1. Birth of freeware, the precursor of shareware
2. Bob Wallace creates the shareware term
3. Nelson Ford popularizes the concept with PSL
4. The shareware market matures
5. Recent evolutions in shareware
6. Europe and shareware
7. Principal European successes
8. References

1. Birth of freeware, the precursor of shareware
One year before IBM released its PC, two programmers, Andrew Fluegleman and Jim Knopf, programmed two major applications: PC-Talk (communications software) and PC-File (a basic file manager). The two authors did not wish to invest all of their time and money just to see their creations distributed in retails stores. Thus, they decided to utilize the "underground" distribution networks (mainly BBS' which were very popular at the time) to get their programs to the public. The user was to send money to the author if they wanted to see continued development.
Fluegleman officially claimed the term "Freeware" as his own, and did not allow others to release software under the "Freeware" term without his permission. Fluegleman distributed his software with its source code (a common practice during the public domain days of the 1970's). Unfortunately, this lead to improved versions of PC-Talk being released, and Fluegleman quickly lost control of his own program.
Knopf, on the other hand, actively supported his PC-File software and ended up with a multi-million company.
There was other Freeware released, such as the famous LIST by Vernon Buerg, but these two major applications established the credibility of Freeware for the first time.

2.Bob Wallace creates the shareware term
In 1983, another programmer, Bob Wallace, created PC-Write , a word processing application which was quickly going to become one of the most important applications ever produced.
Because the Freeware term was legally prohibited, and because an alternative name such as User Supported Software was too long and complicated, Wallace decided to employ the term Shareware to describe his software.
Shareware eventually removed the existing confusion between Freeware and public domain (where there are no royalties on the software) and stated clearly that the software was not free.

3. Nelson Ford popularizes the concept with PSL
At the beginning, shareware was distributed mainly through the BBS, thus limiting the touched market. In an attempt to reach the people who did not have network access, Nelson Ford, a journalist for an American computer magazine, created PSL - the Public Software Library, and began distributing shareware on floppy disks. At the same time, the first shareware-related magazine came to be: The PSL news.
Nelson Ford was the target of much criticism at the beginning, as many authors did not agree with distributing free software at a price. The price, however, was clearly to cover the operating expenses of PSL, and in the long run, largely benefited the shareware authors by increasing program popularity.
Time passed, and shareware authors eventually accepted and understood the distribution method introduced by Ford. Interest in such distribution increased and authors began to voluntarily send their software to Ford and other similar organizations.

4. The shareware market matures
In order to protect the shareware authors, the ASP - Association of Shareware Professionals - was created in 1985. ASP was formed by Nelson Ford, the first developers (Bob Wallace, Tom Smith, Jim Knopf...),salesmen (PC-SIG and Public Brand) and various BBS SYSOPS. The first president of ASP was also one of the first shareware fathers: Jim Knopf.
ASP played an essential role in the evolution of shareware by ensuring its longevity through a set of rules and morals that were to be respected by the various parties involved in shareware (respect the user, the authors, etc.)

5. Recent evolutions in shareware
Whereas the early years of shareware saw office applications such as PC-Write, the 1990's saw the success of games and general utilities.
The decline of office applications was mainly due to the growing popularity of Windows, which brought office applications that were backed by giants such as Microsoft.
The success of shareware video games is due to an innovative marketing method that was launched by Scott Miller of d'Apogee Software. His method consisted of distributing only the first levels of the game in the public version, and forced users to pay a fee in order get the full game.
Historical successes such as Doom, Duke Nukem, and Quake were thus born.

6. Europe and shareware
Shareware did not really reach Europe until the beginning on the 1990's. Thanks to the legal framework of Europe, which favored innovation and individual initiative (i.e., the inexistence of software patents), the shareware movement rapidly grew and became an essential form of software distribution.

7. Principal European successes
Eager to catch up with their American counterparts, European programmers ventured into monopolistic markets such as web browsers and word processors, where heavy patent use virtually eliminated any external innovation.
Thus, Europe saw the birth of many well-known programs, including Opera (Fast web browser), GoLive (HTML Editor), iCAB (browser), Graphic Converter (Macintosh Graphic tool), and many others.
The success of shareware in Europe has reached an all time high. Protected by the absence of software patents, European sharewares are used by mass amounts of users internationally, and are a driving force in the current computer market.

8. References
Site of the ASP:http://www.asp-shareware.org
Biography of Bob Wallace: http://www.heffter.org/bw.html
History of the shareware and PSL by Nelson Ford: http://www.pslweb.com/history.htm
The History of Shareware by Michael E Callahan aka Dr. File Finder (MT): http://www.paulspicks.com/history.asp
The Shareware Author & To use Box Study. Copyright 1994, by Daniel Corbier.
The South African Shareware magazine, Volume 6 - Number 1, 1994.

Document created by Sylvain Perchaud - Copyright 2001