June 10, 1999
LIBRARY / SHAREWARE SITES
Virtual Variety Stores: Aisles of Free Files
By MICHELLE SLATALLA
n
the Midwestern town where I
grew up, there was a store called
Soukup's, which sold just about
everything: nested mixing bowls,
""No Trespassing"" signs, sidewalk
chalk, badminton birdies and -- if
you took the creaky elevator to the
third floor -- an enviable variety of
colorful fishing lures. My mother
still treasures the egg timer shaped
like a chicken (its wings moved when
it ticked) that I bought for her birthday when I was 10.
After Soukup's disappeared (like
so many family-owned variety
stores), I despaired of ever wandering in wonder down aisles crammed
with an exotic, chaotic profusion of
items.
Then one day I discovered
shareware -- and was saved.
Now I spend hours browsing dozens of Internet sites that maintain
downloadable libraries of software
files. And I always come home with
useful merchandise. The other day, I
picked up a nifty little program
called Netstock, which discreetly displays stock prices on screen. I also
got a copy of Phone Ferret, which
streamlines the process of searching
through numerous online databases
to find vital phone numbers, of, say,
old boyfriends (not that I have called
any of them). And of course, ICQ, the
instant message program that
changed my life last year by making
it possible to conduct the Internet
equivalent of a dozen simultaneous
personal calls, made its debut as
shareware before the company was
purchased by America Online.
The shareware concept dates to
1981, when an I.B.M. employee
named Jim Knopf wrote a database
program called PC-File for his own
use, as a substitute for an expensive
commercial version. It worked so
well that he distributed copies of it to
a few friends, who passed it on to a
few more, who passed it on. Soon the
term shareware referred strictly to
software distributed on the honor
system to users who were expected
to subsequently send payment.
The label has evolved over the last
two decades to encompass such a
wide variety of software that
shareware is used almost generically to refer to any program that you
download from the Internet instead
of obtaining in a retail store.
You will still have to pay for some
shareware after a trial period, by
sending payment directly to the developers. But other programs are
free (called freeware) and still others are stripped-down versions offered as free demos.
Other programs, known as guiltware, goad you
for payment whenever you use them.
And some untrusting developers create so-called crippleware, which
stops working if you fail to pay after
a trial period.
| |
Thousands of software programs, for work and for goofing off. | |
| |
Whether you are an expert or a
novice, the process of copying programs from the Internet -- and then
actually getting them to work properly on your own computer -- has become faster and more reliable over
time. I have seen a major improvement in just the last year. That is because more and more developers are
relying on standard installation programs to make it easy for users to
set up their software. And as an increasing number of commercial software makers move to electronic distribution as a primary means of getting products into the hands of customers, they are also creating more
stable shareware to lure new customers.
While many software developers
put shareware on their own Web
sites, for a wider selection I recommend one of the reliable and comprehensive Internet sites with large collections. All three of my favorite
sites -- ZDNet's Software Library,
CNet's Download.com and Tucows --
organize their shareware in easily
searchable categories, review programs to make sure they work and
check files for viruses.
While the Tucows library is smaller than the others, offering a Best of
the Best of Internet-related programs, the other two have a broad
variety in just about any category
you might want: tools and utilities,
small business applications, games,
graphics and multimedia, browsers
and tons of the variety-store novelties I like. If the overall feeling of
sameness you get from their inventories makes you feel a little more
like you wandered into Wal-Mart
than Soukup's, so be it.
After all,
some days you don't want an egg
timer shaped like a chicken. You just
want one like everybody else has.
Here are additional shareware sites, some of which feature more specialized programs:
SOFTWAREVAULT.COM: www.softwarevault.com
Allows searching of a
database of Windows, Macintosh, OS/2 and Linux programs; has a list
of new titles and some software reviews.
PUBLIC SOFTWARE LIBRARY/DIGIBUY: www.pslweb.com
A searchable
database of 20,000 downloadable titles. Reviews titles and publishes a
monthly CD-ROM of new programs.
DAVECENTRAL: www.davecentral.com
Specializes in software related to
the Internet, like e-mail and conferencing programs, for Windows and
Linux.
MACUPDATE: www.macupdate.com
A comprehensive site for Macintosh
programs, offering reviews, search capability and lists of new and popular programs.
HAPPY PUPPY: www.happypuppy.com
Specializes in games and game reviews.
GARBO: garbo.uwasa.fi
Based at the University of Vaasa in Finland, this
site has an extensive collection of MS-DOS programs.
ALBERT'S AMBRY: www.alberts.com
The database includes Amiga programs, as well as Macintosh, OS/2 and Windows titles.