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Unrestricted vs. Limited Shareware, In Dollars

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the more-evil-or-less-in-your-coffee? dept.

mklopez writes "There is a belief in the online world that people will be more willing to compensate an author for a downloaded program that has full functionality, versus paying to unlock features in a shareware version. Someone actually put this idea to a test with surprising results."

5 of 97 comments (clear)

  1. Paying for crippled software by Jeremiah+Stoddard · · Score: 2, Informative

    I don't think I've ever purchased software that came crippled in the trial version. For me to do that, the following conditions would be necessary:

    1) I need the software
    2) No Free/Open Source alternative is available (I'd happily pay for free software before proprietary stuff)
    3) I don't feel like/for some reason can't write my own version.

    It hasn't happened yet. I've purchased proprietary software after using the trials, but so far crippled versions have always ticked me off just enough to go look for another solution...

    Now, if only I was that smart with music -- I wouldn't be stuck with a bunch of iTunes albums that I can't play on my Linux box (and Apple's iTunes no longer installs on the version of Windows I used to use -- XP-64). I had to learn the DRM lesson the hard way...

  2. Test? What test? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    Summary links to some guy's blog who briefly mentions the test then explains how he cripples his software.

    The actual test is here

  3. Parent Contains Useful Information by patio11 · · Score: 4, Informative

    (It was my blog, incidentally. I don't know why the submitter had interest in a days old blog about a years old experiment, but eh, I'm happy you found it interesting.)

    Slashdotters will almost certainly find the original article at http://hackvan.com/pub/stig/articles/why-do-people -register-shareware.html as or more interesting as my blog summary of it, which strips out all the detail in favor of talking about another example (Movable Type) and two current programs (one mine, one somebody else's) and their different crippling strategies (features vs. time).

    (I would have modded the parent up but I get 2 points for free and modding only gives the AC 1. Sorry, AC.)

    --
    Help poke pirates in the eyepatch, arr.
  4. Re:Surprising? by patio11 · · Score: 2, Informative

    There was one nag screen on every startup, one on every shutdown.

    --
    Help poke pirates in the eyepatch, arr.
  5. Doom. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

    "There is a belief in the online world that people will be more willing to compensate an author for a downloaded program that has full functionality, versus paying to unlock features in a shareware version. Someone actually put this idea to a test with surprising results."

    I'm not certain that iD would agree with this. Doom was released as shareware without all the levels. When they did try a shareware release with everything. People didn't purchase.[1}

    [1] Reference: Masters of Doom,ISBN:0-375-50524-5