Ladies and Gentlemen. It has now been 27 years since Jim Button and Andrew Fluegelman launched the shareware concept. Those of you who were around in the previous millennium — well, okay: 1999 — will recall that I held up a fully functional try-before-you-buy copy of Microsoft Office. I showed you fully ten years ago that Microsoft is a shareware company.

Shareware developers pioneered numerous vital technologies in the last 27 years. Shareware gave us the modem software and the bulletin board software that ultimately drove the popularity of the Internet itself. Microsoft long ago admitted they obtained a near-monopoly on desktop operating systems because shareware authors flocked to it … giving Windows enough utility for larger companies to choose it as a platform for their “pay-up-front-before-you-use-it” software.

The multi-billion dollar antivirus industry has always sold its products on a try-before-you-buy basis. And you can thank shareware developers for ALL of the file compression technologies that are now fully integrated into every major operating system available today.

I can go on, but you get the point. Shareware can rest on its many, many laurels. THAT is the reason we are still here after more than a quarter of a century.

But when you’re this good … when you’ve got this many laurels … you know it’s never good enough. When you’ve got 27 years of greatness behind you, you’re always going to ask yourself: “what next?”

What’s next is two big things, not just one.

The first is the holy grail of software — the operating system itself. We’ve long had pioneers in this area — our very own 1999 Hall of Fame member, Tom Rawson, was the driving force behind an amazing operating system snap-in known as 4DOS.

We’re well beyond snap-ins these days. Now, shareware operating system companies are popping up to compete against the goliath Siamese twins known as Microsoft and Windows. Fedora and Ubuntu are simply two of the more well-known names, but I assure you: they’re out there. In force. They’re shareware firms — they’re selling operating systems on a try-before-you-buy basis — and Microsoft is not happy about it.

The second thing on the horizon for shareware … is selling software as an online service. I assure you, we will succeed in this area.

Why? Know this: large companies spend big bucks to develop “software as a service” technologies that will let them control the user. Shareware, by its very nature, empowers the user. Shareware developers will focus on technologies that place the users in control.

And here, too, we’ve long had pioneers. In fact, if you look at our conference sponsors, you’ll see numerous pioneers in electronic commerce. “Software as a service” … is really just shareware e-commerce by another name. And I think those sponsors deserve a round of applause, too.

(Ah, no resting our your laurels, guys. There’s money to be made. Get to it!)

So … Operating systems … and software as a service. My friends, I assure you — in a few short years, shareware will have two more laurels to rest on. And at that point, we will ask ourselves yet again: “what’s next?”

It was entrepreneur Steve Lee who once said “someday, all software will be sold this way.” Yes — even operating systems! Ladies and gentlemen, you are here tonight because HE … WAS … RIGHT.

Welcome to the 18th Annual Shareware Industry Awards. I’m your Master of Ceremonies, Rob Rosenberger. Tonight, we honor the industry’s cream of the crop in the year 2009. This event was conceived to honor the very best products written by Shareware developers.

If you look at the conference books you received when you checked in, you’ll find URL links to the many winners of past years. These are the pioneers whose laurels we rest on in the shareware world. Tonight we honor those who create new laurels, who pave new roads, and who set new standards of excellence in the computing age….

Ladies and Gentlemen. As you may well know, it was 26 years ago when Jim Button and Andrew Fluegelman launched the shareware concept. The notion of “try before you buy” is so pervasive, that Microsoft itself has qualified as a shareware company for more than a decade.

And yet, after more than a quarter of a century, you’ll still find nay-sayers who doubt the concept of “try before you buy” software.

In a nutshell: these people don’t trust a time-tested idea. 26 years isn’t enough for the nay-sayers.

So I decided to go much deeper into history. Way deep.

I want to show you an actual magazine ad for a 1938 Packard automobile. This ad ran fully 70 years ago this year. I’m going to quote this ad in context:

“We ask you to accept for a few days, without obligation, a new 1938 Packard … to use as though it were already your own… [Call] the Packard dealer nearest you … and tell him when [you] would like to accept a 1938 Packard … for trial.”

