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Ask HN: Does Shareware still work in 2018?

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Ask HN: Does Shareware still work in 2018?

#1

Post by dgarud »

I put a lot of thought into a software which solves a real problem and could be licenced on a per machine basis. (Small company pays less than a bigger one - i.e. pay per use).

To go for a startup selling licenced copies, I would need an investor but I don't really know how much the product will sell. The investors like to see hockey stick graphs which I can't claim.

I know there are companies that created open source projects on github and then have businesses doing custom work around it, but I don't know if this will work for me. I feel the product itself provides value and I would like to make some revenue off it.

Now I am thinking this is a good fit for shareware - i.e distribute freely - let anyone who feels it is worth pay for it. I can distribute with source so if someone wants to modify sections they can do so.

Please let me know your thoughts.

Re: Ask HN: Does Shareware still work in 2018?

#3

Post by taprun »

Donation ware is a thing, but it rarely works well. Besides, hockey stick growth on a product that is free to obtain and use isn't a surefire means of proving future profitability. The easiest way to make money is the old fashioned way: charge for it.

Re: Ask HN: Does Shareware still work in 2018?

#4

Post by ghaff »

You're not really describing Shareware (though in practice it may not have been a whole lot different). Shareware was software distributed under a try-before-you-buy license but the license actually required you to pay if you continued to use the software beyond a certain time period.

Did this make a difference for most users? No. But, when I wrote shareware, I usually got one or two 4 figure site licenses per year from companies for my product. It was just a sideline but the difference between pure donationware and "you're really legally required to pay for this" did make a difference.

That said, today I'd probably just do it as open source donationware though the money wasn't completely trivial for me at the time.

Re: Ask HN: Does Shareware still work in 2018?

#5

Post by bluedino »

taprun wrote: post #3

Donation ware is a thing, but it rarely works well. Besides, hockey stick growth on a product that is free to obtain and use isn't a surefire means of proving future profitability. The easiest way to make money is the old fashioned way: charge for it.

Or charge for support

Re: Ask HN: Does Shareware still work in 2018?

#6

Post by jchw »

bhengaij wrote: post #2

Honestly- just use UWP and sell on windows store. Hacker news is believe it or not, a very niche space with very few employees of big enterprises except the popular ones. You wont get to hear from the regular it worker here

Why UWP? Who buys from Windows Store?

Not my parents. They started computers with buying software in boxes, but in the modern age almost all of their digital purchases are done on smartphones. Neither of them have any idea what Windows Store is. One of them uses Steam for games.

Not most power users I know, most of which bawk at UWP apps and the concept of a walled garden store on their desktop computer. Many power users are more likely to use Steam to buy apps despite it being gaming focused.

Anecdotally I see basically no group that would prefer Windows Store except out of ignorance or necessity. Buying on Windows Store means you don't get the Mac version if one exists. Admittedly, the same caveat applies in reverse to the more successful Mac App Store, but it's still something people have to consider.

Microsoft has been pushing Windows Store pretty hard for a long time. They came to my University back when I was in college, a bit after the Windows 8 launch. They talked numbers but only in terms of the whole Windows install base and not even Windows 8 adoption. Definitely no numbers on Windows Store.

To this day, I don't know if we've seen good stats on how much apps that were built and sold exclusively on Windows Store have fared. No doubt games have sold well - Microsoft can use its Xbox brand to deliver exclusives to Windows Store and not Steam - but I sincerely and absolutely doubt that success will translate to app developers.

Re: Ask HN: Does Shareware still work in 2018?

#7

Post by maccio92 »

bhengaij wrote: post #2

Honestly- just use UWP and sell on windows store. Hacker news is believe it or not, a very niche space with very few employees of big enterprises except the popular ones. You wont get to hear from the regular it worker here

what kind of apps would you suggest developing?

Re: Ask HN: Does Shareware still work in 2018?

#9

Post by Applejinx »

It's called Patreon. You've got to be established, though: can't come out of nowhere with a thing and expect to see much traction.

I literally went from using Kagi for ten years, to using Patreon. At first it's a decimating change because you're going from 'sale of a product' to 'literally giving product away free and telling people they can support you if they like'.

However, if your cashflow isn't too tough, one benefit is that Patreon is a LOT more stable and predictable than shareware ever was. You stop having boom and bust product releases and instead have months where you grow kinda briskly and months where you grow not so briskly.

You're not making revenue off the product, you're making revenue off 'I am the one who makes products such as this'. I've got suggestions for what people should pledge if they would've bought my stuff commercially, but it's entirely voluntary and I'm also MIT-licensing it all. I'm airwindows on github, and as a website.

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