Shareware

These days, you think about a task and you find a software program designed to accomplish it. Thankfully, they haven't yet come up with a program that can 'think' for you (yes, I am referring to AI), which would make us lazier than ever. Software must of course be used to make our jobs easier, so that we can give more time to think about tasks which require a lot of thought!

The launch of the Internet has made software substantially easier and almost all the utility programs that you need can be downloaded and bought online. One type of software that can be freely downloaded from the Internet or freely distributed through many other channels is the 'Shareware', which is often confused to be same as 'Freeware', which it is not.


What is a Shareware?

All the kinds of software programs can be divided into three types primarily, which are freeware, paid programs and shareware. Freeware programs can be downloaded and used for free, although they may be copyrighted or licensed in some cases. Example of freeware are the Mozilla web browser and torrent clients like BitTorrent. Example of paid or proprietary programs are Windows operating system versions like Windows 7 and Windows Vista.

You must buy these programs to be able to use them. The third category is shareware, which are paid programs in actuality, that are made available for free by the software developer, for a limited period of time, after which they need to be bought to continue usage. Such programs are marketed in a 'trial' version form, which can be downloaded for free and used for a short period of time, which could be 30 or 60 days. Let's just say that a program is a freeware for a limited period of time (although it may not have the full features), after which it must be purchased.

A shareware program is thus offered as a trial version of the original program with full or limited features provided. These 'Evaluation' versions of the program help the user to test drive the software before actually buying it. Most of these programs can be downloaded directly from websites on the Internet. Some are also provided for free with DVDs sold with magazines and other periodicals. This is one of the easiest ways of marketing a software to the end user.

Examples

There are literally millions of shareware programs on the Internet. Some of the prime examples are 'Winzip' and antivirus programs like 'Spyware Doctor with Antivirus'. Many other antivirus programs are marketed through free trial versions, which can be downloaded directly from their websites. Here are some more popular examples that you could check out.

• DVD-Cloner VI
• Registry Mechanic
• Blue-Cloner
• Total Privacy
• Easy Movie Splitter 2.5.3
• UltraISO 7.6
• Wondershare YouTube Downloader
• Internet Download Accelerator 3.1
• CloneDVD 4.3
• PHP Debugger 2.1.3.3
• BadCopy Pro 3.61
• System Mechanic 8.0
• IVOS - Intelligent Voice Operating System 1.02
• WinAVI Video Converter 7.1
• Xilisoft Video Converter Ultimate 5.1.26
• SnapTouch
• Adobe Acrobat 8 Professional

The best thing about shareware programs is the fact that you get to try them out, before buying them. In case you are unhappy with its performance during evaluation or trial phase, you can simply refuse to buy it. It is a clever software marketing tactic of hooking up people to the software during the trial period, after which they are bound to be ready to pay a price for using further. From the buyer's and seller's point of view, these programs create a win-win situation.