Selling Software - Shareware, Piracy, and Profit?

Posted by Cliff on Saturday August 30, 2003 @05:30AM from the this-part-of-the-industry-is-not-for-the-faint-of-heart dept.

qjereq asks: "A few months after being laid off from a large corporation early last year, I decided to create some image browsing software to sell on the web and, perhaps later, in stores. Unfortunately, besides competing with hundreds of other similar shareware and freeware products, I have found that the bulk of my product's downloads come from pirate web sites. I have tried unsuccessfully to make my software hack-proof. I have also looked into selling the product in-stores, but I have only heard bad things about this including the possibility of having to eat the cost of returned merchandise. I am running low on cash and am on the brink of giving up, but I know that the product is good. Do any Slashdot readers have any success stories about how they were able to make money by selling software? My product is currently sold as Shareware. Should I consider a combination of Freeware and a Full Version? Is it worth the hassle of trying to get onto store shelves? Help."

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Remove Their Hard Drive by Sancho · 2003-08-30 07:39 · Score: 1, Troll

Make the software trivial to crack, but put in a bit of code that detects the crack and removes vital system files from the cracker's system.

Hey, as long as it's in your EULA, it's ok, right?