Believe it, folks: the concept of “try before you buy” has been around for at least 70 years. It’s one of the single most successful sales tactics an auto dealer can use to this day.

“Try before you buy” is also pervasive in the magazine industry. Publishers will gladly send you four issues of their magazine on a trial basis.

“Try before you buy" is pervasive even in real estate. If you’ve accepted two free nights in a resort condo, or spent two free nights in an RV park, then you know what I mean. They want you to try their real estate before you buy it.

Now, the nay-sayers will insist “there’s a difference between software and an automobile, between software and real estate, between software and a magazine.”

That’s nay-sayer thinking. The key is that they are all property. In the way that a condo is real property — in the way that a magazine is personal property — in the same way, software is intellectual property. And “Try before you buy” works for all types of property.

So. What has shareware really done, then? Did we pioneer the “try before you buy” marketing concept? NO.

When it comes to shareware — when it comes to “try before you buy” concept — we pioneered it for intellectual property. We pioneered it for something intangible. We proved the nay-sayers wrong.

THAT, my friends, is the legacy of shareware. THAT is the reason we are still here after more than a quarter of a century.

It was entrepreneur Steve Lee who once said “someday, all software will be sold this way.” Ladies and gentlemen, you are here tonight because HE … WAS … RIGHT.

Welcome to the 17th Annual Shareware Industry Awards. I’m your Master of Ceremonies, Rob Rosenberger. Tonight, we honor the industry’s cream of the crop in the year 2008. This event was conceived to honor the very best products written by Shareware developers.

If you look at your printed program, you’ll see the many winners of past years. These are the pioneers who “paved the road to success” for shareware. Tonight we honor those who pave new roads and set new standards of excellence in the computing age….

Ladies and Gentlemen. It was 25 years ago — a quarter of a century has passed — since Jim Button and Andrew Fluegelman started the shareware concept. It was 20 years ago — a score of years has passed — since the first of many shareware associations formed. We have celebrated the shareware concept at 15 previous yearly awards banquets. And it was ten years ago — a decade has passed — when I held up a trial copy of Microsoft Office to prove “Bill Gates is a shareware author.”

The shareware industry is six years older than the computer security industry. In fact, the antivirus industry relied entirely on the shareware model in its early days. Nearly ALL of the gaming software sold today, relies on key technology developed by shareware authors. Shareware also made file compression software a success.

Modem software, bulletin board software, and — years later — web browser software: these products, and many more, succeeded thanks to the shareware concept.

In 1989, in Las Vegas, at COMDEX (then one of the world’s largest computer conventions), a group of shareware authors gathered for a conference much like this one. The first speaker was Bill Machrone, then the editor-in-chief of the most powerful computer magazine in America. The second speaker was John C. Dvorak, then the most widely read computer columnist in America. Large corporations at COMDEX were clamoring to meet with these two men the day before COMDEX — and yet they both agreed to give their valuable time to a group of shareware authors.

THAT, my friends, is the power of shareware. THAT is the reason we are still here after a quarter of a century.

It was entrepreneur Steve Lee who once said “someday, all software will be sold this way.” Ladies and gentlemen, you are here tonight because HE … WAS … RIGHT.

Welcome to the 16th Annual Shareware Industry Awards. I’m your Master of Ceremonies, Rob Rosenberger. Tonight, we honor the industry’s cream of the crop in the year 2007. This event was conceived to honor the very best products written by Shareware developers.

If you look at your printed program, you’ll see the many winners of past years. These are the pioneers who paved the way for shareware. Tonight we honor those who break new ground and set new standards of excellence in the computing age….

Ladies and Gentlemen. If you know your history, you know that Jim Button and Andrew Fluegelman started the shareware concept in 1982. It’s been nearly a quarter-century — a quarter century! — and ten years later, in 1992, we started celebrating the shareware concept at this yearly awards banquet.

