SHAREWARE, PUBLIC DOMAIN, FREEWARE AND COMMERCIAL SOFTWARE
SHAREWARE is software which has been prepared by a variety of
individuals and companies. The concept governing shareware is
that you "try before you buy." Shareware is above all a unique
marketing experiment which operates on the "honor system."
In practice, shareware is frequently of the same quality as
commercial software. However, it uses a different, and somewhat
less expensive method of marketing which involves letting
others freely copy, use and distribute the shareware. What you
receive from your friend at work, computer club, commercial
shareware disk distributor or BBS modem system is a "disk
evaluation copy" which you may use, copy and above all TRY.
Documentation and instructions for program use are usually
contained within special text files on the same disk as the
program and sometimes take a little detective work to locate.
Formal printed documentation and instruction books may also
be available from the author.
If you like what you find and use the program consistently -
many shareware authors suggest 30 days, but this is not a
firm rule - then you are expected to register the shareware
by submitting a fee usually by mail to the author which
frequently brings additional benefits sent back to you by
the author of the shareware. Above all, it is legal to copy,
distribute and USE shareware. What do you do if you don't care
for the software? No need to return it or pay further for it.
Erase the disk or give it to a friend. Only you are keeping
track - an honor system in the truest sense. Try before you
buy and affordable prices are the hallmark of shareware!
Computers improve the world, shareware improves computers
and registration is what improves and motivates shareware
programrs who are called "authors" in the trade.
If you do not submit a registration fee AT LEAST send a
postcard with your thoughts on why improvement is needed.
You just might NEED and USE the revised version which is
produced due to your funding or critique. Either way, feedback
is essential to the shareware process!
The registration fee requested by the author is a matter of good
conscience since shareware registration fees are paid by
users directly to the author "on the honor system." Paying
an honest registration fee frequently means you will receive
additional disks for the program or further instruction
documents, bonus items or other "inducements" directly from the
author.
Registration is more than this though: on a human scale your
registration fee is supporting a small company or individual
who shows you how to use and understand a computer. A programr
is a craftsman whose tools are logic and considerable creativity.
Your registration check is a special bond which allows this
quiet "honor system" of submitting your registration fee
for a programming job well done to motivate creative programrs
to produce some rather astonishing products!
The best way to summarize is this: you are not registering a
product, you are helping a person or small company do something
which improves how man uses the computer, most important tool of
this century. Paying a registration fee to the author of the
program rewards technical craftsmanship for providing creative
computer solutions at unbelievably low cost. Good programrs are
rare creatures - a small registration check goes a long way and
means a lot to a small shareware author!
PUBLIC DOMAIN software is a second type of computer software
which is NOT copyrighted and has no other legal restrictions
as to use by the general public. The author may or may not
be identified. Most public domain programs result from the
efforts of a programr who designs a small piece of software
for personal use. The author may not decide to invest
additional time in developing and marketing the software due to
lack of market knowledge or lack time and funds to effectively
develop it into a larger commercial or shareware package.
For these and other reasons, the author does not copyright the
software and allows it to be copied, used or even incorporated
into other software packages since it is part of the public
domain available for the common good.
FREEWARE is related to BUT NOT the same as public domain
software. Freeware requires no registration fee or reimbursement
for use by the public but the copyright is RETAINED BY THE
AUTHOR who notes a copyright restriction within the body or
documentation of the software. A reason for this subtle
difference is that the author may, at a future date, wish to
reclaim all or part of the software or modify and reissue
the software as shareware or commercial software. The copyright
continues the unique claim of the author to the product.
COMMERCIAL SOFTWARE is computer software provided by a company
or individual which is generally marketed via retail, wholesale
or other commercial means but does not use or promote a
registration fee concept, a "try before you buy" concept, and
does not use or promote sharing copies of the program among
individuals or other enterprises. The user is expected to purchase
the right to use the package BEFORE being allowed to use the
software extensively.
Note that either purchase or registration of any software
package does not mean you own the package, merely THE RIGHT AND
LICENSE TO USE IT. The author or company which produced it owns
the software programming code and is granting you a LICENSE to use
it in exchange for a fee or other compensation. In essence you
do not buy or own software, you merely license its use. The
author owns it.
