Want to read Slashdot from your mobile device? Point it at m.slashdot.org and keep reading!

 


Forgot your password?
Close
typodupeerror
×
Programming Entertainment Games IT Technology

Why Port To PC? Shareware Still alive! 231

Posted by timothy from the postcardware-is-the-nicest-form dept.
An anonymous reader writes "Here is an interesting interview with Tom Anthony, describing why Ambrosia Software are porting their Mac games to the PC market. Do you think their games can really sell after being ported? I thought shareware was dead, but all their games are still using shareware as well."
This discussion has been archived. No new comments can be posted.

Why Port To PC? Shareware Still alive! More

Why Port To PC? Shareware Still alive!

Comments Filter:

  • Shareware? (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward
    We used to call it Share THEIR Ware! :)

  • What? (Score:2, Funny)

    by Tidal Flame ( 658452 )
    I don't get it... all their games are using shareware as well? What does that mean? Sorry. I'm tired.

    • Re:What? (Score:2, Insightful)

      by cymen ( 8178 )
      They are still using the shareware model for selling their software.

    • Re:What? (Score:5, Informative)

      by Boo Robin ( 657702 ) on Sunday March 23, 2003 @09:47PM (#5580684) Homepage Journal
      They are basically giving you a 30 day period to test the game. The games will not be complete until you register the game. After 30 days, you are expected to register if you like the game or utility.

      Originally, the games were open and you could complete them without registering. But as of late, Ambrosia has restricted how far you can go. You get a good taste of the game and it usually makes you want to play more. It is a great method that has worked for them. And hopefully PC users will appreciate it when EV Nova Windows is released.

      Oh, and I have plenty of experience with Ambrosia. I moderate a forum of theirs. Great place to be for mac users. And soon PC users.

      www.ambrosiasw.com
      • Is this so very different from releasing a demo of the game, by the way? The shareware version of the original Doom game was basically a demo version of the complete game, where you could play a limited number of levels. Of course, these days you get much less levels to play with, but I suppose that's partly because the game data is so much bigger than it used to be.

        Releasing crippled shareware games seems to me the same as demos with the exception that shareware games expect you to register it within a ce
      • Great place to be for mac users. And soon PC users.

        I would really love to support a company that will sell me a game that will work on BOTH platforms without having to buy both. If I buy a game, I don't want to have to worry about where I think I'll play the game the most (my TiBook or my Windows desktop). As much as the /. mob complain about Blizzard, I really appreciate that you can play on the Mac or PC out of the box.

        Ambrosia has a bomberman-style game that I loved, but didn't want to shell out $30

  • Shareware is FAR from dead! (Score:5, Informative)

    by linuxbaby ( 124641 ) on Sunday March 23, 2003 @09:15PM (#5580568)
    Shareware DEAD? WHAT?!? Some of us are using it more and more.

    I know after years of not having any money, and using shareware for free, I LOVE that I can afford to pay people who make shareware, and support independent software.

    Recent shareware fees paid:

    Plus PayPal tip-jars to the great Quanta [sourceforge.net], MusicBrainz [musicbrainz.org], and even websites like Ryze [ryze.com].

    Whenever I need a program/tool, the first places I look are TinyApps [tinyapps.org] (very small software for Windows), and Tucows [tucows.com].

    I sure HOPE it's not just me that's out there doing what I can to support the independent shareware programmers!

    • Re:Shareware is FAR from dead! (Score:5, Insightful)

      by Xformer ( 595973 ) <avalon73@caer[ ]n.us ['leo' in gap]> on Sunday March 23, 2003 @09:17PM (#5580576)
      Agreed, despite the best efforts of software crackers to try and kill it.

      • Re:Shareware is FAR from dead! (Score:5, Interesting)

        by sfe_software ( 220870 ) on Monday March 24, 2003 @10:32AM (#5582989) Homepage
        Agreed, despite the best efforts of software crackers to try and kill it.

        I'm a shareware author myself, and I gave up on crackers years ago. You come to a point where you realize, no matter what you do, you'll get cracked one way or another. You also come to the realisation that crackers are *never* going to pay for software.

        Getting too crazy with registration schemes just makes it harder for the paying customers, and only marginally more difficult for crackers; once someone cracks it, none of that matters any more, yet you're still inconveniencing the paying customers.

        So I try to encourage others to stick to simple registration schemes (no "phoning home" or hardware locking) and worry about satisfying their paying customers.

        And shareware is not dead. As long as you're not the "I will never pay for software" type, Shareware offers less expensive choices to commercial offerings, with the ability to fully try it out before making a decision. Many times a shareware app will cost 20x less than a similar commercial product, while offering 90% of the features, (usually) faster/more personal support, faster response to feature requests, etc.

        Obviously I'm baised, but the last couple months (except for the last 4 days -- very slow right now) have shown me that the Shareware model still works, and quite well.
        • So, out of curiosity, HOW well does it work for you? Pizza money? Cool toy money? Computer system money? New Car money? House money? Screw this full time job money?
          • So, out of curiosity, HOW well does it work for you? Pizza money? Cool toy money? Computer system money? New Car money? House money? Screw this full time job money?

            I was actually forced to do this full-time; my job searching has turned up nothing in the last year or so... I used to do consulting (PHP/MySQL) work, and where 2 years ago I'd get several calls a week, the last year has gotten me nowhere. I even did a week-long stint doing warranty repairs on Gateway PCs...