And so we come together tonight to celebrate at the 15th Annual Shareware Industry Awards banquet. But how did we get this far? Why do we wear tuxedos … and evening gowns … and sumo wrestling outfits? (How’s that leg, Harold? All healed up? Good.)

We can largely thank Michael Callahan — aka Dr. File Finder — for establishing this prestigious event in 1992. Back then we had just nine categories and thirteen voters (that’s thhhhhhhirteen), and the People’s Choice Awards were voted on by visitors to bulletin boards. Today, there are several thousand voters in 87 countries. Every state in the U.S. Every province in Canada. The awards, like shareware itself, have grown to encompass a wide range of companies from the very small to the very large.

All of the celebrating we’ve done over the years — all of the honors we’ve bestowed — all of it started in 1992, thanks to the vision of one man.

Ladies and Gentlemen: Michael Callahan.

Welcome to the 15th Annual Shareware Industry Awards. I’m your Master of Ceremonies, Rob Rosenberger. Tonight, we honor the industry’s cream of the crop in the year 2006. This event was conceived to honor the very best products written by Shareware developers.

If you look at your printed program, you’ll see the many winners of past years. These are the pioneers who paved the way for shareware. Tonight we honor those who break new ground and set new standards of excellence in the computing age….

First I want to thank Phil Schnyder for “Philling” in for me at last year’s award banquet. I couldn’t be your emcee last year because at that moment I was somewhere in Iraq with an M-16.

…”You’re welcome!” :-)

Now, I don’t know if you’re for the war or against the war. I don’t know if you’re proud to be a peacenik or proud to be a warmonger. I can only tell you that politicians decide on war — not the military. Please support our troops.

…And as one of the troops in Iraq, I can assure you that war has a sound. More importantly, victory has a sound. And I know what the sound of victory was in Iraq. I heard that sound every day and I want to play it for you right now. PLAY THE SOUND OF VICTORY.

…That’s right, folks: the Microsoft Windows 2000 logon sound. I heard that sound of victory all the time in Iraq. Computers brought a level of precision to this war that we’ve never seen before.

And shareware … was there.

The days of carpet bombing are over, folks. Shareware has helped to make war laser-precise.

I want to talk about the shareware that helps to keep our soldiers alive and raises their morale. Shareware that not only helps us to distinguish friend from foe, but also helps us to avoid killing innocent civilians, too. Shareware that is nominated for awards here at tonight’s banquet.

Iraq had no Internet to speak of when our troops went there. We quite literally dragged the Internet with us, and within just a few days our troops were logging in from all over the country. We were, as you’d expect, starved for bandwidth — and WinZip was a vital utility that helped us to squeeze every byte out of our Internet connections.

Battlefield commanders need a constant supply of digital imagery — and some of our intelligence officers use Paint Shop Pro to create that digital imagery.

When I got to Iraq, the average letter took over a week to arrive and packages took over two weeks. Telephone calls were a precious commodity, and so email was a godsend. Email gave us the opportunity to speak with our loved ones in a casual manner, as if we were just on a business trip. But if you think email is great for morale, then you should have seen mIRC. Husbands in the deep desert can chat in realtime with their wives at home. A girlfriend at a captured Iraqi air base can even chat in realtime with her boyfriend at some other captured Iraqi air base. mIRC’s effect on morale is incredible.

And if you think mIRC is incredible, you should have seen what we could do with a webcam and a copy of ICU2. Believe it, folks — video! In the middle of the deep desert, in a country that had no Internet when we arrived. ICU2’s effect on morale is equally stunning.

War is basically a lot of boredom followed by a few moments of sheer intensity. And while we were waiting, our folks pulled out their personal laptops & PDAs. They played games like Pretty Good Solitaire and (of course) UnReal Tournament.

Soldiers used to keep a deck of cards by their cots; now it’s a computer. And I can assure you that shareware games greatly improve troop morale.

We — us! — the shareware community — is so entrenched now, that armies need us if they want to win battles. Again, I don’t know if you’re for the war or against the war. But I do know that if politicians send you off to war … you go with shareware.

Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to the Shareware Industry Awards. I’m your Master of Ceremonies, Rob Rosenberger. Tonight, we honor the industry’s cream of the crop in the year 2004. This event was conceived to honor the very best products written by Shareware developers.

If you look at your printed program, you’ll see the many winners of past years. These are the soldiers who fought for shareware in earlier times. Tonight we honor the troops who break new ground and set new standards of excellence in the computing age….

Jim Button and Andrew Fluegelman started the shareware movement in 1982. Coincidentally, I joined the United States Air Force that same year. Programming computers, of course. (Duh!)

Now, I joined the Air Force purely on a lark. I didn’t expect to make a career out of it … it was just a way to do the things I always wanted to do. You know: travel to exotic places, meet interesting people, and bomb them from 30,000 feet.

Button & Fluegelman started shareware purely on a lark, too. They never expected to make a career out of it … it was just a new way to distribute the software they wrote.

Shareware was young in 1982. Brash. Full of life. Just getting started. Challenging the status quo with new ideas. My first year in the Air Force was much the same way. And boy, was I naïve.

As the shareware concept took off, so did my own Air Force career. Things quickly changed from “a lark” to “a job.” Button & Fluegelman found themselves facing responsibilities. Facing decisions. I found myself facing similar responsibilities & decisions. People looked to Button & Fluegelman and said, “all right, what next?” As the Air Force’s view of computing changed in the 1980s, they, too, looked at people like me and asked the same question. “Now what?”

Things changed as the years progressed. Colleagues came & went both in the shareware world and in my simple little Air Force life. Some people went on to do great things; others never really left their mark.

Shareware didn’t turn into a career overnight — it happened over time. Slowly. Likewise, my job didn’t just turn into an Air Force career overnight — it, too, happened over time. Slowly.

Both shareware and I started to plan our careers, and we made some interesting career changes along the way. Things which seemed all-important way back when suddenly didn’t seem too big when viewed from hindsight. Other things not taken as important in the earliest days … well, those were the things we should have heeded.

As I look back on the 19 years of my Air Force career, I wonder — would I do things differently if I could live it all over again? The answer is, “you bet!” As we look back on the 19 years of shareware, we wonder — would we do things differently if we could live it all over again? The answer, of course, is “you bet!”

I made some mistakes in my Air Force career, but I’m only human. I made my mark with many personal triumphs. Shareware is made up of humans, too. Yeah, shareware made its mistakes, but it, too, made its mark with many, many triumphs.

I’m no longer the teenager who started out on a lark in 1982. Shareware is no longer the brash young concept it was in 1982. As the 20th year of my Air Force career barrels toward me — yeah, I wonder what lies ahead. (Besides a receding hairline, I mean.)

And as the 20th year of shareware barrels toward us — yeah, we wonder what lies ahead. But we shouldn’t worry, because shareware is still making its mark on the world. We started on this incredibly long journey on a lark … and it doesn’t look like our journey will end anytime soon. I don’t know about you — but I can’t wait to see what lies ahead.

Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to the Shareware Industry Awards. I’m your Master of Ceremonies, Rob Rosenberger. Tonight, we honor the industry’s cream of the crop in the year 2001. This event was conceived to honor the very best products written by Shareware developers.

If you look at your printed program, you’ll see the many winners of past years. These are the “Flying Aces” who fought the good fight in earlier times. Tonight we honor the new “Top Guns” who break new ground and set new standards of excellence in this new millennium….

In the year 1632, Galileo Galilei did the unthinkable. He wrote a book for the layman describing the two Chief World Systems. Galileo was dismissed as a lunatic, threatened with torture by the Inquisition, and ex-communicated. His book was burned and banned — yet less than 20 years later, scholars embraced Galileo’s findings as an established fact.

His work led Newton to conceive calculus. It gave Einstein the very questions he answered in general & special relativity. Galileo himself was cited in the famous “hammer-feather” experiment conducted on the moon. Indeed, we couldn’t have even reached the moon without his staggering observations.

