According to Wikipedia, “The term shareware, popularized by Bob Wallace,[1] refers to proprietary software that is provided to users without payment on a trial basis and is often limited by any combination of functionality, availability or convenience. Shareware is often offered as a download from an Internet website or as a compact disc included with a periodical such as a newspaper or magazine. The aim of shareware is to give buyers the opportunity to use the program and judge its usefulness before purchasing a license for the full version of the software.

Shareware is usually offered as a trial version with certain features only available after the license is purchased, or as a full version, but for a trial period. Once the trial period has passed the program may stop running until a license is purchased. Shareware is often offered without support, updates, or help menus, which only become available with the purchase of a license. The words “free trial” or “trial version” are indicative of shareware.

The term shareware is used in contrast to retail software, which refers to commercial software available only with the purchase of a license which may not be copied for others, public domain software, which refers to software not copyright protected, and freeware, which refers to copyrighted software for which the author solicits no payment (though he or she may request donations).”

This website has a lot of sharewares you can download right away. Click on the link SoftShop on the top of this page to access the downloads.

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