On Thu, 10 Jun 1999, Richard Hartman wrote:
>
> Otoh, it is impossible for the consumer to
> evaluate what is not there as well. The
> purpose of the demo version is for evaluation.
>
> Limitations are one thing -- missing functionality
> automatically disqualifies a piece of software
> from my consideration.
agreed. if you hide something, how is the user supposed to
"try" it?
i remember someone posting a reference to an article on the
web here a while back.. regarding shareware development.
if you want to make people buy it.. give them as much as
possible, but break something here or there.. dont remove
it.
ie: the example given was with printing .hlp files to the
printer.. for unregistered people, every 5th page or
somethign was reversed..
this frustates the user, but does not limit them to what
they can do.. they normally buy because they dont want to
waste their paper.
for example, LodeRunner - has a level editor.. unregistered
users can play around with it.. see how good it is.. even
test the levels!! but they cannot save to the database..
without this "trial", they would not know what was avaialble,
and hence never purchase..
which is larger?
sales lost by hackers ...... sales lost by "non" trial
hackers are a small breed.. some of them get frustrated
easially.. just have to watch those "Bill Gates" of hackers..
never give up.. will try everything.
az.
--
Aaron Ardiri
Lecturer http://www.hig.se/~ardiri/
University-College i G�vle mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
SE 801 76 G�vle SWEDEN
Tel: +46 26 64 87 38 Fax: +46 26 64 87 88
Mob: +46 70 352 8192 A/H: +46 26 10 16 11