            So in the mean time, between Monster
    • I'm a shareware author and a lover (and frequent purchaser) of shareware. I can assure you, shareware's far from dead...in fact, if there's a shareware solution to a problem or need, I'll usually buy the shareware rather than buying COTS software.

    • Re:Shareware is FAR from dead! (Score:5, Interesting)

      by hthiefshorty ( 597657 ) on Sunday March 23, 2003 @09:19PM (#5580594)

      I got a copy of UltraEdit32 for a class with the intention of using it for the 45 day trial period and then grabbing something else for the trial period. In less than a week I bought the full version. Quality software is quality software.

      • I bought several copies of this editor (UltraEdit) for use on those machines at work that are Windows-based. As it turns out, this is the most popular editor we have at work. It was definitely a good buy.

    • Re:Shareware is FAR from dead! (Score:5, Insightful)

      by Blaine Hilton ( 626259 ) on Sunday March 23, 2003 @09:20PM (#5580595) Homepage
      I feel the same way. I think more and more shareware is becoming bigger. In the last year or two it seems like devlopers have taken two routes with shareware. Some try to "lock" down their products and tie registeration keys into the actual hardware used, while on the other hand some people don't worry about it and charge a modest amount for thier work. These are the people that I believe are seeing a payoff for their hardwork.
      • Some try to "lock" down their products and tie registeration keys into the actual hardware used, while on the other hand some people don't worry about it and charge a modest amount for thier work.

        I've been in the business for a few years. One thing I've noticed is that Shareware authors tend to follow what the big commercial houses are doing. "Product Activation" and hardware-locking are two examples.

        The problem of course is that the big software vendors can afford to piss off their customers. Microsoft

    • Definately... (Score:4, Interesting)

      by sheldon ( 2322 ) on Sunday March 23, 2003 @10:35PM (#5580881)
      Most software that I buy today is really in effect Shareware, as I first obtain the trial copy to see what it does. If it does what I need done, I then go out and purchase it.

      There are two programs which I have found absolutely invaluable over the years, and paid the Shareware fees.

      One is Ultraedit, as mentioned.
      The other is filesync [fileware.co.uk]

      Shareware is far from dead.

    • Re:Shareware is FAR from dead! (Score:5, Insightful)

      by IIRCAFAIKIANAL ( 572786 ) on Sunday March 23, 2003 @11:12PM (#5581029) Journal
      Shareware ain't dead but if it does die, it will probably be due to overzealous copy protection schemes.

      I use a shareware application called Crosstrainer and I really enjoy using it - however, the copy protection they use generates a unique key based on something in my profile, so I can't even run it under multiple users in Windows 2000 and I have to email them whenever I reinstall as well. I have had to save a crack for their software just in case they ever go out of business too.

      Any shareware devs out there - don't bother trying to "overprotect" your software. It will be cracked, but there are a lot of honest people out there willing to support you - don't alienate them!

  • Why not? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by wideBlueSkies ( 618979 ) on Sunday March 23, 2003 @09:16PM (#5580569) Journal
    If the game is interesting and worth playing, then why not port it? So you open your product to an audience that you wouldn't have had otherwise.

    I've never heard of this series of games, but I guess that if it was a hit on the Mac it'd probably have some success on the x86 platform.

    Is shareware really dead? I don't think so. I still buy the occasional game after downloading a demo version. It's not called shareware anymore but it feels the same to me.

    If I like it, I buy it.

    • Re:Why not? (Score:2, Interesting)

      by Boo Robin ( 657702 )
      I've played all three Escape Velocity games. And I've spent hundreds of hours beating them. They are just fun and I think PC users will really enjoy EVN when it comes out for x86. The ability to do what you want and when you want is great. The only thing this game lacks is multi player ability and a complete 3d environment. But it doesn't matter, since the story line and gameplay is amazing.

      This game is worthy of a download.

    • Re:Why not? (Score:5, Informative)

      by Masem ( 1171 ) on Sunday March 23, 2003 @11:07PM (#5581004)
      Ambrosia's made several excellent games for the Mac, and I'd definitely be interested in buying any Windows ports that they make. Their first games were generally enhanced clones of classic arcade games (Maelstorm : Astroids ; Aperion : Centipede ; Barracks : Qix, and so forth), but then they got into original designs like with Escape Velocity and Avara. Their games are nearly always of high quality, requirely nearly no updates after release (and I was part of a beta testing cycle once and I know that they do heavily beta test before release). And for $25, you get games that are overly additive, certainly a reasonable exchange.

      More so, I'm finding that there's not a lot of shareware authors interested in the Windows market. It may be the case where the market suffers from two problems: it's so potentally large that it's hard to let people know you have a new game and secondly, there's more people on the Windows side that I would think would look for cracks and codes to avoid the registration than there are on the Mac side (mostly due to numbers again, mac users generally have some sort of loyality to those that develop good software for the platform). So having more choices for shareware games is a good thing. Sure, you can argue that a lot of good games can be found via Flash or JAva, but Flash and Java still has some limits that can't faithfully be used to make the same type of games that you can do on the native system programs.

      So here's to good luck to Ambrosia for success in this venture.

