Hi! My name is Adam Stein and I’m the author of Town Meeting. Thanks for taking the time to try out this package. I hope you’ll like it.
Many of you have probably never heard of shareware. It’s really quite simple. A shareware program can be copied freely, but anyone who uses a shareware program is morally and legally bound to send in the small fee that the author requests.
You may wonder why anyone would sell their software via shareware. There are two big advantages to shareware for the user. First, you get to “try before you buy.” With commercial software, you’re taking a big risk purchasing a product. What if it doesn’t do what it says it does? What if it doesn’t do what you want it to do? What if it doesn’t work well with your system? With shareware, you get to answer all of these questions yourself by trying the programs on your own computer. You’ll never purchase a program you don’t want.
The second major advantage of shareware is cost. Let’s use the example of a commercial software product that costs $99. First, mail order houses will probably sell it for about $65. The mail order company may buy the product for $30 from a distributor. The distributor may then buy the product for $20. The publisher’s costs for expensive packaging, disks, technical support, and advertising may cost $10. The publisher may then pay the author a royalty of a few dollars. Out of the $99 a user pays for a software package, the author may only see a few dollars.
Shareware cuts out all the middlemen. It’s usually priced very reasonably. All of my products are $19.95 or less, including shipping, disks, and customer support. My System 7 Pack, which contains three great products, only costs $29.95. (You’ll find a description of the System 7 Pack! in this archive.) Town Meeting starts at only $19.95. (A 5 pack costs only $90.) This kind of value cannot be found in the commercial world.
The major disadvantage of shareware is the fact that some users do not pay for shareware. Shareware authors rely on the honesty of their users. Some users do not send in their fees thinking that others will send in their fees. But in reality, every user is kind of a barometer of everyone else. If you do not send in your fee, most likely, others will not send in their fees. If users do not send in their fees, shareware authors will stop producing quality software. We will all lose in the end if we do not support shareware.
Personally, I’m happy to report that the vast majority of users do send in their fees! I’ve found Macintosh users to be among the most honest people in the world. I can’t thank all of my registered users enough for their patronage. I owe all my success to them and the great Macintosh community that makes shareware work for all of us.
I’d also like to tell you a bit about myself. I founded Insanely Great Software in 1988. I’m currently a high-school senior with a bad case of what they call “Senior-itis”, a common disease of high-school seniors. It seems to inflict all seniors who can’t wait to finish high-school!
Next year, I’ll attend the Wharton School of Business where I plan to major in entrepreneurial management. As I’m sure you’re aware, college costs have risen steadily over the years—college can cost more than $20,000 per year, excluding living expenses. Proceeds from Town Meeting will help pay for college costs and invest in my future. I suppose you could call my software “Collegeware.”
Ordering is easy. Just print the order form out from the Town Meeting application or print out the "Town Meeting Order Form.TT" from TeachText. Fill out the order form and send it along with a check or money order made payable to “Adam Stein,” to my address. I’m not able to accept checks payable to Insanely Great Software though—my bank will not accept them.
I hope you enjoy my software and I’d like to thank all of you in advance for supporting my shareware efforts. Please distribute Town Meeting as widely as possible! Share it with your friends, co-workers, user groups, and every one else you know—I want every Mac user to get a chance to try Town Meeting!
