Editing Shareware (section)

== History ==
In 1982, [[Andrew Fluegelman]] created a program for the IBM PC called [[PC-Talk]], a [[modem|telecommunications]] program, and used the term ''freeware''; he described it "as an experiment in economics more than altruism".<ref name="magid198208">{{cite news | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WYnHD9WSWdAC&pg=PA143 | title=PC-Talk | work=PC Magazine | date=August 1982 | access-date=2013-10-21 | author=Magid, Lawrence J. | pages=143 | archive-date=2021-05-26 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210526152556/https://books.google.com/books?id=WYnHD9WSWdAC&pg=PA143 | url-status=live }}</ref> About the same time, [[Jim Knopf|Jim "Button" Knopf]] released [[PC-File]], a [[database]] program, calling it ''user-supported software''.<ref>{{cite web |url = http://paulspicks.com/history.asp |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080202033436/http://www.paulspicks.com/history.asp |archive-date = 2008-02-02 | title = The History of Shareware | last = Callahan | first = Michael E. | publisher = Paul's Picks | access-date = 2008-05-13 }}</ref> Not much later, [[Bob Wallace (computer scientist)|Bob Wallace]] produced [[PC-Write]], a word processor, and called it ''shareware''.  Appearing in an episode of ''[[Horizon (UK TV series)|Horizon]]'' titled ''Psychedelic Science'' originally broadcast 5 April 1998, Bob Wallace said the idea for shareware came to him "to some extent as a result of my [[psychedelic experience]]".<ref>Horizon: Psychedelic science by Bill Eagles, (about 41 mins into programme)</ref>
Fluegelman said that his experience as a book publisher and author discouraged him from finding a traditional software publisher. [[KQED (TV)|KQED]] [[pledge drive]]s inspired his distribution method, as well as his not knowing how to implement [[copy protection]].<ref name="microtimes198505">{{Cite magazine |last=Erokan |first=Dennis |date=May 1985 |title=Andrew Fluegelman - PC-Talk and Beyond |url=https://archive.org/details/microtimes00donh/page/n17/mode/1up?view=theater |access-date=2025-03-12 |magazine=MicroTimes |pages=19-26}}</ref>

In 1983 [[Jerry Pournelle]] wrote of "an increasingly popular variant" of free software "that has no name, but works thus: 'If you like this, send me (the author) some money. I prefer cash.{{'"}}<ref name="pournelle198307">{{cite news | url=https://archive.org/stream/byte-magazine-1983-07-rescan/1983_07_BYTE_08-07_Videotex#page/n325/mode/2up | title=Interstellar Drives, Osborne Accessories, DEDICATE/32, and Death Valley | work=BYTE | date=July 1983 | access-date=2016-08-28 | author=Pournelle, Jerry | pages=323}}</ref> In 1984, ''Softalk-PC'' magazine had a column, ''The Public Library'', about such software. ''Public domain'' is a misnomer for shareware, and ''Freeware'' was trademarked by Fluegelman and could not be used legally by others, and ''User-Supported Software'' was too cumbersome. So columnist [[Nelson Ford]] had a contest to come up with a better name.

The most popular name submitted was ''Shareware'', which was being used by Wallace. However, Wallace acknowledged that he got the term from an [[InfoWorld]] magazine column by that name in the 1970s{{Failed verification|date=May 2021}}{{Citation needed|date=May 2021}}, and that he considered the name to be generic,<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2002/09/26/business/bob-wallace-53-software-pioneer-dies.html |title=Bob Wallace, 53, Software Pioneer, Dies |newspaper=The New York Times |date=2002-09-26|access-date=2016-05-26 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160625155725/http://www.nytimes.com/2002/09/26/business/bob-wallace-53-software-pioneer-dies.html |archive-date=2016-06-25 |last1=Markoff |first1=John }}</ref> so its use became established over ''freeware'' and ''user-supported software''.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.asp-shareware.org/users/history-of-shareware.asp|title=Association of Software Professionals - A community of real people using real names running real software businesses.|website=www.asp-shareware.org|access-date=2018-04-28|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100402002853/http://www.asp-shareware.org/users/history-of-shareware.asp|archive-date=2010-04-02}}</ref>