      • Re:Why not? (Score:3, Interesting)

        by WatertonMan ( 550706 )
        To avoid cracks all the shareware authors need do is view the standard lists of cracks available on gnutella, direct connect and kazaa. They then update the software at their download site to check for those new numbers without updating the version number. First off most people don't hack software. Lets be honest. Most don't even know how. Secondly shareware software seems updated far more frequently than most commercial software. I also think most people see shareware authors as living far closer to

  • If anyone can make it Ambrosia can... (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Exitthree ( 646294 ) on Sunday March 23, 2003 @09:17PM (#5580578) Homepage
    I've played a lot of shareware games on the Mac, and a lot of them are good. To my understanding shareware on the PC side always had a bad connotation, like it was worthless. It will take a really good game to overcome this stigma. However, I've played almost all of Ambrosia's games and they are the best shareware has to offer. While the graphics aren't always the best, they definately succeed in the fun department. If anyone can make it porting shareware from the Mac to PC, it's Ambrosia.

    • Re:If anyone can make it Ambrosia can... (Score:1, Interesting)

      by Anonymous Coward
      Doom was (for it's time) one hell of a good and popular game, and the stigma is still there.

      Hard to overcome the general 'cheapness' of the AVERAGE PC user. Cheap hardware, pirated os/apps, opensource. I do think all of these have a place in society (even pirating for testing purposes), but people are so used to getting something for nothing (or nearly) in the PC world.

      Don't get me wrong, I'm not soap boxing, as I once was like this (and to a certain extent still am due to financial reasons), but I do p

    • Re:If anyone can make it Ambrosia can... (Score:5, Informative)

      by WiPEOUT ( 20036 ) on Sunday March 23, 2003 @09:55PM (#5580710)
      Where did you get the idea that shareware on the PC has bad connotations? Maybe in the applications category, yes, but as for games, can you say Commander Keen, Wolfenstein 3D, Doom, Doom II, Duke Nukem 3D and Quake?

      • Re:If anyone can make it Ambrosia can... (Score:4, Informative)

        by sebi ( 152185 ) on Sunday March 23, 2003 @10:56PM (#5580967)
        can you say Commander Keen, Wolfenstein 3D, Doom, Doom II, Duke Nukem 3D and Quake?

        Sure I can. But the problem with your list is that the most recent title was released in 1995. Shareware used to be alive and kicking. The question is if it is just suffering from a little exhaustion, or laying down to die.

        There is a reason that successors to those titles didn't follow the shareware model anymore. When presentation became a really big deal in computer games the binary sizes became to big to distribute them over modem. Now we have broadband and people are able and willing to download files hundreds of megabytes big (just look at the mod scene for various shooters; EV:Nova is over 100Mb as well). But sometime in the intervening years the perceived difference in quality between boxed and download-able offerings became big enough to tarnish the image of shareware games for good

        Now for the Mac side of things: Just around the time that PC gaming really took off we started to get starved for games. While big games where ported the overall selection was small. So we had no choice than to take a closer look at what shareware had to offer.

        Maybe shareware will make a comeback on the PC side. People are complaining about a lack of innovation in games anyway (and as far as I know most PC shareware games are 'yet another puzzle game' anyway). Big publishers are reluctant to take risks with new ideas. Broadband is getting really popular. Maybe these factors combined will keep the scene alive long enough until the medics arrive.

      • Doom 2 was a retail release, not shareware--and it sold something like 10x as many copies as there were registrations for Doom 1.

        Quake was released as retail as well, although it was a little more complicated than that.

        For recent examples of successful shareware games, I'd look more at things like Bejeweled and such from PopCap [popcap.com], or the Exile/Avernum games from Spiderweb Software [spidweb.com].

        Of course, there's still plenty of unsuccessful shareware these days; I've written some myself, but I'll spare you the link.
    • You mean like DOOM, way back when? Or maybe Quake?

  • The mac comunity is different (Score:5, Insightful)

    by RalphBNumbers ( 655475 ) on Sunday March 23, 2003 @09:17PM (#5580579)
    I'm skeptical as to how well this will work. The mac community is different, chiefly in that there is some sense of community. A certain desire to support companies that develop for the platform.
    I know there are a decent number of people who actually bought ambrosia games despite already having the pirated codes to use them.

    The Wintel world is a much bigger place, so you're fishing from a bigger pond, but I don't think the fish will be so generous about going after the bait on the hook when there're plenty of other ways to get a worm without having a big barbed spike driven thru your cheek in the form of money. ...wow, that metaphor came out badly.

    • Re:The mac comunity is different (Score:5, Interesting)

      by DaemonGem ( 557674 ) on Sunday March 23, 2003 @09:35PM (#5580644) Homepage Journal
      I was a member of an Escape Velocity Classic/Override mailing list at one point, and when the announcement came that Escape Velocity Nova was coming out for Windows came, we had a big discussion about the morality of this decision. I was the only Windows user there (you can find instructions for an emulator here [geocities.com]). Anyway, the consensus among the Mac users was that this was a bad idea. Their argument was that if Ambrosia started to make games for Windows, then they would realize that they were making much more money there, and decide to stick with Windows, and eventually give up on the Mac community. As I said, I am a PC user, and I am naturally biased in favor of porting to Windows. However, I do think that the Mac community needs to have some game creator that it can call its own. I suppose it all depends on how you feel about the issue.
      -Dae
      • Hard to say. While the Windows market is quite a bit larger, I'll bet the mac market is quite a bit more likely to pay for software, so they probably even out.

        I always thought of Ambrosia as dead (the only games I had heard of from them were really old) but then stumbled across their website and saw that they're still around and doing cool stuff. I've played EV on my old Powerbook but it's slow - it runs a lot better on a Duron/600 with Executor (www.ardi.com), and I've logged more hours playing that way

      • Re:The mac comunity is different (Score:2, Insightful)

        by Anonymous Coward
        However, I do think that the Mac community needs to have some game creator that it can call its own.


