A discussion about the viability of self-employed shareware development stemming from my inflammatory article of the same name. http://culater.net/thc/index.php?entry=/Development/shareware_economics.txt

• I suspect there may be a somewhat different reason for lack of registrations that you didn't consider. Specifically, until reading this blog post of yours, I honestly had no idea whatsoever that PithHelmet was intended to be shareware. None. At all. Ever.

  • That's a good point - I suppose that may account for some lack of registration. The previous versions were all free and I didn't make a huge fanfare about going to shareware in the documentation. Perhaps I should write something down in there. Sometimes the simple answer is the simple answer. MikeSolomon

Shareware Alert

How do people feel about a shareware alert that pops up on a new version install? It's not particularly difficult to program in and a single showing is hardly nagging and probably not annoying.

• I think you could even get away with nag-ware if it said something like "Hi, PithHelmet has just blocked your 10,000th advertisment for free. How much was that worth to ya?" I tend to click through install popups and something that reminds me how useful the software I'm using is would be interesting as inform-ware even if I chose not to pay. You'd need to have some way of giving registered user a key to turn it off though... Little Snitch is a reverse firewall that if unregistered turns off after 3 hours but you can then just manually turn it back on. It's very annoying but entirely defensible I think. bbz

  • That's a possibility. I remember some older application (maybe an early version of Anarchie) used to have an "I paid" checkbox. I already track how many blocks PithHelmet makes, so springing an alert every 10,000 blocks might be pretty easy. Might have to make it more like 5,000 since I'm only up to 3,200 myself.

• A few thoughts from a consumer of shareware:

First, thank you for all the time and effort you expend. I always assumed the registration rate for shareware was low, but I'm shocked to find out how low. You must be very frustrated. Here are some factors you may not have considered: As you mentioned, a euphemism for shareware is "try before you buy ware", and I, for one try a lot, but only buy a few (and I delete the ones I don't buy). If there are many people like me, there may not be nearly as many people using PithHelmet as have downloaded it. Why not buy? Well, economics, for one. The tab for each program may be small, but the shear number of shareware programs is staggering. I read many Mac publications, and dogear about twenty pages a month that mention new shareware I'd like to try. At, say, ten bucks a pop, the outlay would quickly add up. I therefore make the same judgements we all make every day walking through stores: It's nice, I'd like to have it, but I have other priorities. Also, as stable as the Mac is, I have learned through bitter experience that the least-modified installation is the safest and simplest. I intentionally forego most software that modifies or "hacks" the system and native programs such as Finder, Safari, etc., not because each one individually isn't harmless, but because, as you add more and more of them, the Law of Unintended Consequences always seems to kick in. With a few notable exceptions, I run a clean, native system (I administer six networked Macs), and have very few problems. Lastly, the most memorable shareware I've used has usually evolved from freeware, to shareware, to commercialware (Alladin Systems and Karelia come to mind). It really does seem that there's a Darwinian aspect to Mac shareware, and that evolution (read: profitability) does not smile on the animal that does not evolve to the commercial state. Just some blathering from the other side of the equation. Hope it makes some sense. BTW, where can I get some hired thugs?

• I'm baffled by the calculus of "too expensive":

Your site is hilarious. The guy with the hiredthugs comments was a crack up. I'm not a PithHelmet user (advertising is everywhere, nothing is free), and I just downloaded SIMBL (for the syntax coloring plug in), and have yet to restart Safari. I've never SOLD shareware (but I'm fixing to) but I have made my living for many years now in the commercial software business as a dreaded Marketer. Are you over the shuddering revulsion yet? OK, let me continue... I flatly don't understand (ironically) how people decide this $20 is too much, but that $20 is OK. It's not hard to spend $10 on lunch. My daily espresso bill is in the $6 range. I've got 2 kids. Taking the wife out to see a movie on a Friday night easily costs $100. I also pay for shareware that I regularly use. The number of those apps is pretty small, but I gladly pony up. In fact, the next time I use Pacifist, I'm going to pay for it... The people who bitch about how much it costs are unlikely to EVER pay for it, so ignore them. Pester the other people mercilessly until they do pay. I like the suggestion above: PithHelmet just blocked the n-dredth ad. I'd accelerate the popups as that number grows, until the ratio is 1:1... At that point, suggest to them that they get the free version... Why should they coast on your efforts? What have they done for you lately? To heck with them... Regards, Lorin