Just had an idea.

It may be hard to actually concretize it though.

Again please forgive my english.

Let's suppose a site where a shareware developer pay a small amount to subscribe and must provide a free license of one of his products to be included in the site library.

Once he's a subscribed member and that his soft has been accepted he gets the chance to download free products from the site library.

I understand there are many problems with this idea (security, different values for software, etc) but maybe this can be worked out. Maybe a 'points' system can be implemented. You get points based on the value of the product license you donated to the library and can spend them on other products in the library.


Well it's just an idea anyway . I don't really plan to do it :)

The ASP has a member discounts section on their web site (in the members only section) where many members offer free or discounted copies of their software to other members. Offers include free copies of WinZIP, FTP Voyager, and many other programs. So to some degree your idea is already being implemented. It doesn't require a separate download site -- each member just posts their offer and instructions for how to take advantage of it (usually just by emailing a request to the author). Participation is strictly voluntary; you can offer a discount, a freebie, or nothing at all.

You could always email the author of any game that takes your interest and offer to swap full versions with each other for no money.