        Yeah, we used to have one like that. It was named Bungie.
    • I'm skeptical as to how well this will work. The mac community is different, chiefly in that there is some sense of community. A certain desire to support companies that develop for the platform.

      This is true to a large extent. If you Google back to the original discussions about Maelstrom in 1992 or so, you'll see the Mac word going nuts over what's essentially an Asteroids clone. At the same time, Wolfenstein 3D was all the rage on the PC. Would an Asteroids clone have been the same media darling on t

  • Cultural differences go a long way (Score:5, Insightful)

    by RLiegh ( 247921 ) on Sunday March 23, 2003 @09:17PM (#5580580) Homepage Journal
    towards companies like this afloat.
    In the Unix/Linux world, we're used to quality freeware (gcc,kde,gimp) and we look first for a product that is free, and are reluctent to look into shareware. (generally speaking; I know that all you reading this have ordered from and sponsor shareware developers ;))

    In the mac and windows worlds, however, there's still a large, thriving market to be had from shareware.

    So, in the end, no; this news doesn't surprise me.

    • Re:Cultural differences go a long way (Score:5, Interesting)

      by _Sprocket_ ( 42527 ) on Monday March 24, 2003 @01:28AM (#5581582)
      This raises a question that I've been pondering recently.

      Awhile ago I was looking for a simple pop3 email checker for my wife's Windows machine. Within the unix / Linux world, there are dozens of very good Open Source apps that do this in various ways. I was surprised at the low number of free (as in no-cost, much less Open Source) apps of this type for Windows. I was shocked that authors of some of these simple apps were requesting fees as high as $20.

      Now before I continue with this thought, I'd like to clarify the point in advance. I'm not saying these authors shouldn't be allowed to charge whatever they want for their work. Its their work. Its their price. They're welcome to it.

      Having said that, in an environment that is much more immersed in Open Source culture - it seems that many more simple applications (and even not-so-simple applications) are available for free. In the rather large sample of apps that I reviewed, I found that the quality between pay-for-play and their Free Linux counterparts were comparable. So if quality isn't the issue, what is?

      Culture.

      It dawns on me that Linux (and to varying degrees, unix) comes from a gift culture. There is already so much great, free software available. Especially the tools needed to build more software. Paying back that community seems only natural.

      Furthermore, within the Windows culture - even the very tools one needs to develop requires some degree of monetary investment. Not to mention all the other cool little apps one might like to use on one's own desktop. No wonder fees are charged for even the most trivial pieces of software. One has to recoup one's investment. Much less make a profit.
      • > I was shocked that authors of some of these simple apps
        > were requesting fees as high as $20.

        For a long time, I honestly thought, like you, that it all basically boiled down to a matter of culture. Actually, I still believe it to be true to a large extent, but since I started working for a Windows-only company, I discovered a new factor that probably accounts for a lot of that culture:

        Developping for Windows is a lot more painful.

        Seriously.

        That, or I'm somehow afflicted by a strange kind
    • In the Unix/Linux world, we're used to quality freeware (gcc,kde,gimp)

      GCC, KDE and The Gimp are not freeware but Free Software, it's not quite the same thing. You can look here for more information on the subject :
      http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/categories.html [gnu.org]

  • Even though there isn't as much familiarity with the company in the PC market, they can have a much smaller market penetration and still do as well or better. Remember that the Mac market is still only about 1/10th the size of the WinTel market.

    I'd say they'll do even better than the usual shareware company since they'll have a lot of word-of-mouth already going for them.

  • What? (Score:4, Funny)

    by gspr ( 602968 ) on Sunday March 23, 2003 @09:19PM (#5580590)
    *Checks calendar* - nope, not April 1st.
    *Reads thread a third time* - nope, doesn't make sense.
    *Runs it through several freetranslation.com translations with various languages* - nope no sense still.
    *Reaches the conclusion this thread just doesn't make sense!*
    What the Bush does shareware have to do with this?

  • Porting to Linux as well. (Score:5, Interesting)

    by cant_get_a_good_nick ( 172131 ) on Sunday March 23, 2003 @09:22PM (#5580605)
    The Redhat 7.3 Linux "servers" at my job each have a copy of Maelstrom on them. Sweeeeet!!!

    I miss Chiral.

  • Shareware... (Score:5, Funny)

    by }InFuZeD{ ( 52430 ) on Sunday March 23, 2003 @09:24PM (#5580609) Homepage
    Is that the stuff I download off KaZaA? =p
  • More important than wether its shareware or not, I've been waiting years for ambrosia to port some of their games over, these are some of the funnest games I've played.

  • I remember (Score:4, Insightful)

    by NickisGod.com ( 453769 ) on Sunday March 23, 2003 @09:25PM (#5580612)
    I remember one of Ambrosia SW's selling points used to be that they made shareware for the Mac only. This, believe it or not, was one of the ways they poured on loyalty from the Mac community. I think it's great that they're still in business and branching out.

    If you've never played one of the three Escape Velocities, you're in for a treat.

    BTW, isn't there an Escape Velocity linux clone, or is that of Maelstrom I'm think of?

  • Porting (Score:4, Insightful)

    by ensignyu ( 417022 ) on Sunday March 23, 2003 @09:27PM (#5580616)
    In my experience, Mac shareware is on average much much better than Windows shareware. Especially shareware games. I've played a few games that were ported from the Mac to Windows, and rarely are they as good as the Mac version, possibly (probably) due to a poor job of porting.

