Shareware

A brief description about shareware and its differences with freeware

1. Shareware Bayar F. AbdulJabbar

2. Contents What is it? When was it born? How costly are they? Differences Benefits

3. What is shareware? A type of  proprietary ( مملوك ) software   and is provided to users for a limited time. The developer provides either the full version or enables some certain features. After the trial period has passed, the program may stop running until a license is purchased, or run with limitations. Shareware is often offered without support or updates which only become available with the purchase of a license.

4. History During the 1980s,   Bob Wallace  produced  PC-Write, a word processor, and called it  shareware . Wallace said that he got the term from an  InfoWorld  magazine by that name in the 1970s, and that he considered the name to be generic, so its use became established over  freeware  and  user-supported software . Before the Internet, they were being distributed via discs, the only way for developers to sell their software. But as the internet grew, a large number of users turned to downloading shareware from FTP or websites . This marked as the end of disk distributors.

5. Cost The real cost depends on the size and implementation of the given shareware. The bigger and more functional the software is, the costlier it becomes. Mainly ranges from $1 and up to $500. Some are even more costly, Autodesk AutoCAD costs about $1699 Methods for paying are via PayPal, Visa and MasterCard, or via transfer of phone prepaid credit, or any other way. Please visit this site to know more about the criteria for free software: https ://cost-of-free.wikispaces.com/Evaluation+Criteria+and+Template+for+Free+Software

6. Differences Open Source Source code: Available to public Modifiable May be redistributed Community of developers Free Support can be community based or paid. Shareware Free for limited/trial period Developer owns rights Source Code not available No collaborative community Payment often required

7. Benefits Try it before you buy. Better support, you can often communicate directly with the developer. A way for living for many people, making software and selling them. For developers, marketing via the shareware method is far less expensive than traditional advertising .