4 ms·

So how's this different from Shareware in the 90's? I don't think anyone then (i don't know for sure, because I know no one who actually put out shareware, per

So how's this different from Shareware in the 90's? I don't think anyone then (i don't know for sure, because I know no one who actually put out shareware, personally) expected to get rich making software that spread like wildfire via floppy disk, but that's somehow changed (replace floppy disk with "social media"). I'd posit that the difference is expectations of grandeur that the startup culture (combined with pop culture) have created.

ghaff 11y ago
A few did end up making a living at it--at least for a while. But, right, it was a vanishingly small percentage. I probably did better than most and I still certainly wasn't about to give up my day job. I think another difference today is that shareware, for the most part, was clearly separate and distinct from retail software. Today, the lines are much more blurred.
- ec109685 11y ago
  Kagi existed since the mid 90's at least, so it was easy to take folks money as a shareware developer.
benologist 11y ago
The bar gets higher and people who aren't keeping up with the new requirements pine for the days they were able to - years ago the hard part was the technical feat of building the app.
fegu 11y ago
Imagine how shareware might have taken off if easy payment existed then. The payment model was often dollar bills in the mail. Or international reply coupons, anyone remember those?
- ghaff 11y ago
  I had a deal with a local VAR (who also ran the BBS I belonged to) so that I could take credit cards in a pinch. But, yeah, I spent way too many evenings getting all the checks ready to take to the bank and stuffing floppies into mailers. To your point though, I think the changing factors that would have made it much easier in many respects to operate a shareware business by the late 90s also led to a market dynamic where very few people were willing to pay for anything that wasn't nailed down. (This was always true to a degree of course but it was amplified once the mass market got online.)

ghaff 11y ago

A few did end up making a living at it--at least for a while. But, right, it was a vanishingly small percentage. I probably did better than most and I still certainly wasn't about to give up my day job. I think another difference today is that shareware, for the most part, was clearly separate and distinct from retail software. Today, the lines are much more blurred.

ec109685 11y ago
Kagi existed since the mid 90's at least, so it was easy to take folks money as a shareware developer.

benologist 11y ago

The bar gets higher and people who aren't keeping up with the new requirements pine for the days they were able to - years ago the hard part was the technical feat of building the app.

fegu 11y ago

Imagine how shareware might have taken off if easy payment existed then. The payment model was often dollar bills in the mail. Or international reply coupons, anyone remember those?

ghaff 11y ago
I had a deal with a local VAR (who also ran the BBS I belonged to) so that I could take credit cards in a pinch. But, yeah, I spent way too many evenings getting all the checks ready to take to the bank and stuffing floppies into mailers. To your point though, I think the changing factors that would have made it much easier in many respects to operate a shareware business by the late 90s also led to a market dynamic where very few people were willing to pay for anything that wasn't nailed down. (This was always true to a degree of course but it was amplified once the mass market got online.)