Not only magazines but BBSs too, speaking of shareware. The volume of new software was low enough that you could publish to a BBS and if it wasn't completely aw

Not only magazines but BBSs too, speaking of shareware. The volume of new software was low enough that you could publish to a BBS and if it wasn't completely awful, it'd get distributed. Today you can't get a dozen organic downloads on the App Store without some kind of promotion or virality hack.