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- What is Shareware?
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- Shareware provides you with the ultimate money back guarantee.
- With most money back guarantees you pay for the product and then
- try it out and see whether or not you like it. If you don't like
- what you see or find that it doesn't do what you need, you return
- it and at some point (perhaps long in the future) you receive a
- refund. However, most software companies won't even let you try
- their products! In order to qualify for a refund, the diskette
- envelope must have an unbroken seal.
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- Shareware is different. With Shareware you get to try it for a
- limited time, without spending a penny. If you decide not to
- continue using it, you simply discard it. No paperwork, phone
- calls, correspondence, or waiting required. Shareware software
- producers feel it is the best way to distribute their products.
- You are able to try it on your own system(s), in your own special
- work environment, with no sales people looking over your
- shoulder.
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- After trying a Shareware product and deciding to continue to use
- it, only then do you pay for it. Not only that, but Shareware is
- traditionally much less expensive simply because you are paying
- for the software, not the marketing expenses that make up
- majority of the cost of most software. A one-time, one page ad
- in most popular computer publications can easily cost $20,000!
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- Shareware is a distribution method, not a type of software. Most
- Shareware is produced by accomplished programmers. However,
- there is good and bad Shareware, just as there is good and bad
- retail software. The primary difference between Shareware and
- retail software is that with Shareware you know if it's good or
- bad, and whether it fills your specific needs, before paying for
- it. Your registration of Shareware products provides the
- incentive for software authors to upgrade and improve their
- products and to continue to produce new, high-quality software
- for the Shareware market.
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- There is another significant advantage to Shareware - it allows
- many independent authors and small companies to make software
- available who would otherwise be discouraged from proceeding
- because of the expenses that it takes to launch a traditional
- retail software product. There are many programs on the market
- today which would never have become available without the
- Shareware marketing method. Please show your support for
- Shareware by registering those programs you actually use and by
- passing them on to others.
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