    So I figure, if you're going to port to another platform, do it right.

  • The naggers gave shareware a bad name (Score:4, Insightful)

    by QuantumG ( 50515 ) <qg@biodome.org> on Sunday March 23, 2003 @09:27PM (#5580617) Homepage Journal
    There was a time where shareware was a simple way to support independant closed-source software. Unfortunately the popup boxes, countdown timers and trial period expiration warning ruined it for everyone. All of a sudden it was as if someone who you had never met was demanding that you give them money. Of course, proprietory software has always been like this but the naggers of shareware really put the jack boot in your face (some shareware even held your data hostage until you paid the fee or tried to delete itself!)

    These days I refuse to support shareware unless there is no alternate free software solution. Why? Because I value source code as much as I value the freedom to share.

    • I think Linux and the rise of Gnu is what really changed shareware more then nagware.

      A developer who writes software as a hobby 10 years ago would likely release his project as shareware. Today that developer would be tempted to release it as gpl and out it on sourceforge so others can improve on it.

      I have only 1 shareware app. AceHTML. I have it because its free for non commerical use and the rest of the software I use on Windows2000 is gnu or Freeware. I use gvim, active perl, mingwin, python, FreeRIP,

    • Re:The naggers gave shareware a bad name (Score:5, Interesting)

      by Xthlc ( 20317 ) on Sunday March 23, 2003 @10:30PM (#5580861)
      There was a time where shareware was a simple way to support independant closed-source software. Unfortunately the popup boxes, countdown timers and trial period expiration warning ruined it for everyone. All of a sudden it was as if someone who you had never met was demanding that you give them money.

      Well, you're using a product, that they want to sell to you, for free. It's more like you're wandering through a store eating candy bars off the shelves, and while the owner is nice enough about it, he'd rather you settle your account after you scarf down twenty Milky Ways.

      Naggers are a good idea for shareware, since otherwise not enough people would pay for it to allow the author to continue. Although a GOOD nagger is creative, and makes the user step back and evaluate just how valuable the software really is to them.

      Escape Velocity had the best nagger EVER. A middling-powerful ship called "Captain Hector" would buzz you every couple of systems and radio in "Don't Forget To Register!".

      If you "forgot" for 30 days or more, Captain Hector would get nasty. And it would turn out that Captain Hector is not just a piddling little Argosy, but an Argosy with buffed-up shields, proton torpedoes, heavy laser turrets, and a very bad attitude.

      I just got a 12" powerbook, and registered my copy of EV: Nova. Because the storyline is getting interesting, my pilot is cool, and I could hear the quartz oscillating while Captain Hector gleefully polished his Gauss cannon . . .

      • Re:The naggers gave shareware a bad name (Score:4, Interesting)

        by SnatMandu ( 15204 ) on Monday March 24, 2003 @12:01AM (#5581302) Homepage
        So true. EV's are the most creative nags I've ever seen. I've registered EV multiple times, once, years ago, for myself, and again for my little brother who I know would dig the game.

        I'm always torn when I hear people badmouth shareware. It's a tired observation, but those of us who give away code need to understand that it just doesn't work for some people. Shareware is pleasant commericial practice. A little prodding is often necessary to get someone perfectly capable and willing to support the developer to actually get off their ass and pull out the plastic.

        I remember meeting the Ambrosia guys at a MacWorld conference a few years back. They were swell.
      • Escape Velocity had the best nagger EVER. A middling-powerful ship called "Captain Hector" would buzz you every couple of systems and radio in "Don't Forget To Register!".

        I dunno. Spiderweb Software has the long-lived Shareware Demon throughout its Exile series...
      • Wait.. your Captain Hector was an AROGSY?!!! Mine was a mean RAPIER that would ATTACK me ever 3 minutes!!
    • Yes, nagware & time-bombware are two of the things that helped to ruin shareware, but, the biggest thing that ruined shareware, is the stupid crippleware, you download some application that you need, and then try to use over half of the features and you get "Can't use this feature because this is shareware, To use this feature, you must register it" even after they claim that shareware is "try before you buy".

      How can you try before you buy if over half of the functions are disabled in the shareware ver
      • Yes, nagware & time-bombware are two of the things that helped to ruin shareware, but, the biggest thing that ruined shareware, is the stupid crippleware, you download some application that you need, and then try to use over half of the features and you get "Can't use this feature because this is shareware, To use this feature, you must register it" even after they claim that shareware is "try before you buy".

        Agreed. On one occasion, I was trying out "Cool Edit", an audio editing program from Syntril
    • The really obnoxious stuff is a real turn off. With a full work schedule (I do work for a living) the 2 week trials usualy amount to a one evening test, if that. I just don't have the time to spend getting into the various levels to evaluate software to the point of making a buying decision. Other software with a full working demo is the best way to go. I was looking for a non cussing and gore FPS. Someone recommended Nerf Arena Blast. There was a good working demo (even the networking worked). It ha

  • Memories... (Score:3, Insightful)

    by cyberlemoor ( 624985 ) on Sunday March 23, 2003 @09:28PM (#5580620)
    How many Mac (pre-OS X) users out there don't remember playing great games like Maelstrom and Apeiron back in the day? Escape Velocity, too, was an awesome game, but I loved Ambrosia best for their classic games. Ambrosia made, in my opinion, the greatest shareware games for the Mac by far. Anyone who hasn't heard of them has missed out. Those were the days... =)

  • Proper shareware is pretty much dead. (Score:5, Interesting)

    by jazman ( 9111 ) on Sunday March 23, 2003 @09:28PM (#5580621)
    Proper try before you buy shareware is fairly dead. Authors only seem to release crippleware these days, incorrectly calling it shareware, figuring that they won't make any money if they release full software. I don't know generally how successful this approach is, but after Slashdot my second favourite site is that one that sounds a bit like AltaVista... And I *do* buy stuff after cracking it, and trying it out properly, although this often takes longer than the ridiculously short "trial period" most crippleware authors seem to think is sufficient. Stuff that expires on a particular date, set after intallation, has often expired before I get to try it. What I don't buy is stuff I can't crack, cos I can't fully try it out.

