I make a shareware application, a good one if I say so myself. I have a listing on all major and minor download sites, which update automatically when I release a new version. My main problem is that I am only selling hundreds of licenses when I should be selling thousands. I send out press releases to most newspapers, I get full page...
I'm selling software online and would love to know what everyone else is using for licensing and protection. I know Armadillo is popular, as is EXECrypter, but what else is out there? ...
What are some resources in use for marketing downloadable desktop software online? AdWords, certainly, and "organic" search engine results but is anyone having any luck making sales through sites like Tucows and/or Download.com anymorE? ...
Folks, I'm working on a little piece of rich client software that I'd like to distribute for free. That is, I'd still like to make money on it, but I'd like the revenue to come from advertising. Do you know of an advertising platform that works well for client apps? I'd like the ads to be completely unobtrusive (like Google AdSense is...
Folks, i'm looking for a standard EULA form to include with my freeware project. I'm just looking for clauses to "cover my butt": not responsible for any losses, etc. Is there a standard, boilerplate template that I can get from somewhere? Googling didn't help.. NOTE: I'm not releasing the source code of the software with the project....
I wish to implement my software on a shareware basis, so that the user is given a maximum trial period of (say) 30 days with which to try out the software. On purchase I intend the user to be given a randomly-generated key, which when entered enables the software again. I've never been down this route before, so any advice or feedback o...
I'm looking for an IDE for developing commercial desktop applications to be sold over the internet, as a mISV. Windows is a must, while Mac is a nice to have. An important factor is that the technology allows me to create beautiful native UI with ease. .NET has a large VM dependency that I'm not crazy about. I was thinking about Delphi,...
I'm developing a shareware desktop application. I'm to the point where I need to implement the trial-use/activation code. How do you approach something like this? I have my own ideas, but I want to see what the stackoverflow community thinks. I'm developing with C++/Qt. The intended platform is Windows/Mac/Linux. Thanks for your advice...
I'm working on a software product, and to mitigate piracy problems I was thinking about offering the uncrippled software for free, but requesting donations and offering various things (like website access and program enhancement files) in return (a la PBS and NPR). If the program is popular enough (and I'm assuming that a free product w...
I'm wondering if the shareware concept is dead nowadays. Like most developers, I've built up quite a collection of self-made tools and code libraries that help me to be productive. Some examples to give you an idea of the type of thing I'm talking about: A self-learning program that renames and orders all my mp3 files and adds inform...
Problem: Customer X is (considering) porting one of his formerly "Windows only" shareware applications to Mac OS X. One of his concerns is how to enforce the 30-day trial period and make it immune to "system rollback" software like Time Machine. Question: What is the industry best practice for preventing the use of "system rollback" sof...
I have written a small laptop battery meter utility for Windows that I have been selling for a low price ($7.50). I recently was contacted by a company that wants to purchase a very large number of licenses (nearly 1,000). They would like an unlimited site license to avoid having to manage the number of licenses. My questions is, what...
I have a game that I'd like to sell with the following system: give away a demo (say, with the first few levels) and sell the full version. I'd like to make the transition to the full version as seamless as possible for the user. I've never sold anything before online, so I'm not sure how that would work (even if there were no free demo)...
Same intro as my last question: I am re-writing and/or consolidating a bunch of my "app framework" classes (basic mainform, about box, locking routines & purchase linking, auto-update, datamodule initializer, etc) -- Basically, I have a number of small potential shareware apps that I'm wanting to get out the door, and want to re-use cod...
I know there is already present similar questions on SO. But my question is more theoretical. I'm wondering, is it possible to design a foolproof trial system? By foolproof I mean such a system which cannot be cracked even if a cracker knows the algorithm of such a system? Sorry if it is not a programming question. Edit: I think I sho...
What is the best way to protect a Cocoa shareware application from software piracy? Are there developer libraries/tools out there for this task? ...
I once used a command line SMTP mailer that, as a limit of the trial version, allowed you to receive up to 10 emails with it per Windows session. If you rebooted your computer, you could receive 10 more. I thought this kind of shareware crippling was pretty neat, and I'd like to replicate it in my app. I'm just stuck on how to do it. I ...
I'm building a shareware software that allows users to import various types of files (XML, CSV, etc.) into a database. I'd like to provide a trial version, but limit it in some way to prevent users that really need it, from not having to buy it ever. I considered time based limit, but it seems that there are so many ways to work around ...
Hi Everyone: I am looking at using AquaticPrime for my key generator for a Cocoa shareware app. For those of you who don't know about it, you can check it out here: http://aquaticmac.com/. However, I am running into a problem when I attempt to implement it. I don't want my users to have to copy and paste a whole dictionary into my ap...
I'm about to get finished developing a windows application which I want to release as shareware. It was developed in C# and will be running on .Net 3.5+ machines. To use it the user will have to be online. My intent is to let the user try it for 30 days and then limit its functionality until a registration is purchased. The installer w...