Shareware Memories reddit / bbs ---------------------------------------------------------------------- vrhelmutt · 2022-11-01 23:36 So I shared this story in another subreddit about selling Linux Distros on USB and was asked to go somewhere else and share my experiences in the 90s selling shareware disks. In 1992 when I was all of 12 years old I was given a homework assignment to actually “read the fine print” as it were on things I owned and share my summaries of the various toys packaging, food, items around my house. During one of my daily searches and sat in front of my shareware collection and had a read of my copy of Commander Keen: Invasion of the Vorticons. Whomever packaged this copy went into effort explaining the shareware business model in a little pull out paper sandwiched between the disk and plastic shell that housed it. A gigantic lightbulb flashed above my head and I started incessantly asking my parents if I could do this too. My dad being a good sport bought me 100 floppies and off I went to make packaging for 10 copies of 10 of my favorite shareware titles. I charged 5 dollars for each. In two weeks, between my 4H meetup, Church and the neighborhood I sold out!! I was completely stumped and so was an uncle of mine who I would call to tell all about how sales were going. He and my dad got really into fueling my new hobby, buying me sleeves and labels. I continued to do this until I thoroughly killed my market and could barely move any more. I took a little break in the summer of 93 and started selling other things, comics yard sale action figures. As the fall approached I had begged to be driven a few towns over because I wanted to scope software at some of the computer stores that I hadn’t been to in a very long time. That’s when it happened….. DOOM!! Well, DOOM shareware and looking back a bit before the actual release of the registered copy. I snagged it and some of the other first person shooters and went back home to prepare for Christmas’93 and what a Christmas it was. December January and February came and went. I shamelessly charged 9 bucks for a 2 pack of DOOM/Blake Stone and was supported by my Uncle and Now a friend of his who owned a instrument catalog business. By 1995 this friend had started marketing to Bookstores specifically for shareware and on my 15th birthday I was now managing the day to day of a small shareware mill called “Midwest Gold”. I was given two 250 meg hard drives and access to compuserve. There was something deeply fulfilling about going on a weekend vacation with my family and not only being able to pay for all the gas on our trip but also finding my shareware at a little bookstore almost 200miles away! I continued this until late 1998 and got out while I was ahead. Good times, I miss them! Edit: I've been asked enough and dug THIS Out lol https://preview.redd.it/yq43mlvyqmx91.png?width=640&format=png&auto=we bp&s=e1fb41d0b5290b4b04afeeb6332277e260393239 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- rumdumpstr · 2022-11-02 01:13 I wish I could remember where my dad ordered our shareware from, but I remember every disk coming with a catalog of titles. I loved looking through them. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- SmasherOfAjumma · 2022-11-02 15:35 Everyone remember this? https://www.abebooks.com/9780078816468/File- Finders-Guide-SharewareBook-Disk-0078816467/plp ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 13_0_0_0_0 · 2022-11-02 19:21 That's such a great story. Thanks for sharing. And glad to hear mention of Compuserve. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- e4e5nf3 · 2022-11-02 21:10 That's great. Commander Keen was an id title, too! ---------------------------------------------------------------------- vrhelmutt · 2022-11-02 22:48 Heck yeah! I did this three pack with Keen/Duke/Jill. I’ve been asked to find my labels and that one was cute because it was made to look like a portrait and like Jill and Duke were the mom and dad and Keen was the kid. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- dwargstof · 2022-11-03 10:46 Hah, that's a pretty fun story and definitely a great way for you to have learned some early business skills! If you don't mind me asking, what do you do for a living now? Any connection with how you started? I miss those days of collecting shareware discs, and especially the ones that came with the many great computer magazines we had on store shelves in the US back in the 90's. There was something special about grabbing issues, coming home to see all the stuff previewed, even though our family computer was restricted to "homework only." Sounds like your parents were much more supportive of your computer love than mine were, which is awesome! Keen was and still is one of my favorites. I was pretty giddy when they released it for the Nintendo Switch, but playing it on old hardware is definitely a trip down memory lane. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- dperry324 · 2022-11-03 14:19 Ultimately, shareware is what got me into IT. I wanted to get into the shareware distribution market, but buying and copying all those disks turned out to be hard and tedious work. I already had a computer where I downloaded the shareware files from various BBSes, so I decided to open up my own BBS and have people come to me to upload and download files. I charged for access initially but after a few years, the draw kinda waned and my users stopped paying. I liked BBSing tho so I kept it up, and ultimately migrated to a telnet BBS. My first BBS was WWIV (WWIVnet #4801) and I bought a copy of the source code for $80 (I still have the disks) and learned to code in C. I parlayed that experience into my first IT job at 3Com where I managed their inhouse TBBS BBS that they used for network adapter driver downloads. That was the first of many positions in my IT career. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- vrhelmutt · 2022-11-03 14:54 I flirted with BBSing and a lot of times was asked why I was doing physical media when the “future” was downloading. I was a stubborn kid and decided to keep things as is. There was a Mid Western Software Alliance BBS that retained shareware for distribution and it was the majority of my downloading for new titles. Honestly though I found more unique software pieces going to all of the Central Indiana software shops and physically buying copies. I kept my selections limited to mostly games and the occasional art suite or software toy. I focused on the impulse buy with approachable names/interfaces. If I had it to do over again I would have started earlier and stayed later. All the thoughts you have in the sunset of your days, huh? I lived for the tedium of copying, verifying, proofing. I have a spectrum disorder and filling my afternoons with turning on the radio and opening the roll top desk that has drawers and cubbies full of my supplies was so much better than whatever else my parents could come up with to fill my time. I’m happy to hear that Sharewate helped you shape a way of life! ---------------------------------------------------------------------- vrhelmutt · 2022-11-03 14:56 Well I’d like to say that I went on to being successful in IT or marketing but no. I got into the Pharma industry. There are many aspect of it that match the ordered repetition that I had then. It’s stable albeit very boring work. I would love nothing more than to be doing something else! ---------------------------------------------------------------------- SpoonMan2021 · 2022-11-07 09:39 Ahh, Doom. If I recall correctly, and I may not, a friend of mine got Doom from a shareware vending machine. I think you could put disks in, insert some money, and it would write the shareware program to disk. He brought it around to my place and got me hooked on the game. But I had gotten to know shareware before, when I had an XT in the early 90s. I used to go to the Accord Colour Copy centre after asking my parents to drive me there (it was close to the market we did our shopping), and buy shareware games on 5 1/2" 360kb diskettes. Still have those disks.