Shareware is not a particular type of software - it is a way of marketing and distributing a program. The basic explanation of shareware is that it lets the customer try the program before buying it. You could compare shareware to taking a car for a testdrive - install it on your computer, try it out, see if it does what you want it to do. If you're happy, pay for it. If not, uninstall it. That's how shareware works.

Although most of the big names in the software industry now have a try-before-you-buy version of some of their software, the vast majority of shareware authors aren't part of a faceless corporation. Shareware authors work hard to produce high-quality software, and if you like what you see, you should pay for it. Paying for your newly acquired shareware isn't only the honest and decent thing to do, but it also normally adds more features and removes time limits and reminder pop-ups.

So why do authors use the shareware method? Usually because it is cost-effective. Since they don't have to pay for boxes and expensive shelf-space in stores, they can focus their attention on writing high-quality programs. As an added bonus, shareware often costs less than traditional boxed software.

Finally, we'd like to point out that many of our clients don't actually use the term 'shareware' at all. They use the try-before-you-buy method, but for various reasons they choose to avoid the word itself. That's fine, too. As we've explained, shareware isn't a type of program. It's only a marketing method, and at the end of the day it doesn't really matter what it's called.