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Health & Fitness

Cool Application of the Week: Sharing Shareware

Shareware-ing a little PC history.

This week’s CAW takes a look at shareware and what it really is. Shareware started in the early years as a way for programmers to get their software used without the need for packaging. It was done on CompuServe, AOL and BBS systems, which all were the precursor to the Internet. Many great applications used today harken back to shareware days:

PKZip – (Compression Software) Started as a shareware written by Phil Katz.

PC-File – Written by Jim Knopf, this was the best database.

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The above two packages went on into WinZip, PKZip Tools and a host of other compressor packages.

The PC-File went forward into Flat File databases everywhere, and later became a dBase III style tool used by many corporations in the early PC days.

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Today, shareware is all around us in our phones, and our PCs. The Internet browser you use started out as shareware, along with many games that grew forward into XBox, PS3 and others in use today.

Back in the old days we were called nerds because we wrote code for our pleasure, seeking only acknowledgement of our peers. And then we saw we may even be able to make a little cash from it.  

So with that said here is a great source for shareware, and remember to support the authors.

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