.com), the maker of Shareware Assistant (SWA), has teamed up with CD/DVD on-demand manufacturing and fulfillment leader SwiftCD (www.SwiftCD.com) to provide a new and improved, integrated software solution for software developers wishing to use SwiftCD for physical delivery of their products. Shareware Assistant is a program designed to assist developers in tracking their sales, processing orders automatically and assisting in better management and organization of customer information. And version 1.0 of Shareware Assistant -- just released -- includes an automated SwiftCD XML interface. [PRWEB Jul 13, 2004]

"MAKE: Blog: MAKE:DIYcast- our new
audio/podcast experiment!"

"MAKE: Blog: MAKE:DIYcast- our new
audio/podcast experiment!" 04/19/2005 08:36 AM

[unsanity] ShapeShifter - Haxies -
Freeware and shareware Mac OS X hacks
that enhance the way Mac OS X works;
includes WindowShade X, FruitMenu,
Xounds, Silk, Menu Master, FontCard,
ShadowKiller, Dock Detox and more.

[unsanity] ShapeShifter - Haxies -
Freeware and shareware Mac OS X hacks
that enhance the way Mac OS X works;
includes WindowShade X, FruitMenu,
Xounds, Silk, Menu Master, FontCard,
ShadowKiller, Dock Detox and more. 11/19/2003 11:47 AM
Shapeshifter - change the look of your OS X .. ShapeShifter 1.0 .. ShapeShifter .. theming

unsanity.com/haxies/shapeshifter
track this site | 6 links

Trying to make Web services make sense

Trying to make Web services make sense 06/22/2004 07:29 AM
Multiple standards muddy the waters and keep customers from taking the Web services plunge.
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Can You Make A Living From Shareware?

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