I still have my 3.5" PKZip floppy with the personalized license, and a copy of Procomm Plus (with the nice manual) somewhere.
I was using CP/M for most of the 80's and switched to Linux in the early 90's, so aside from commercial software purchases (like Borland C, DesqView/X, some games, and Linux OSF Motif), there wasn't much else. I did purchase a Yggdrasil Linux (live) CD too, but I'm not sure if that counts. I also signed up for 386BSD (via FAX), but Linux arrived first so I never did much BSD. I had a subscription to the Slackware Linux CDs too.
Ask HN: What 1980s/90s-era shareware did you purchase?
101–110 of 202 posts
Re: Ask HN: What 1980s/90s-era shareware did you purchase?
#1021) Wolfenstein but reskinned so you kill Barney the purple dinosaur instead of Nazis
2) Descent on 3 floppy disks
3) Some primitive CAD/3D modeling thingy, can't remember the name
No doubt I had a ton more, including a lot from magazines that came with CDs, but those top three were some of the earliest and most memorable.
Re: Ask HN: What 1980s/90s-era shareware did you purchase?
#103All Adobe Mac products in the late 80s. I know I'm stretching the definition of "shareware" to mean any software you haven't yet purchased.
Re: Ask HN: What 1980s/90s-era shareware did you purchase?
#104Escape Velocity. Take that Cap’n Hector!
Best game ever. Nothing really has scratched the itch since but endless sky was close
Re: Ask HN: What 1980s/90s-era shareware did you purchase?
#105Jazz jackrabbit
Doom
Re: Ask HN: What 1980s/90s-era shareware did you purchase?
#106Pharaoh’s Tomb
Commander Keen
Think I got the shareware versions from The Software Labs catalog or maybe another one. Of course the original Castle Wolfenstein. I ordered a lot of shareware games and it was like playing the lottery in terms of finding something good, but CW was a mind-blowing change.
Re: Ask HN: What 1980s/90s-era shareware did you purchase?
#107PC-Write. Bought the sources, too.
PKZIP. Was pretty much required.
Quarterdesk Desqview. Used it for 6 months, then switched to Linux.
And of course, DOOM .. Wolfenstein .. Spectre VR ..
Re: Ask HN: What 1980s/90s-era shareware did you purchase?
#108ARJ
Re: Ask HN: What 1980s/90s-era shareware did you purchase?
#109My father bought the full version of Duke Nukem II. Still have the floppies. They don't read correctly anymore, but I think they're super cool to have.
Re: Ask HN: What 1980s/90s-era shareware did you purchase?
#110Total Commander, or should I say "Windows Commander"?