I published some shareware in 1988.

[fesshole@mastodon.social]

I published some shareware in 1988. When I visited my parents last week they gave me an envelope addressed to me. It contained a postal order for the amount requested on the shareware. I've framed the postal order and hung it above my desk.

[flawgren@mastodon.nu]

@fesshole Can someone explain this fess to me? Is it piracy?

[snaefell@mastodon.social]

@Flawgren @fesshole Nope. Someone actually paid the author for the Shareware.

[schrottkatze@social.treehouse.systems]

@Flawgren @fesshole i think its the first person in 28 years actually paying for it

[tempo@goto.televerse.mov]

@Flawgren @fesshole shareware was software you could use and share with others for free with the assumption you'd pay the author for a license if you used it enough. clearly the fesser sold a copy at some point (yes, it was usually a cash-in-the-mail affair)

[jernej__s@infosec.exchange]

@snaefell @Flawgren @fesshole … 28 years after it was released.

[bigpawedbear@masto.nu]

@fesshole postal order,, wow! I remember useing one of those years ago, don't remember what for now, but it was very strange to do so in a time of digital communications.

[aaron@cutie.city]

@Flawgren @fesshole

In 1988 bank transfers were rare. People published shareware which is software published openly but with the expectation that users would pay in an era before explicit licensing (though some software would work from an activation code). In lieu of bank transfers users would send a cheque/check/postal order (a form of prepaid note issued from the post office paid with stamps) directly to the developer often via a post office box.

Someone evidently had found/used the software and wanted to pay for it 38 years later; or the parents had only just come across the postal order (it's unclear).

[mansr@society.oftrolls.com]

@Flawgren @fesshole The opposite.

[samantazfox@infosec.exchange]

@Flawgren @fesshole "Shareware" were a kind of demo program in the late 80s to early 2000s that were distributed for free (or almost) on CDs, oftentimes with magazines or on BBS networks.

To get all the features of the program (e.g all levels on a game), you had to pay the editor a license, and that was done by sending them a check by mail at the address they'd have specified in the shareware.

[simon@gotosocial.grnwds.uk]

@fesshole Proof it worked though.

[snaefell@mastodon.social]

@jernej__s @Flawgren @fesshole 38.

[neckspike@indiepocalypse.social]

@Flawgren @fesshole the opposite actually. Developers would release software as shareware with a request in it to buy it by sending money, in the very old days by physical mail. Sometimes it was a demo version and the dev would send back a key to unlock the full functionality, sometimes it was just the full program and you could use it whether you bought it or not. The first few levels of Doom were distributed as shareware back in the day.

[h5e@tech.lgbt]

@fesshole did you send them the registered version? what software was it? come on don’t leave us guessing!

[baardhaveland@snabelen.no]

@aaron

expectation / dream

[kbal@fedia.io]

In the days before free software caught on, “shareware” was a thing where you would distribute computer software, typically without source code, and ask users to send money if they liked it.

[drolltide@mastodon.social]

@fesshole

[falcennial@mastodon.social]

@snaefell @jernej__s @Flawgren @fesshole 48

[falcennial@mastodon.social]

@snaefell @jernej__s @Flawgren @fesshole (assuming a rate of one contribution per decade)

[rivets@mastodon.cloud]

@fesshole if you haven't got a chequebook, postal order is the only way to pay the DVLA if you need to do so.