The existence of shareware was mostly due to an information imbalance and difficulties in distribution. These factors went away when the internet became ubiquit

The existence of shareware was mostly due to an information imbalance and difficulties in distribution. These factors went away when the internet became ubiquitous and fast. Trialware and nagware still exists, though. Today, the distribution and adoption challenge is mostly solved through open source software, so I'm guessing that people who would have been shareware authors in the 80s and 90s are simply doing open source (with commercial support, corporate sponsorship, and/or dual licensing) or are working on closed-source commercial software. For that last category, the internet has also lowered the barriers tremendously in every conceivable way. My guess is the spirit and complex motivations of software authors have not fundamentally changed but have morphed to fill a different eco system.