Why shareware or freeware?
Well, as a programmer who hasn’t tried to charge for his software since the early ’90s, here are my reasons. – It is never “just as easy” to sell it. I’ve never heard of the services you mentioned, but even if they handle everything related to order processing and key generation, that’s not the hard part. If you charge money for it, you are obligated to support it, fix it, update it, help users install it. You are obligated to keep track of every penny you spend on it and every dollar you earn from it so you can correctly fill out all the extra pain-in-the-ass paperwork at tax time and give the IRS their cut of it (and don’t forget self-employment tax!). I can scarcely imagine how ridiculously successful a shareware program would have to be in order to make the time I’d spend running the business worthwhile. – I already have a job, and I’d rather have more free time than more money. If I wanted more money I would ask for a raise or get a better job. Even if I did decide to start a busi
