History of Shareware (from a 2004 article)

December 6, 2024

History of Shareware

I've put together a few articles about the history of shareware, including articles about early members of the industry, Jim Knopf of Buttonware and Nelson Ford of PsL, and other links to other sites for further information.

The origins of shareware

By Jim Knopf

My name is Jim Knopf and I appreciate you taking the time to read this article. Well, sit back and stick with me.

Yes, I started the shareware revolution in 1982. Learn the true story about the creation of shareware.

Shareware started life in two places at the same time: in Tiburon, California as the program PC-Talk written by Andrew Fluegelman, and in Bellvue, Washington as PC-File written by inventor Jim Knopf. I'm Jim Knopf, the creator of shareware. This is the story of how I got into the super hard life.

At the time, I was trying to write a program to print mailing labels for a local church group. I had an Apple computer, so I wrote the program using Applesoft BASIC. I wasn't just writing a printing program, I was writing a database program that could be used in general. I loved programming, and it was like a hobby to me, so I was absorbed in improving it in my spare time.

Shortly thereafter, the IBM Personal Computer was introduced. I instantly realized that this machine would revolutionize the personal computer industry, so that same day I sold my Apple machine and ordered an IBM PC.

The first thing I converted from Applesoft BASIC to IBM BASIC was the database program. The conversion was easy and I soon had my little database program running smoothly on my IBM PC.

I was working at IBM at the time, and many of my coworkers were getting their first personal computer machines. As a PC veteran, I wanted to make sure they got off to a good start, so I started sharing my database programs with them.

PC-File was created simply out of a desire to share something good with others. We hadn't yet thought of a name for it (we just called it 'Easy File'). It soon became a hit within IBM's Seattle office, and then all over Seattle, with enthusiastic users sharing copies with friends and acquaintances.

We used a database program to keep track of our growing number of dedicated users. But we quickly ran into problems: notifying users of fixes and improvements to the software was becoming a very expensive and time-consuming process. How could we tell which users were serious about new features? How could we easily notify them of improvements?

I included a message in the program that asked for a voluntary donation to help defray some of the costs for recipients of the program, encouraging users to send me a $10 donation if they would like to use the program, share it with others, and be included on my mailing list.

The first person to receive this unusual request called me immediately. He said that he had received a similar message when he had purchased another piece of software called PC-Talk. He was excited to see that both messages were similar, asking for donations, and recommended that I contact Andres Fluegelman, the author of PC-Talk. I researched PC-Talk and found that the author was inviting other programmers to participate in this novel 'Marketing Experiment'. I decided to send my program to Andrew right away.

Andrew was so excited that he called me right away and we decided to cooperate on marketing the software. I was going to name my software PC-File, as it would complement Andrew's PC-Talk, and I was going to ask for a donation of $25, as Andrew had suggested.

I had no idea what would happen next. "You're a fool if you think even one person will send me money," my wife said. But I thought I could do better. Maybe I could collect enough donations to improve my PC, which I enjoy, maybe a few hundred dollars. Or maybe even a thousand dollars! I had such ambitions. But the response from all over the country was so great that my small post office box was soon filled with letters.

All of this was true. PCs were selling like hotcakes, but there was very little database software available. Other programs were overloaded with pesky mechanisms to prevent illegal copying. But here was a program that encouraged copying.

The other programs were very expensive, and here they were for quite cheap.

Other programs require you to buy them without trying them out, and this is the only program that lets you try before you buy.

Other programs had to be purchased at a retail store. Here was an innovative new marketing idea, and computer magazines hungry for material. The result was a huge amount of free publicity for PC-File.

Another phenomenon further ensured the success of shareware. Computer clubs, some of which were known to be the largest in the world, were forming all over the country. Their software library managers were looking for programs that their members could share. The shareware approach suited these clubs perfectly; more free advertising encouraged wider distribution of shareware disks.

A guy named Doug Clapp wrote a great review of PC-File in PC-World magazine while our family was vacationing in Hawaii when the magazine went on sale. The response was overwhelming, so much so that our housekeeper had to use a cart to carry the big paper bags of mail to the house every day.

When we got home, paper bags of mail were strewn all over the basement floor. We had to step over and around them to get to our basement workroom. Our son John sorted mail all day, all night, all weekend, all summer. Life was never the same for us.

I always said I wasn't going to quit until I was making twice as much money in some other way as I was getting from IBM. I was wrong. By the summer of 1984 I was making ten times as much money in a little software business. But I still wasn't going to voluntarily quit IBM.

I didn't quit IBM voluntarily, but my body forced me to do it. After working eight hours at IBM every day, I couldn't work another four hours when I got home. Saturdays and Sundays were wasted because of a second job. I was at a crossroads. It was like I'd caught a monster. It kept swinging me around so hard, but I couldn't let go.

'Jim, if you're just going to do this software business on the side as a hobby, how are you going to survive by getting so serious?' This thought gave my body the break it had been craving for months. I quit IBM.

It's 1987 now.

Someday, someone will write the rest of this story. My software company now has more than 10 products and 18 employees. Shareware has become recognized as a legitimate marketing method. PC-File, my hobby database software, has now grown to a million enthusiastic followers.

UPDATE: At its peak a few years later, the company had 35 employees and annual sales of $4.5 million.

Addendum 1995

So now you know that `Jim Button is the father of shareware? Yes, that's me. I write books under the pen name `Jim Button` because it sounds more marketable. Also, my real name, Knopf, means `Button` in German. The book 'Father of Shareware' is not an autobiography. It was given to me by my friend Peter Norton in 1985.

Shareware is a relatively new term to describe a form of software distribution. Andrew and I used to call it 'freeware'. These terms have since evolved into different meanings, and 'shareware' is now the term most commonly used.

In 1992, I had a heart attack at age 49. Growing up in rural Eastern Washington, the software business was too stressful. I decided to remove those burdens. Last year, I sold all my business assets, retired from work, and retired to the Pacific Northwest to enjoy a quiet life with my family. Now I enjoy carrying my grandson on my shoulders and swinging my fishing pole.

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History of Shareware (from a 2004 article)

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