Shareware Survey

[ED ZOTTI]

What motivates me to register shareware is a good program plus a sense
that the laborer is worth his hire. Gimmicks, e.g., you'll get a rebate
for anybody who registers using a copy they got from you, do NOT
motivate me. Come to think of it, though ... there was one gimmick that
exhibited a sort of fiendish ingenuity. Shane Stump, the author of Back
& Forth, a task switcher, distributes his program through CompuServe.
The program you download works fine, except that to load it you have to
scroll through a long rap about shareware and copyright laws and so on
to find a randomly-generated letter at the bottom. You type the magic
letter and the program loads. The letter is different every time you
run the program. If you register you get an upgrade that drops this
feature. Like I say, it's fiendish, and it definitely motivates you to
register if you like the program, mainly because it drives you nuts.
  Getting a manual is a good motivator; trying to scroll through an
ASCII doc file on screen is a nightmare and printing it is tedious. The
promise of upgrades is a poor motivator; my experience is that most
shareware authors never follow up on such promises.
  Being accessible to answer questions via a BBS or CompuServe is a
good incentive; I love the idea of being able to make suggestions
and having them actually show up in subsequent versions.
  Dunno if that's the kind of info you want for your story. Shareware
is wonderful--I probably have half a dozen shareware programs that I
use every day, from my program menu to my command line editor. I
registered because it did what I wanted it to do at a reasonable price
and as a good Catholic boy I'd feel guilty if I didn't.