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Why Port To PC? Shareware Still alive!
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."
I don't get it... all their games are using shareware as well? What does that mean? Sorry. I'm tired.
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:
- 10 licenses of the Opera web browser
- A ton of Chank's fonts
- Limewire
- UltraEdit
Plus PayPal tip-jars to the great Quanta, MusicBrainz, and even websites like Ryze.Whenever I need a program/tool, the first places I look are TinyApps (very small software for Windows), and Tucows.
I sure HOPE it's not just me that's out there doing what I can to support the independent shareware programmers!
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.
Huh?
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.
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.
...wow, that metaphor came out badly.
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.
"The worst tyrannies were the ones where a governance required its own logic on every embedded node." - Vernor Vinge
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.
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.
*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?
The Redhat 7.3 Linux "servers" at my job each have a copy of Maelstrom on them. Sweeeeet!!!
I miss Chiral.
Is that the stuff I download off KaZaA? =p
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?
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.
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.
How we know is more important than what we know.
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 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?
The only reason I have ever made my PC emulate a Mac.
Tim
Omnia vestra castrorum habetur nobis.
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.
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.
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..
-------
"In times of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act."
-- George Orwell
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 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.
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.
- - Just because I don't care, doesn't mean I don't understand. - -
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 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"?
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
Shareware is far from dead.
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. Lot of fun, I have a copy myself.
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
"Work is the curse of the drinking classes." -Oscar Wilde
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
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.
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 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 which has an order of magnitude more games than the Mac.
Who moved my sig?
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.
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 -- 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...
May we never see th
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.
There was an unknown error in the submission.
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.
Whence? Hence. Whither? Thither.
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!
That? That was a pigeon.
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.
-- $G
I don't recommend beginning a game of EV Nova unless you have a whole weekend ahead of you. It's just too easy to lose track of time upgrading/customizing your ship(s), skirmishing, making big profits on trading routes, and trying to figure out what to do next to get the story (or stories, depending on how many threads your pilot has gotten on) to the next level.
You keep thinking to yourself... I'll just finish this set of hyperjumps and dock, then I'll save and quit. Oh, wow a new ship, well, let me just try it out. Jeez, a new weapon, and I only need a few million credits more to get it. If only I could capture a derelict Leviathan to carry all those biological weapons from Codec to that other star system...
Next thing you know, it's 18 hours later, you haven't eaten or slept, and you're still just a little bit away from putting it down. Damn thing is insidious... and worth the $30 I paid for it. The only thing missing is a network/team play mode. Now that would be cool - inter-system real-time warfare. 8)
Ambrosia is looking at porting *one* of their games to Windows. Not all of them. Not several of them. One.
Those mac clones used Apple's ROM. It would still be their IP.
Time for some tasty Shiner Bock!