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On Wed, 19 Apr 1995, Dave & Jacqui Kramer wrote:

> I understand Prodigy is using Ziff-Davis to hawk shareware on its service.
> From what I hear from sources close to the service, this is a kludge until
> Prodigy can set up its own free library for users (a la AOL and CIS).
Prodigy, AOL and CIS all provide download of a variety of Shareware.  
Normally the shareware is binary (EXE, ZIP, and COM) files.  They are 
also available on CD-ROM, and through several sources.  You generally get 
fresher releases by pulling the on-line versions.

> Question: Does anyone know how this works? What is the legality of charging
> for shareware downloads. Does Z-D pay a licensing fee to the authors, or
> does it buy the software completely -- I know on eWorld, where the
Actually, many of these products have very reasonable quantity licensing 
fees.  Pkzip for example costs $50 retail, $30 as share-ware, and $5/copy 
in quantity 100 pricing.  Ziff net pays for distribution rights, but you 
still need to pay for registration of your copy.  You usually get an 
upgrade disk, manual, and a free upgrade within one year.

> downloads are free, they offer ZMac exclusives that they have either
> developed themselves or snapped up and slapped their name on... not sure
Much of the software bundled with OS/2, Mac, MS-Windows, and Unix are of 
this nature.  Many of the Dos 6.0 applications were originally share-ware.
There are about 8 Gigs of MS-Windows shareware, and about 8 Gigs of GPL 
software for Unix/X-Windows.  The main difference bewteen Shareware and 
GPL is that with GPL you can get Source Code (Very nice if you switch from
a PC to an Alpha).

> which. These files cannot be redistributed, but can only be downloaded from
> eWorld.

This is a different issue again.  This is mass marketed "load-ware".  In 
this case, you are paying a slightly higher fee, but cannot make copies.

> Anyway, for reasons probably too silly to enumerate, I find myself in the
> position of investigating these issues. What is the legality of charging
> for shareware on the Web? On a BBS? What agreements, if any, must be in
Actually, it depends on the license agreement included with the 
software.  Shareware is usually redistributable for fee, but the fee does 
not include your registration.  GPL software or "FreeWare" can be sold, 
but you must provide access to source (usually include documentation as 
to where source can be obtained), and you cannot make "Proprietary" copies.
Public Domain software can be copied, sold, upgraded, or enhanced without 
the author's permission.  Public domain software has a nasty habit of 
showing up at the worst time, like during legal proceedings.

> place?? Also, does anyone think there's even a market for this kind of
> service?? I mean, with free anon FTP sites right down the street, as it
> were, why would anyone pay for this stuff?
Actually, there has always been a market for all three.  FTP sites are 
often a PC, 56 Kb line, and 4 to 7 CD-Rom drives.  The CD-ROMS are 
available at fairs for $20-50.  Again, you need to pay registration fees 
for Shareware.  For GPL, you can make a donation to a non-profit 
organization (Free Software Foundation) or provide technical support
such as porting it to a new machine, or answering support questions sent 
to newsgroups.

> And, for that matter, what is the legality of reselling royalty-free images
> (or image products developed from royalty-free sources)?? Can this be done?
> I'd assume there'd have to be some sort of licensing agreement from the
> company that distributes the source images...
Again, it depends on the properties.  The classic is the "2000 gifs" of 
copyright violations on adult CD-Roms.  Several Adult publishers have 
either accepted that this piracy is happening, or have created competitor 
products.  Often royalties are negotiated after the fact.  By negotiating 
before-hand you get a better price.  By waiting until later, you must 
give up more royalties.

The GPL products can be sold as binaries, but you must provide access to 
the source.  If you make enhancments, you must send them to the original 
archive site.  These days, CD-ROMs make it relatively easy to include 
compressed sources.  Always read the license agreements carefully first.

	Rex Ballard

From rballard@cnj.digex.net Tue Apr 25 02:37:08 1995
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