Net Basics: Shareware Freeware - one of the articles published by Lyndon Cerejo

Last time we talked about that technological innovation called File Transfer Protocol (FTP for us commoners). As much as I tried over the fortnight, I couldn't find any khabbar on any of the 80 million web pages talking about any innovation to help us FTP daal-chaaval and the like …so I guess we'll just have to wait a couple of centuries more for that to happen.

There are some interesting concepts that go hand in hand with FTP that we'll take a look at today. It's nice to have software programs that you can download from an FTP site, but how do those programs get up there ? Not by those aliens in Independence Day, yaar - software developers - individuals and companies put their creations up there for exposure, since the Internet is accessed by junta from all over the world.

Huh ?! So who pays them for their time and effort ? If people like you and me download software from the Net, how can they keep track of who's downloaded what ? How would they collect payments from anonymous customers ? Questions, questions, questions !

After some major brain - racking sessions, software developers who put their work on the Net followed one of two schools of thoughts :

The first group puts their software up for free on the Net - for the love of mankind and mental satisfaction ... that kind of pappu. Software of this kind is called "freeware". If you wonder how you can thank the developer, here's what one freeware developer said, "You can send me a postcard from your home town, a CD-ROM, or a Mercedes. Be creative but please, no dead rodents."

The other line of thought puts software up for a fee (guess they don't really like the "r" in free) and they design software with some guards thrown in. Called "shareware", the software is freely available for downloading and use, but only for a trial period (typically a month). If the user likes it and wants to continue to use it, he sends the amount stated, to the developer as payment.

If the user doesn't do so, but still tries to use the software one of two things happen : the software just won't work (one of the guards), or a message keeps coming up, reminding the user to pay up. Some of these messages even resort to emotional blackmail, talking about the end of shareware if people don't support the concept. The shareware concept basically appeals to your conscience and your desire to support the concept.

If the shareware concept were applied to the rest of the consumer world, it would make all of our lives easier. Imagine, for instance, taking home a computer or printer, a stereo system, or a car, trying it out for a month, then deciding whether to pay for it or just toss it out. If wishes were horses ….