And all Galileo said was, “the sun is the center of the solar system.”

350 years later, in the year 1982, Jim Button and Andrew Fleugelman did the unthinkable. They released commercial software any layman could obtain at no initial cost. Their sales model was deemed ‘idiotic,’ was blamed for spreading almost all viruses, and was banned in corporate & government sectors — yet here we are, less than 20 years later, and computer users around the world embrace Button’s & Fleugelman’s sales model as an established fact.

Their marketing strategy helped Phil Katz set a world standard in file compression. Their ideas dominated the antivirus world and completely engulfed modem-based software. Button & Fleugelman forced Egghead to close its stores and they forced Microsoft to change its own marketing strategies. Indeed, they touched the lives of everyone at this conference.

And all Button & Fleugelman said was, “users should try software before they buy it.”

Galileo forced the entire world to change its views in less than 20 years. So did Button & Fleugelman. Imagine what the future must hold in store for shareware.

Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to the Shareware Industry Awards. I’m your Master of Ceremonies, Rob Rosenberger. Tonight, we honor the industry’s cream of the crop in the year 2000. This event was conceived to honor the very best products written by Shareware developers.

If you look at your printed program, you’ll see the many winners of past years. These are the “Galileo’s” who paved the way for us in earlier times. Tonight we honor the “Button’s & Fleugelman’s” who break new ground and set new standards of excellence…

Look at this. Three shareware products from Microsoft! Office 97, Windows 95, and Windows NT 4.0. Fully functional 120-day “trial” packages. Microsoft handed this out to people at a 1997 seminar. Pretty cool, eh? Microsoft is a shareware company.

Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to the Annual Shareware Industry Awards here in Tampa, Florida. Once again, I’m Rob Rosenberger, your Master of Ceremonies.

As we begin the second half of 1999, we see a lot of reflection over what people accomplished in the last hundred years. Now, shareware didn’t mean squat for the first 80 or so — enough said there.

What did we accomplish as we move into the next century? I submit to you we made the Internet a success. Al Gore invented it — hear me out! — but we made it popular.

Think about it. The Internet’s popularity served as an evolutionary upgrade for the shareware industry.

What did bulletin boards do really well in the early 1980s? They offered popular software for download. What did shareware authors do really well in the 80s? They created the popular software people wanted to download. What else did authors do really well in the 80s? They created a lot of useful public domain software.

People wanted more. Disk vendors sprang up to service those needs. FidoNet gave people all over the world a way to communicate. Compression software and automated packages for CompuServe reduced telephone & online charges. Manufacturers came up with faster modems for users with insatiable appetites.

Where did all the BBS software come from? Where did all the compression software and FidoNet readers and modem applications and antivirus utilities and thousands of other programs come from?

It didn’t come from the retail industry, folks. It came from shareware. Two major distribution channels — BBSs and disk vendors — made it easy to obtain. Users liked the idea of trying software before they bought it. They liked to type “DEL *.*” if something didn’t pass muster.

What was the natural extension of bulletin boards? Web sites. What was the natural extension of modem software? The browser. What was the natural extension of FidoNet? UseNet. What was the natural extension of telephone support? Email support (something we’ve done for a long time, I might add).

WE made the Internet successful. WE drove the technology, WE drove the distribution mechanisms, WE provided all the software people wanted to download.

The retail industry thought they could mold the Internet to fit their needs. They failed — because WE molded it to fit our needs long before the Internet grew popular.

WE forced the retail industry to play by OUR rules — not the other way around. You want proof? I hold it right here in my hand.

If we can do this much in less than 20 years, just think what the next 100 years holds in store.

But the year 19002000 can wait. Tonight, we honor the industry’s cream of the crop in 1999. The Shareware Industry Awards were conceived to honor the very best products written by Shareware developers. They know they must provide exceptional software in order to attract the attention of the public.

If you look at your printed program, you’ll see the many winners of past years. These are the “Roger Maris’s” who set the standard of excellence in their day. Tonight we honor the “Mark McGwires” who break old records and establish new standards of excellence….