By 1984 Knopf reported receiving about $1,000 a day for PC-File,<ref name = "InfoWorld Jun 1984">{{cite magazine |last= Watt |first= Peggy |title= Software for a Donation |magazine= InfoWorld |volume= 6 |issue= 24 |page=36 |date= June 11, 1984 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=wy4EAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA36 |issn= 0199-6649}}</ref> and by 1985 Fluegelman was receiving "dozens of $35 checks" daily. He had two employees to fulfill orders and answer questions for PC-Talk.{{r|microtimes198505}} He, Knopf, and Wallace clearly established shareware as a viable software distribution model by becoming wealthy.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.erowid.org/culture/characters/wallace_bob/wallace_bob_timeline1.shtml | title=Bob Wallace Timeline | publisher=[[Erowid]] | date=Jan 12, 2004 | access-date=2013-03-07 | url-status=live | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130302091130/https://erowid.org/culture/characters/wallace_bob/wallace_bob_timeline1.shtml | archive-date=2013-03-02 }}</ref><ref>[http://www.ddj.com/184403976?pgno=2 Article about Jim "Button" Knopf] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070210131452/http://www.ddj.com/184403976?pgno=2 |date=2007-02-10 }}, from ''[[Dr. Dobb's Journal]]''</ref>

Prior to the popularity of the [[World Wide Web]] and widespread Internet access, shareware was often the only economical way for independent software authors to get their product onto users' desktops. Those with [[Internet]] or [[Bulletin board system|BBS]] access could download software and distribute it amongst their friends or user groups, who would then be encouraged to send the registration fee to the author, usually via postal mail. During the late 1980s and early 1990s, shareware software was widely distributed over [[online services]], [[bulletin board system]]s and on diskettes. Contrary to commercial developers who spent millions of dollars urging users "[[Don't Copy That Floppy]]", shareware developers encouraged users to upload the software and share it on disks.

Commercial shareware distributors such as Educorp and Public Domain Inc printed catalogs describing thousands of public domain and shareware programs that were available for a small charge on floppy disk. These companies later made their entire catalog available on CD-ROM. One such distributor, ''Public Software Library'' (PSL), began an order-taking service for programmers who otherwise had no means of accepting credit card orders. Meanwhile major online service provider CompuServe enabled people to pay (register) for software using their CompuServe accounts. When AOL bought out CompuServe, that part of CompuServe called SWREG (Shareware Registration) was sold to UK businessman Stephen Lee of Atlantic Coast PLC who placed the service on to the internet and enabled over 3,000 independent software developers to use SWREG as a back office to accept various payment methods including credit, debit and charge cards, Paypal and other services in multiple currencies.  This worked in realtime so that a client could pay for software and instantly download it which was novel at the time.  SWREG was eventually bought by Digital River, Inc.   Also, services like Kagi started offering applications that authors could distribute along with their products that would present the user with an onscreen form to fill out, print, and mail along with their payment. Once [[telecommunications]] became more widespread, this service also expanded online. Toward the beginning of the Internet era, books compiling reviews of available shareware were published, sometimes targeting specific niches such as [[small business]]. These books would typically come with one or more [[floppy disk]]s or [[CD-ROM]]s containing software from the book.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RJBJPJvct40C&pg=PA71|title=PC Mag Nov 24, 1992|date=1992-11-24|access-date=2015-04-01|archive-date=2021-08-17|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210817220249/https://books.google.com/books?id=RJBJPJvct40C&pg=PA71|url-status=live}}</ref>

As Internet use grew, users turned to downloading shareware programs from FTP or web sites. This spelled the end of bulletin board systems and shareware disk distributors. At first, disk space on a server was hard to come by, so networks like [[Info-Mac]] were developed, consisting of non-profit [[Web mirror|mirror sites]] hosting large shareware libraries accessible via the web or ftp. With the advent of the commercial [[web hosting]] industry, the authors of shareware programs started their own sites where the public could learn about their programs and download the latest versions, and even pay for the software online. This erased one of the chief distinctions of shareware, as it was now most often downloaded from a central "official" location instead of being shared [[samizdat]]-style by its users. To ensure users would get the latest bug-fixes as well as an install untainted by viruses or other [[malware]], some authors discouraged users from giving the software to their friends, encouraging them to send a link instead.

Major download sites such as [[VersionTracker]] and [[CNet]]'s [[Download.com]] began to rank titles based on quality, feedback, and downloads. Popular software was sorted to the top of the list, along with products whose authors paid for preferred placement.