    PSP - you used to be cool, man. Being proper shareware is what got you where you are today, and now you spit in your fans' eyes.

    Anyone know of a shareware site that lists crippleware as such, and not calling "X Lite" (where Lite means crippled) proper shareware when it's only a thinly veiled marketing release?

    • Anyone know of a shareware site that lists crippleware as such, and not calling "X Lite" (where Lite means crippled) proper shareware when it's only a thinly veiled marketing release?

      You might want to try the aptly named NoNags.com [nonags.com]. Unfortunately, it only lists Freeware, not shareware, which has the potential to exclude some good things.

      I pretty much agree with you. I used to recommend PKZip, but then they started installing an "adbot". Yuck. Nagware is a cold. Adware is the flu. Spyware is anth

    • And I *do* buy stuff after cracking it, and trying it out properly

      A good 5% of the stuff you regularly use, I assume?
      • On my PalmPilot the rate is currently 100%.
        Most Losedows crippleware I have tried out can be replaced with GPL stuff; e.g. PSP->Gimp, UltraEdit->Emacs. Everything else I use is freeware or demoware that's actually useful in its demo form (trillian, proxomitron (yeah I know, Shonenware, but they don't have any mp3s for download and I don't buy CDs just to see if they're any good any more), treesize, ivt), or stuff for which we have a site licence or my job justifies a corporate licence (winzip, Visual
    • Proper try before you buy shareware is fairly dead...Anyone know of a shareware site that lists crippleware as such, and not calling "X Lite" (where Lite means crippled) proper shareware when it's only a thinly veiled marketing release?

      (shameless self-promotion mode)

      There's always Jardinains! [jardinains.com]. Shareware in the old-school, send-me-a-donation-if-you-like-but-above-all-share -it-with-your-friends style. It's only a few months old, and even though it's a Breakout clone at heart, it's got a few new twists

  • Ah, Escape Velocity (Score:5, Interesting)

    by TheOnlyCoolTim ( 264997 ) <tim.bolbrockNO@SPAMverizon.net> on Sunday March 23, 2003 @09:32PM (#5580632)
    The only reason I have ever made my PC emulate a Mac.

    Tim
    • Only reason I ever went to my Grandma's house.
      Don't tell her that, though :-)
    • EV was the only thing that ever made me consider buying a Mac. I spent endless hours playing that game at a friends house. Very addictive!

    • At a student organization that I'm an officer for, we were getting a new computer lab and getting rid of the old Macs. 5 machines of ~100 MHz PPC 603's, now I have 5 friends addicted to EV. If you really love that game, I suggest just getting in touch with a college and seeing what they're throwing out. Often you can find a good functional OS8 Mac that'll run EV & EVO like a dream (I started playing EV on a 66 MHz 68040), and parts to keep it running for a while. Of course, if you want to play EVN, tha

  • NOOOO! (Score:3, Interesting)

    by lnoble ( 471291 ) on Sunday March 23, 2003 @09:41PM (#5580664)
    I've been pissed off ever since ambrosia started doing this. They used to be one of the bragging rights I've had over my windows user friends. Just another example of a great mac only company selling out to the spawn.

    I can't really blame them though, it must be bloody hard to make any real money developing only for the mac.

    As far as the shareware issue goes at least since EV Nova they have been much more successful in protecting their software from piracy.

    As a mac user the only benefit I see from this is that 1. they may have a chance to stay in business and 2. more people will be out there making plug-ins for the EV series.

  • Shareware IS dead (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Cryogenes ( 324121 ) on Sunday March 23, 2003 @09:50PM (#5580696)
    I remember, nearly twenty years ago, when I had my lovely Atari ST, shareware was software that its authors shared with the general public to enjoy. We had never heard of the GPL, but the spirit was similar.

    Over the years, the meaning of the word changed. First you were asked to pay something, if you liked the program, then you would only get the docs if you payed, then nags, and finally the crippleware and timebombs we see today.

    Now shareware seems to mean that there is a downloadable evaluation version which can be activated online. This is a pure marketing features and says nothing about the software itself. As soon as MS can devise secure delivery over the net, Office will become shareware, too, finally reducing the notion ad absurdum.

  • Shareware's Cool.. but I hate Crapware (Score:3, Interesting)

    by miketang16 ( 585602 ) on Sunday March 23, 2003 @09:59PM (#5580727) Journal
    If you've ever used a program that makes you wish Visual Basic was never invented, you know what I mean. i.e. Fruity interface graphics, tiled image form backgrounds, runtime errors...etc.. etc..