EIGHT EASY STEPS TO USING SHAREWARE
Print this section and keep it next to your computer! These
steps are the secrets to using shareware! We will look at each
suggestion in greater detail in just a moment . . .
- Make a copy of the shareware disk, store your original
and work with the copy.
- Do a DIRECTORY LISTING of the disk(s) on paper or your
monitor screen.
- Determine FILE TYPES using extensions and filename clues.
- Read DOCUMENTATION and TEXT FILES if available on disk.
- Unpack and install the program.
- Configure the program if necessary.
- Run the program.
- Submit a registration fee or at least postcard(s)
with your regrets to the author and the disk vendor.
MINIMUM DOS COMMANDS FOR USING SHAREWARE
Before we move forward, a brief refresher course in several
basic DOS operations without which a shareware disk is useless.
DOS SYNTAX
A DOS command must always use the same syntax illustrated
below:
COMMAND (blank space) WHAT? (space) WHERE? (press return/enter)
Example: COPY PCLEARN.TXT B: (press return/enter key)
Example: TYPE PCLEARN.DOC (press return/enter key)
In the second example DOS assume the WHERE is the screen.
In the first example DOS needs to be told that a copy
of a file is to be sent to the B: floppy drive.
NOTE! Generally DOS commands, drive letters and filenames
and be typed in upper or lower case or both, since DOS
is not fussy in that respect. It is ok to use capital letters,
small letters or any combination.
THE DIR COMMAND
An essential command which displays the names of the files
on a disk.
Example: A>DIR (press return/enter)
Lists files on the diskette your are in THE DEFAULT DRIVE, in
this case is A:
Example: A>DIR B:
Lists files in the B: drive. We have omitted the (press enter/
return) since you already know this is necessary after a DOS
command.
Example: A>DIR /P
List files in current default drive but pause after each
screenful of information.
Example: A>DIR B: /P
Same as above, but list the files on B: drive with a pause.
Example: A>DIR /W
List current default drive but display in wide screen mode
for numerous files.
NOTE! With any DOS operation which rapidly fills and overflows
the screen with data, try pressing CTRL-S (control or ctrl key
plus the S key together at same time) to pause the screen.
Any key touched resumes the scrolling display and CTRL-S
repeated pauses again. Very handy!
NOTE! Switching drives is easy. If you see this: A>
and you want to change the default drive to this: B>
then simply do this: A>B: (press return/enter)
Switching default drives is an essential skill!
THE FORMAT COMMAND
This prepares a blank disk to receive new information. You must
format disks out of the package from the store before you can
use them. Formatting tests a disk and installs magnetic tracks
where information will later reside.
Examples:
C>FORMAT A: format floppy in A:
A>FORMAT B: format floppy in B:
C>FORMAT B:/S see below for explanation . . .
The last example formats the disk in B: drive and also adds the
special system files so that the disk can be self starting
or self booting. Not essential with most disk you will work
with. You MUST have the special file FORMAT.COM on your disk or
hard drive to able to do this operation since FORMAT.COM normally
resides EXTERNALLY on a floppy or in a special area of your hard
drive.
THE COPY AND DISKCOPY COMMANDS
Moves, copies and even renames files as they pass from one
disk to another.
Examples:
A>COPY *.* B: Copies ALL files (indicated by *.*) to the
B: floppy drive.
A>DISKCOPY A: B:
This is a variation of the copy command. The above example will
copy the ENTIRE contents of the diskette in the A: drive to the
B: drive. DISKCOPY.COM is an external file and must be available
to be used! The COPY command is an internal command (always
resides in your computer's RAM memory and is thus ALWAYS
AVAILABLE - unlike DISKCOPY.COM)
A>DISKCOPY A: A:
This is a variation of the diskcopy command. The above example will
copy the ENTIRE contents of the diskette in the A: drive to the
A: drive for those using ONLY a single floppy drive system and
perhaps not having a B: or C: drive. In essence, this variation
copies the SOURCE diskette into memory, allows you to remove the
SOURCE diskette, insert a blank formatted TARGET diskette and
transfer the files to that new floppy. Useful for those having only
a single floppy drive.
