Re: EULA for "shareware"
- From: "MikeD" <nobody@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Wed, 5 Nov 2008 21:18:08 -0500
Thank you for your comments...and everyone else that's replied thus far. I
appreciate the insights and opinions. I'm replying to this post because I
have comments about some of what mayayana wrote. These comments are inline.
"mayayana" <mayaXXyana@xxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:uvTHDx5PJHA.3884@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
I take the approach that an indivdual has licensed
the software. (I would question whether it's even
legal to claim that intellectual property is licensed
to a machine.) The individual then has a right to install
on any machine that they use, and it seems reasonable
to me that family/household also has a right to use the
software. Even if you wanted to block such usage I
don't know how you could.
The key word is "individual". If "Dad" buys the license and registers the
software, then "Dad" can use it on any computer that "Dad" uses. But what
about "Mom", "Son", and "Daughter"? If it's licensed to an indvidual, then
legally, mom, son, and daughter aren't licensed to use it even if it's
installed on the same computer that dad uses. That doesn't seem right for
"leisure" software intended soley for home use.
I think the bigger problem is cracks. It's important not
to put a full version online. It will be cracked within days
and a usable registration code will be posted on some
server in Thailand. Better to provide a separate install
for the full version, provided as a download when someone
pays.
Now this is what really makes no sense to me. If you make a separate
download that is the "full" version (and presumably the shareware version
doesn't even include the code for the full version), what's to keep people
from illegally distributing the full version that they downloaded? I mean,
once they have it downloaded, you have NO protection whatsoever against it
being used illegally unless you still have protection written into it. And
since you still have to include that protection, what's the advantage of
having a separate download for a full version? Or am I not understanding
what you're saying?
Also, there's one other problem these days with shareware:
It's very hard to sell it! There's so much good, free software
around, and people are so accustomed to not paying, that
it's become a tough market. I even feel that way myself, so
it's hard to blame others. When I need some sort of program
I look for a decent free version. I pretty much always find
what I need. The only shareware I've ever bought have been
"hardcore, low-level" programs. I bought AtGuard firewall in
1999 and more recently I bought BootIt NG for partitioning/
disk imaging. Both purchases were very well worth it.
That's true. What you've got to do is make your shareware program better
than what can be obtained for free...to the point that people will pay for
your software instead of using what they can get for free. To me, that's not
a "problem" as much as it is writing a program that:
1: No similar program exists....be it shareware, freeware, or whatever.
2. If a similiar program does exist, you've got to make yours good enough
that people would be willing to pay for it.
That's not really any different than it's ever been. If there's any
difference at all, it's that there's more software you need to compete
against.
--
Mike
.
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