As one who downloads a
LOT of shareware (and Freeware) almost every day, I too find the fixed 30 day limit to be too limiting.
Often, the shareware's time limit runs out before I can make up my mind. Some of them only allow 15 days for you to make up your mind. The worst are products that simply stop working... they all go into the trash can as the time limit is simply much too limiting for me.
I often install a program only to forget about it for several weeks (or months). Even using a program on a daily basis, it often takes me months to decide to purchase a product or not.
I have, in the past, bought a few products that looked really great on the surface after using them for only a few days; then to later discover there was some major un-resolvable problem with it or a compatibility issue. I was then stuck with a product that I had paid for but no longer wanted.
Because of the above situation happening to me on more then one occasion, I have sworn not to rush out & buy any more products until I have had a chance to really use it for awhile. This gives me the time to truly evaluate a program & to look for other similar, but better programs.
As I was evaluating ACDee I also tried many other image management programs but found myself always returning to ACDSee as it just worked so darn well & had such a wonderful feature set compared to all other image management programs that I had tried.
ACDSee has a solution for the time running out problem...
* You register the product for a 30 day free initial trail.
* Then you re-register the product with 15 day free trail renewals for an unspecified time (this can go on for some time).
* You have unlimited use of the program and there is no pressure to buy.
* In the meantime, ACDSee adds you to their mailing list & treats you like a paying customer with all normal ACDSee mailings with offers to upgrade to the latest & greatest version (at a cost of only $$). This make me fell like "part of the family".
This seems to really work well for them as they are number one in sales in image management.
A friend of mine has been using ACDSee free trail for over a year now & he has come to the conclusion that he should buy it also.
I used ACDSee for a very long time before I finally decided that I could not live without it so I bought the whole PowerPack package.
Other trail period methods that I have seen are...
* A start-up timer that causes the program to take longer & longer to start up as time passes. Some of these will let you load the program for many months (if you can stand the ever increasing delay for loading). The very slow loading at the end is a real pain but at least you can still evaluate the program.
* Number of times used. The program will give you unlimited use for as long as you need but only for X number of times. This can sometimes be very nice as I often install a program only to forget about it for several weeks (or months). I can go back to it after a very long time as long as it still has some number of times left on the counter. The only downside to this one is once the number of uses has been used up you can no longer get into the program; it's buy it or delete it. I have never bought such a program as I in the case of ACDSee will use a program for some very long time before deciding to buy it.
* Unlimited use for X number of days but some features disappear after that time. MC uses this method. Don't know what to say about this one. MC is the only program that I have ever bought that uses this method. It did allow me to continue using it but with limited capabilities which makes it hard to truly evaluate a program when not everything is working. I have trashed many a shareware program when features stopped working as again 30 days is simply not enough time to properly evaluate a program. Some programs only give you 15 days. I saw one that was only 8 days; it went directly into the trash can as all I could see were dollar signs for the greedy developer. Buy the way; they are no longer in business
He, He!
All in all I like the ACDSee method the best because...
* It does not cut me off in mid evaluation.
* It provides me the time to make a full evaluation of the product.
* I'm not hounded to buy the product.
* I can buy it when I'm good and ready, not before.