I published some shareware in 1988.
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@fesshole Can someone explain this fess to me? Is it piracy?
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).
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@fesshole Can someone explain this fess to me? Is it piracy?
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@fesshole Can someone explain this fess to me? Is it piracy?
@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.
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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.
@fesshole Proof it worked though.
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@fesshole Can someone explain this fess to me? Is it piracy?
@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.
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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.
@fesshole did you send them the registered version? what software was it? come on don’t leave us guessing!
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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).
expectation / dream
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@fesshole Can someone explain this fess to me? Is it piracy?
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.
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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.
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@snaefell @jernej__s @Flawgren @fesshole (assuming a rate of one contribution per decade)
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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.
@fesshole if you haven't got a chequebook, postal order is the only way to pay the DVLA if you need to do so.
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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.
@fesshole pic or didn’t happen. Where does it hang again?
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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.
@fesshole I see this as an incredibly wholesome story that's not at all unwelcome this morning. Thank you for sharing.
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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.
@fesshole Who cares what shareware was, I'm more concerned that fessor hadn't visited his parents since the eighties.
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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.
@fesshole Thirty eight years is a remarkable settle-up time.
The shareware honor system worked far more often than people remember, and the reason was that it asked instead of enforced. Plenty of us are still building on that idea.
Framing it rather than cashing it is exactly right.
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@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.
@neckspike @Flawgren @fesshole
Pretty sure I paid for at least a couple of things this way. LView Pro comes to mind; possibly also CoolEdit Pro.
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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.
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@fesshole if you haven't got a chequebook, postal order is the only way to pay the DVLA if you need to do so.
I used to iron paper money or get new notes so I could mail it without it feeling too much like money.
I got acknowledgments, so I know it usually got there.