    • Mac Shareware Better than Windows Shareware (Score:4, Interesting)

      by 0x0d0a ( 568518 ) on Monday March 24, 2003 @04:32AM (#5582151) Journal
      When I used a Mac, I was quite impressed by the quality of the shareware out there. The ratio of good software to crap -- and some of it is *very* good, without even a commercial equivalent, like USB Overdrive [usboverdrive.com] -- is much higher on the Mac than Windows. I think some of it may be Visual Basic. It's really easy for a non-programmer to sit down and roll out a complete piece of junk, and have delusions of actually making money on it.

      I've found that, when it comes to both shareware and interesting binary hacks, the Mac has a much healthier community than Windows.

      On the other hand, the Linux open-source community is even better...

  • I'm not so sure... (Score:5, Insightful)

    by MasterVidBoi ( 267096 ) on Sunday March 23, 2003 @10:06PM (#5580744)
    How sure are they that this will work? The mac software market is very different from the PC software market.

    While on Windows, the word most commonly associated with 'shareware' is 'crap', this is not the case on the mac. Due to the smaller marketshare, selling boxed copies of software on store shelves isn't a winning plan for anything but the largest players in the mac software biz. Because of this, a great deal of excellent software is released for mac.

    Where on windows shareware has long since been given up as a dead end, the mac shareware market is alive and well, producing and supporting a large number of excellent programs. As a mac user, many of your staple programs would be shareware, not boxed commerical (this is one thing that really strikes a lot of 'switchers' as strange).

    Just because they can make a good profit selling shareware on the mac doesn't mean it'll extend to windows. They'll probably do better actually selling boxes (bargin stuff, like what you'd find in the checkout line, not alongside the $50 large production games) rather than selling shareware in the windows market, simply because to windows users, a physical box implies that it's a real piece of software produced by a real company (a thought not common among mac users).

  • Shareware still a useful paradigm... (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Zergwyn ( 514693 ) on Sunday March 23, 2003 @10:07PM (#5580747)
    Shareware is far from dead, and I doubt it ever truly will be so long as there are independent developers. A quick look at a site like Version Tracker (www.versiontracker.com) shows that there is a ton of shareware in active development. This isn't so much in games, like many people think, but with utilities. The virtual desktop software I have come to depend on is an example of very good, high quality shareware.

    Shareware as a model has the advantage of being able to use viral marketing. If there is a program I really enjoy, I can tell my friends about it and give them a copy. They can do the same if they like it, ad infinitum. This, like many other free formats, cuts the cost of advertising tremendously, very important for a small developer. And depending on the market one can also make a bit of money off of the work, which seems to be harder to do with other formats. The best shareware often is a full version, but then offers additional incentives or bonuses to register.

    I think that shareware, at least on the Mac platform where there are less commercial developers, has a long and distinguished history and will continue to play a part on the software scene.

  • A good move by Ambrosia Software . . (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Professor North ( 606910 ) on Sunday March 23, 2003 @10:09PM (#5580758)
    This, in my opinion, is a good move for Ambrosia Software. Why? Exposure to say the least.

    Escape Velocity is an incredible series. Several years ago I used to work solely on a Macintosh, I was amazed when I discovered Escape Velocity, mainly because I found it more enjoyable and interesting than a majority of games that were in the PC market at the time. Now, working only with PC's, I'll be watching this PC port very closely.

  • Shareware is OK (Score:5, Interesting)

    by FuzzyBad-Mofo ( 184327 ) <fuzzybad@gmaCURIEil.com minus physicist> on Sunday March 23, 2003 @10:14PM (#5580796)

    I have no problem with shareware publishers that are up front about what features are limited about their shareware. The thing I do have a problem with, is when software authors bundle nasty surprises with their software, and then turn around and say that it's shareware.

    Case in point: Omen Technology [omen.com] claims that their zmodem implementation is shareware, but has an extremely restrictive license that prohibits actually using the software unless it's used with their other products. And then it attempts to email home when it's used. How exactly is this "shareware"?

  • Recent Windows Shareware Game (Score:3, Interesting)

    by GMOL ( 122258 ) on Sunday March 23, 2003 @10:40PM (#5580895)
    A long time asm coder, free/shareware writer John McCarthy (google "3d Vect", "OuterRidge" and "Fortified"), has just released his new game (originally it was just a screensaver demo, but now there is a playable demo) of his new game sonic speedsters [sonicspeedsters.com]. Lot of fun, I have a copy myself.

  • Shareware... (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Ephemeriis ( 315124 ) on Sunday March 23, 2003 @10:44PM (#5580913)
    My first computer was a macintosh. An old Mac SE 40. For a while there, mac were all I'd use... Now, there has never been the same range of software available for the mac as there was for PC. I used to go in to the local EB and see row after row of software for wintel machines...but little, if anything for macintosh. Inconvenient...but once I got to college it really didn't bother me anymore.

    In college I had a decent internet connection, and was exposed to all the wonderful shareware out there. Ambrosia is one of the best shareward companies I have ever had the joy of dealing with. They produce both useful and useless, but all of their software is very high quality. The stuff they turn out is at least as nice as anything you'll see boxed up in a store. Escape Velocity was always one of my favorite games... For a while I was looking at getting a cheap mac or some sort of emulation program just to play EV again. I am absolutely thrilled that they're finally porting it to the PC. I can't wait to buy mine.

    There are tons of very high quality shareware companies out there that turn out very nice products. I've seen a number of shareware products make the transion to retail-box products as well. There's absolutely no reason to discount a software product just because it is shareware.

    yrs,
    Ephemeriis

  • Shareware Author's Perspective (Score:5, Informative)

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 23, 2003 @11:00PM (#5580980)
    As a shareware author, I can definitely say that shareware's not dead, although the term "shareware" is getting old. You can read about the history of shareware at the Association of Shareware Professionals website -
    History of Shareware [asp-shareware.org]

    Shareware is really just software that is marketed as 'try before you buy'. I don't refer to shareware on my website - I just refer to a free trial.

