Shareware is a marketing method for commercial software, whereby a trial version is distributed in advance and without payment, as is common for proprietary software. Shareware software is typically obtained free of charge, either by downloading from the Internet or on magazine cover-disks. A user tries out the program, and thus shareware has also been known as "try before you buy", demoware, trialware and by many other names. A shareware program is accompanied by a request for payment, and the software's distribution license often requires such a payment. Payment is often required once a set period of time has elapsed after installation. The term shareware was coined by Bob Wallace to describe his word processor PC-Write in the mid-1980s.

History

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Wallace came up with the name that stuck, but many consider the "fathers" of the shareware marketing model to be Jim Button and Andrew Fluegelman. Their coordinated offerings of PC-File (database) and PC-Talk (telecommunications) programs, respectively, pre-dated PC-Write by several months. Button referred to his distribution method as "user supported software," and Fluegelman called his "freeware." Among the three of them, they clearly established shareware as a viable software marketing method. Via the shareware model, PC-File and PC-Talk made Button and Fluegelman millionaires.

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TickTocKs (Gordon Bengston) Sat, 12 Dec 2009 23:57:48 -0000
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KindCanine (Kind Canine) Sat, 12 Dec 2009 20:47:37 -0000
My Top Ten Shareware and Freeware applications for Mac OSX: I'm not really using ShutterBug any more (since I'm usi... http://bit.ly/5g5MDl
A list of my Top 10 Shareware and Freeware applications for Mac OSX, would love to have your views - http://tinyurl.com/ydk99we #mac
euanbayliss (Euan Bayliss) Fri, 11 Dec 2009 23:07:12 -0000
A list of my Top 10 Shareware and Freeware applications for Mac OSX, would love to have your views - http://tinyurl.com/ydk99we #mac
My Top Ten Shareware and Freeware applications for Mac OSX - http://tinyurl.com/ydk99we #mac
euanbayliss (Euan Bayliss) Fri, 11 Dec 2009 22:00:35 -0000
My Top Ten Shareware and Freeware applications for Mac OSX - http://tinyurl.com/ydk99we #mac
New blog posting, My Top Ten Shareware and Freeware applications for Mac OSX - http://tinyurl.com/ydk99we
euanbayliss (Euan Bayliss) Fri, 11 Dec 2009 21:10:26 -0000
New blog posting, My Top Ten Shareware and Freeware applications for Mac OSX - http://tinyurl.com/ydk99we
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GooglingSEO (Clay Cotton) Fri, 11 Dec 2009 19:48:47 -0000
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