Introducing readers to shareware, this text provides a survey of the best shareware programs for general and industry-specific business use. It also offers an overview of shareware registration and support, virus deterrents, obtaining shareware by modem, shareware disk distributors, and sources of shareware. The authors include a list of Fortune 500 companies using shareware, and a directory of business-oriented shareware sources. The accompanying disks provide a variety of commercial software and special utilities for financial management and telecommunications. They also contain tools for customizing many major commercial applications. The first part of the book introduces the shareware marketing concept and compares shareware to traditional shrink-wrapped products in terms of quality, performance, support and cost. The author provides a survey of leading shareware products such as PC-File (database), As-Easy-As (spreadsheet), PC-Write (word processing), Paint Shop Pro (graphics) and Telemate v4.01 (communications). The second part gives summaries and recommendations of free and low-cost programs for specific business applications, including accounting packages, business budget management, project planning and costing, inventory control and MS Windows shareware. The third part examines shareware for vertical small business markets such as retail, food service, mail-order distributors, medical, legal and consulting practices.
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