    There are many Independent Software Developers working on games, utility type programs, and small niche software.

  • Best Anti-Piracy Tool Ever (Score:5, Interesting)

    by mdarksbane ( 587589 ) on Sunday March 23, 2003 @11:26PM (#5581132)
    Does anyone else remember the revolutionary way to punish those who didn't remember to pay the registration fee? The original Escape Velocity showed a pop-up at startup if you continued playing after the first thirty days (I installed it on a system whose system clock I had forgot to set, so I think my normal tally was about 1,564 days of use). However, it didn't block you out from any parts of the game or impose a time limit. Instead, there was a unique NPC in a heavy fighter who in normal gameplay would always hail you with a "Don't forget to register" message. However, after the thirty day trial, the character, known as "Cap'n Hector" after a pet parrot in the ambrosia offices, would exact revenge on those who would steal the bird seed from her mouth. With cries of "Avast, ye scurvy software pirate," this nearly-invincible assassin would swoop down on your ship and assail you with a barrage of torpedoes and rockets. Although at later stages of the game, this was a minor annoyance, in the starting shuttle one rocket blast was instant death. It was definitely the most amusing way to prevent full illegal use that I've ever seen. (Although, to be honest, I finally defeated him with the use of a resource editor. Hector wasn't quite as threatening when she was buzzing around you in a weaponless shuttle :))

  • Ambrosia rules (Score:2, Informative)

    by ztwilight ( 549428 )
    Ambrosia created a slew of the best shareware games ever seen for Mac, starting in 1992. They proved that shareware could actually be profitable. The quality of these games puts some commercial games to shame - it's on par with Nintendo's bug-free quality. The one that made them famous, Maelstrom, was ported to Linux. Ambrosia's games have historically been highly, highly addictive, especially Escape Velocity and it's sequels. I have to wonder, though, how well received they will be in the PC market whic
  • For what it's worth, I've got to agree with everyone else and say this is a good thing. EV was one of the best games for the Mac, and was an envy of many PC owning friends.

    Just to point out that they are releasing EV:Nova, their most recent installment, although I'd be damn happy if they got round to backporting their older EVs as well.
    • They're not backporting their older EV games as they stand, but are porting them to EVN as TC plugins. So they should be playable for PC users when they become available, since plugins should work as well on a PC as they do on a Mac.

  • shareware is dead? (Score:2, Insightful)

    by pbjones ( 315127 )
    Shareware died when they put it on CD. Ambrosia is a lone island of very good developers who produce some of the best stuff around. They use simple and addictive game play and great graphics. IMO any single person doing shareware is hopeing to develop the skills to get a software contract, shareware will send 'em crazy. Get help, now!
    regards from an ex-shareware writer(?) my MacUser Nomination was not enough to have people pay for games etc.

  • Shareware is just fine (Score:3, Informative)

    by kahei ( 466208 ) on Monday March 24, 2003 @09:15AM (#5582677) Homepage

    I both buy shareware (Pontifex, Snood, silly games like that) and sell shareware (http://www.jbrowse.com/products/axe) and I'd say the system is still working just as well as it was in the Epic/Apogee era -- better, even, because credit card payments are quite easy to process now and shareware is well suited to Web business.

    What's more, the level of organization in the shareware world is increasing -- the PAD XML format (PAD files describe shareware/freeware products) makes finding shareware (for the customer) and keeping it up to date (for the seller) easier than ever.

    Even big-name games are sometimes still released as shareware (without using the word per se) -- Unreal Tournament 3 springs to mind.

  • Shareware still works (Score:4, Insightful)

    by Headius ( 5562 ) on Monday March 24, 2003 @09:31AM (#5582732) Homepage Journal
    I still have a shareware app on the market that brings in a couple registrations per week. Shareware was flooded in the late nineties with a whole load of crap, much of it written in VB. Probably 90% provided one tiny little feature, so you'd end up using 50 of them to provide the complete functionality of a better app. As a result, overall shareware registrations dropped dramatically -- there was a far smaller percentage of apps worth registering.

    It's a testament to certain apps that they still survive well under a shareware model. Shareware certainly works, but only if you aren't charging too much and don't deliver a big ball of crap.
  • Anyone remember Bungee? Once a Mac-only shop...started doing windows ports. Then the Redmond Machine slurped them right up. Now the poor developers are stuck doing X-box games.

    Noooo! Nooooo, Ambrosia! Don't be that guy!

  • SHAREWARE IS NOT DEAD (Score:3, Informative)

    by salesgeek ( 263995 ) on Monday March 24, 2003 @09:54AM (#5582815) Homepage
    In fact, shareware has been co-opted by many mainstream software vendors! For example Macromedia and Adobe: You can download limited time trial software from their site and pay online to license. Sure, the days of going to the computer store and buying 3.5" floppies with shareware for $3.00 each are gone, but now most software vendors let you try before you buy.

  • GAME not GAMES (singular!) (Score:3, Informative)

    by Junks Jerzey ( 54586 ) on Monday March 24, 2003 @12:26PM (#5583632)
    Ambrosia is looking at porting *one* of their games to Windows. Not all of them. Not several of them. One.

Slashdot Top Deals

E = MC ** 2 +- 3db

Close