The problem with the moral high ground is that so few people actually stand on it. For all you in the "download it and send the author a check" crowd, let me ask you a question:
How many pieces of Shareware lay unpaid on your computer right now? Not Crippleware. Not Nagware. True download and use it Shareware.
I remember reading a blog by a shareware author (I wish I could remember what the software was). He did an experiment. He released some versions of his very popular software as true Shareware, some versions with a nag screen and some versions with features disabled until a user paid.
The results were, of course, predictable.
Not exactly what the ./ crowd wants to hear but one side does not have the monopoly on dishonorable behaviour.