burkley@cod.NOSC.MIL (V. Joe Burkley) (01/25/91)
Greetings,
Sometime in the next few months I plan the release of program to the public.
I am still debating about what is the most effective means of releasing a
program so as to maximize the registration of users. I know of several broad
categories of release types:
Shareware: Freely distributed, users can try for free but are on a honor
system to become a registered user (by paying a fee) if they
desire to use the software on a longterm basis.
Freeware: Freely distributed, no cost ever to the user.
Crippleware: Freely distributed, but the program is a limited version of the
software that is available by registering. Or the program is
a full blown version that will cease to work after a given date.
I am writing to get responses of DEVELOPERS experiences with the various
methods of distributing software. I am asking you to send me a description
of what you consider to be the various methods of releasing software (please
correct my above descriptions if your definition differs). In addition I
would like to hear about the results you have received when distributing your
software. Please include numbers if possible, as in what are the registration
fees, how many people registered, how many people do you think should
register, a description of the software, and are you satisfied with the way
things worked out? I plan to do a poll to users to try and find what makes
them register a program. Are there any questions that you think would give
insight into the user's view of registering products? Has this discusion
occured before? If so, where can I dig up archives of it? I will definitely
post a summary if I get a decent response from the NET. Send all replies
by e-mail.
-Joe Burkley
burkley@cod.nosc.mil
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| Joe Burkley | O_O | "It's not enough that I succeed, |
| burkley@cod.nosc.mil \/_\/ everyone else must fail." |
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