My competitor stops the distribution of its software shareware.
I you copy-past below his message diffused on its site.

I decided to stop the distribution of this software for several reasons.
In order to compensate for the many hours for the development of the software (more than 1600 hours), and to finance the purchase of software, a Web site, etc, I asked for to each user a financial contribution to use this software.
Throughout development, I had of the assistance by many people to test and help me in the development of this software. I benefit from this occasion to thank them for their assistance and their support.

But today after several hesitations (it is rather difficult to separate from something that one has to create with the wire of these many years), I decided to throw sponge for the following reasons:
1) Much of people does not take the trouble of reading the Web site or the documentation of the software, they always raise the same questions. I point out that I manage this software over my spare time, and it is thus difficult for me to devote the little of time that I have to always repeat X time the same answer. Other people cannot be useful themselves of a computer or install a software. I am not a trainer in data processing: afflicted!

2) The software is less and less distributed whereas the number of families which have a computer with more than doubled, than the number of people who have Internet with more than triplet in 5 years! This software is 3 to 4 times less distributed today. Is this due to the hacking? I think it because I even had a person on the telephone which informed me of the hacking of my software. The weather should well be understood that all the time last to be this software is not free!

3) Finally to finish, people (it is a very weak minority) are increasingly aggressive by email. With the broad diffusion of Internet, one finds the same people today that one can meet in the life of all days. There are also the tele medias and newspapers which disseminate information of the kind:"Attention on Internet, they are all of the robbers, there is full with virus, etc... ". I want to understand well that a person awaits a fast answer, or a fast sending of the software, but from there to be good me to insult or threaten for a software with 30 euros: I am not able yet to believe it! All this violence by email for a software!

Fortunately that concerns from 2 to 3 people per annum, but that is enough wearying to receive several times the same message of insult or threat per day or over one week. I am not kind in the everyday life to let me insult. Then for a software with 30 euros, I prefer to give up! Even if I received several tens of messages of encouragement during all these years, there is always a grouser who will take to me the head for often not large thing!
For all these reasons, I made the decision to stop. I wish good courage with the other developers of software (which copied me :mad: ) because that is not always very easy!
I ensure during 1 year the maintenance of the software for those which have the software since less than one year and which read Doc., the FAQ and the Web site
The software has been very stable for now 2 years, should not have problem to you.

What do you think of these motivations of stopping the distribution of its software ?

#1

Some text ala "please read the faq blabla" (faq is of course linked there) directy infront of the contact email/formular helps. And if you still need to answer one of those questions just write the link (with anchor) back.

#2

Most likely competition and/or not enough marketing.

#3

I'm one of the admins of a ~20k user board. I get insults on a dayly basis, but I couldn't care less. Regardless what you do - some people won't like that and some of em will write you silly insulting messages for that. Those people are a minority (<1%), but if you reach enough people you'll also reach some of those.

Well, there are retarded people out there and with the internet they are just around the corner. (Fortunately the same is also true for damn smart/nice people ;))

"I can't be bothered doing tech support, I can't handle the occasional disgruntled customer, and despite the fact that the internet is reaching more and more people, my sales aren't growing correspondingly - so therefore it must be because hackers are exploiting me".

Cry me a river.

Have a standard form response to stupid questions, don't worry about the occasional angry email, and don't delude yourself.

[edit] ah, beaten to it! But basically, they're stupid reasons. Bitter, blaming reasons. Refusing to take responsibility for failure reasons.

Thanks. I agree with you.
The reasons are much easy to explain to abandon the software by my competitor.

I'm alone on my niche on the shareware market :)
but there is freeware software :(

Thanks. I agree with you.
The reasons are much easy to explain to abandon the software by my competitor.

I'm alone on my niche on the shareware market :)
but there is freeware software :(

What's your software/competitor software about ? ( your keeping the secret? ;) )

pat.

This can be a great opportunity for you. Here's my advice: Contact this competitor immediately and offer to buy his customer list, newsletter list, URL, etc. He has probably spent years building assets that could be very valuable to you.

You could do a host-beneficiary relationship where you offer your product as an "upgrade" to his customer base and give him a generous cut of all the sales. Just ask him to send an email to all his customers, recommending that they give all future business to you. You get lots of new business, and he generates passive royalties.

Heh - Steve echoed my thoughts. Here's your chance to consolidate the market!

As to Freeware - every once in a while you'll get a freeware developer with a serious religious desire to beat the for-pay 'competition.' Then you may be in trouble. But if you think of your business as a service industry (which is how I think of software - even games - more and more these days), then you aren't really competing against a free product. What you are offering is the same thing as you are offering against your own free shareware "demo" - you are offering the DIFFERENCE between your full support & software and the zero-cost option. Your task is to make it worth that difference in price.

As to not being able to support customers --- like I said, I feel software is heading towards being more of a service industry than a product industry ANYWAY --- and if that's the case, if you can't stand the heat of supporting your customers, you really need to get out of the kitchen.

It certainly seems this person simply wasn't cut out for the shareware business.

When your distribution is declining in a growing market that is a problem to be solved. Take on the challenge work out why and come up with a solution.

When people send the same questions over and over just become more organised at pointing them to the right part of the FAQ.

When they become rude simply reply with a fake "automated reply" stating that their message was automatically deleted (unread) as it was identified as spam or it was rude/abusive. - Nothing will annoy rude people more than their carefully penned insults going into the recycle bin unread.

[...]
When they become rude simply reply with a fake "automated reply" stating that their message was automatically deleted (unread) as it was identified as spam or it was rude/abusive. - Nothing will annoy rude people more than their carefully penned insults going into the recycle bin unread.

Haha that's great :)