C>COPY A:*.* B:
Copies all files from A: to B: while still in the C: default
directory.
C>COPY A:HAPPY.DOC B:
Copies only the file HAPPY.DOC to B:
NOTE! DISKCOPY is an external command and must be on the disk
or in the default directory to work. COPY is an internal command
and is always available at the DOS command line. We mentioned
this before, but it is worth repeating . . .
TYPE COMMAND
Lets you view the internal contents of a file on the screen.
If the file is in ASCII or english text (same thing) you will be
able to read it. If the file is not ASCII then you will see
symbols which are gibberish. Only text or ASCII files are
readable for the most part.
Examples:
C>TYPE MANUAL.DOC
Type the contents of the file MANUAL.DOC to the screen. Remember
to use CTRL-S to pause, any key to resume scrolling and
CTRL-S to pause again.
A>TYPE B:MANUAL.DOC
Type the file MANUAL.DOC which is located on the B: drive to the
screen.
PRINT COMMAND
There are actually two ways to print text or documentation files
on your printer.
Examples:
C>PRINT EXAMPLE.DOC
Prints on your printer the contents of the file EXAMPLE.DOC.
Note that PRINT command is an external file and must be present
in the default drive to be used!
C>TYPE EXAMPLE.DOC>PRN
This is a useful alternative method of accomplishing the same
result by using the TYPE command which is an internal command,
always available and redirecting the output to a printer. The small
> symbol is found as a shifted period mark on most keyboards
and in other locations on your keyboard. Be sure to find and try
the > symbol.
NOTE! To stop printing use the CTRL-C key combination to stop the
printing and completely abort. CTRL-C works to abort just about
ANY DOS operation safely.
THE DIRECTORY LISTING OF A SHAREWARE DISK
The next step is to use the DIR command to list the contents
of a disk so you can do a little detective work and determine
the disk contents and locate the instruction text files which
are probably contained on the disk.
We have already given examples for listing a directory to the
screen in our previous DOS lesson. Another option is to print
the directory on your printer and carefully highlight or pencil
notes about the files on the paper which is a good idea for
beginners at first.
Example for printing a directory of a disk onto paper:
A>DIR B:>PRN
Prints the directory of files on the B: floppy drive to your
printer.
FILE NAMES AND EXTENSIONS - THE KEYS TO THE KINGDOM
To the beginner, DOS is a little cryptic in its use of file
names. Study the example directory listing below and the
notes to the right of the listing:
PCPC EXE 51489 5-03-86 3:36p ---> PCPC.EXE
PCPR EXE 21457 5-03-86 3:29p ---> PCPR.EXE
PCPY EXE 32017 5-03-86 3:39p ---> PCPY.EXE
README 128 5-03-86 12:46p ---> README
NOTES565 TXT 1390 7-03-86 8:31a ---> NOTES565.TXT
In each case you will note the REAL file name to the right and
the directory listing version to the left. The point is that
in DOS, filenames always have a name, a period or dot and an
optional (but highly useful) extension. This is a very important
point!
KEYS TO THE SHAREWARE KINGDOM!
Study the following list carefully, perhaps print it on paper
and mark it with a colored highlighter. This list contains a
roster of filename extensions which reveals the type of file and
its possible contents and application.
FILE EXTENSIONS WHICH PROBABLY CONTAIN DOCUMENTATION, INSTRUCTIONS OR PRINTED TEXT
.DOC ---------> Probable DOCumentation file
.TXT ---------> Probable Text (TXT) file
.MAN ---------> Probable MANual/instruction file
.LST ---------> Probable file containing a LIST.
.PRN ---------> Probable text file from a PRINTED source.
.INS ---------> Probable INSTRUCTIONS in text form.
.HLP ---------> Probable HELP text file.
. ---------> NO, EXTENSION. VERY LIKELY A TEXT FILE!
.HST ---------> Probable text file containing HISTORY of
