rs4u+@andrew.cmu.edu (Richard Siegel) (02/10/88)
Personally, I think that "CrippleWare", that is, software that intentionally has features disabled or rude messages that repeatedly are displayed, with instructions to send money in order to get the features working/remove the message, is the lowest form of nastiness. I figure the following: If I release a piece of shareware, people are either going to like it enough to send me some money, or they aren't! No amount of irritation by putting in messages, disabling features, etc, is going to change that. Besides, it's a real pain to have to maintain two versions of the program; one crippled, one not. This goes for demo versions of commercial software, too. Agreed that distributi demos is a good way to get exposed, but then again, anyone who's really interested is going to go to the dealer and look at it, anyway... --Rich Aw hell, what do I know.
cnc@hpcilzb.HP.COM (Chris Christensen) (02/11/88)
>Personally, I think that "CrippleWare", that is, software that intentionally >has features disabled or rude messages that repeatedly are displayed, with >instructions to send money in order to get the features working/remove >the message, is the lowest form of nastiness. > >I figure the following: If I release a piece of shareware, people are either >going to like it enough to send me some money, or they aren't! No amount >of irritation by putting in messages, disabling features, etc, is going >to change that. This is true, but what people forget is that those that do not send money do not have any right to use the program. Given the fact that the recent shareware surveys seem to indicate that we are all a bunch of crooks, I cannot blame anyone for using this (admittedly irritating) tactic. Chris
fiddler%concertina@Sun.COM (Steve Hix) (02/11/88)
In article <sW3pH2y00XcQzXk0PT@andrew.cmu.edu>, rs4u+@andrew.cmu.edu (Richard Siegel) writes: > > Personally, I think that "CrippleWare", that is, software that intentionally > has features disabled or rude messages that repeatedly are displayed, with > instructions to send money in order to get the features working/remove > the message, is the lowest form of nastiness. > > This goes for demo versions of commercial software, too. Agreed that > distributing demos is a good way to get exposed, but then again, > anyone who's really interested is going to go to the dealer and look > at it, anyway... This assumes, of course that dealers within a reasonable travelling range have anything interesting to demonstrate. Or can actually demo anything that they do have...no smiley. One local dealer can't even seem to keep a Mac +/SE/II running for longer than a day or so. seh
kurtzman@pollux.usc.edu (Stephen Kurtzman) (02/11/88)
In article <sW3pH2y00XcQzXk0PT@andrew.cmu.edu> rs4u+@andrew.cmu.edu (Richard Siegel) writes: > >Personally, I think that "CrippleWare", that is, software that intentionally >has features disabled or rude messages that repeatedly are displayed, with >instructions to send money in order to get the features working/remove >the message, is the lowest form of nastiness. > CrippleWare is a good idea. That is, software that is "semi-functional". A good example of this is the QuicKeys demo. It is powerful enough to demonstrate the advantages of QuicKeys (it is even useful in its own right), but not enough to compete with the product. It also has the advantage of letting the potential customer mull over the idea of the product for some time before making the decision to buy. I don't consider rude messages as part of the CrippleWare idea. Rude messages are annoying. There have been a couple of rude messages that have made me think twice about buying a shareware product. In the cases where I am lukewarm but leaning towards purchase, a rude message tips the scale and I don't buy.
peter@aucs.UUCP (Peter Steele) (02/15/88)
in article <41550@sun.uucp>, fiddler%concertina@Sun.COM (Steve Hix) says: > > In article <sW3pH2y00XcQzXk0PT@andrew.cmu.edu>, rs4u+@andrew.cmu.edu (Richard Siegel) writes: >> >> ... [stuff deleted] >> >> This goes for demo versions of commercial software, too. Agreed that >> distributing demos is a good way to get exposed, but then again, >> anyone who's really interested is going to go to the dealer and look >> at it, anyway... > > This assumes, of course that dealers within a reasonable travelling > range have anything interesting to demonstrate. Or can actually demo > anything that they do have...no smiley. One local dealer can't even > seem to keep a Mac +/SE/II running for longer than a day or so. > > seh Our nearest Apple dealer keeps virtually nothing on his shelves. If you want a demo, you're out of luck. I personally like companies that provide demo software. One of the things that I do in my job is evaluate software so I can advise other departments here what to buy. Ideally, what I like to get is full-fledged versions of software strictly for evaluation. Most companies don't have such policies. I was pleasantly surprised the other day when I called Silicon Beach about Silicon Press. They were pleasant to deal with and could answer all my questions about the product. I was even more pleased when he said he'd send me out an evaluation copy, no charge. I didn't even ask! He said that they find sending evaluation copies the cheapist form of advertising. If only more companies had that policy... APDA, and they had never heard of it! -- Peter Steele Acadia Univ. Wolfville NS Canada B0P1X0 (902)542-2201x121 UUCP:{uunet|watmath|utai|garfield}dalcs!aucs!Peter BITNET:Peter@Acadia -------------Internet:Peter%Acadia.BITNET@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU-------------
pete@titan.rice.edu (Pete Keleher) (02/14/90)
I've seen a lot of complaining about "crippleware" in this group, and I don't understand why. Demos serve exactly the same service as shareware, you play with the program and then send in your check if you like it. The only reasons that I can see for complaining are: 1) You don't like the lag time that it takes to process your check and send you a working program. 2) You have no intention of sending in a check. I can sympathize with both (even the second because YES I HAVE SOME SHAREWARE THAT I HAVEN'T PAID FOR), but I certainly can't criticise a guy trying to make me send in a check. -- Pete Keleher pete@titan.rice.edu
hcj@lzsc.ATT.COM (HC Johnson) (02/16/90)
In article <PETE.90Feb14094827@titan.rice.edu>, pete@titan.rice.edu (Pete Keleher) writes: > > I've seen a lot of complaining about "crippleware" in this group, and I don't > understand why. Demos serve exactly the same service as shareware, you play > with the program and then send in your check if you like it. The only reasons > that I can see for complaining are: > > 1) You don't like the lag time that it takes to process your check > and send you a working program. > 2) You have no intention of sending in a check. > From what I've seen, the crippleware is also very large. Probably due to being "finished product". Still the effect of size is to clog x.binaries (Usenet) or cost a lot of download $ (Compuserve, GENIE). All this overhead to get a crippled product. Howard C. Johnson ATT Bell Labs =====NEW address==== att!lzsc!hcj hcj@lzsc.att.com
bchurch@oucsace.cs.OHIOU.EDU (Bob Church) (02/20/90)
I'm very new to the mac, but with the computers that I have used crippleware is nothing more than a form of advertising for a commercial product. It can't actually be used, as in the case of PD or Shareware software. Is this the case with MacPassword? If so, how do they justify posting it to the net? Remember, not all netters have toll free access. If I were to download a file of several K and then find that it was a press release for DBASE IV or some such I'd probably be ready to use a little profanity myself. Of course I now know better. I wouldn't want it repeated several hundred times. It reminds me of he profanity hearing scene in the movie Lenny. ******************************************************************** * * * bob church bchurch@oucsace.cs.ohiou.edu * * * * If economics isn't an "exact" science why do computers crash * * so much more often than the stock market? * * bc * ********************************************************************