Short: Appeal to authors to support Poland Author: tonid@elektron.pl Uploader: tonid@elektron.pl Type: docs/anno --- IMPORTANT --- IMPORTANT --- IMPORTANT --- IMPORTANT --- IMPORTANT --- Dear Amiga Shareware Author/Provider This is a letter representing the Amiga community in Poland, concerning the question of registration of shareware in our country. Please do read it carefully and reply stating your views and possibilities as soon as possible, at your convenience. Problem definition: The Amiga community in Poland is suffering quite a low amount of shareware registrations and we (the author of this letter along with a group of other Amiga users, and also the Amiga Promotion Group created in Poland for the purpose of promoting our computer to the outside world) believe it is time to change this. We believe that the future of our machine lays very much in integration of the community and in the continuous development of shareware, especially via collections like Aminet, Fred Fish Disks, Meeting Pearls, etc. Amiga is popular for being one of the most logically and modular built system, based lately very much on shareware (with fine examples like xpk, MUI/MWB, MuFS, locale, datatype collections, etc.), and it also demonstrates itself in our organisational approach (Aminet, Fred Fish collections - integrated shareware services). We believe that this road does lead us towards the future, and many other computers lack this kind of co-operation amongst users and developers. Therefore our initiative is based on similar way of thinking. But first let us explain the reasons why the Amiga community in Poland has a low shareware registration rate. Reasons: Reason #1 - legal issues Only about 4 years ago the piracy of software was legally declared a crime in Poland. Up till then all forms of piracy were not considered illegal and were growing at an enormous rate. This has caused low moral approach towards software, and many people still believe that the cost of the computer is only that of the machine itself, and software is not a material thing. The question of shareware piracy (cracks, using shareware for longer than the licence allows) is still not fully clear according to our legal bills. This means nobody can be legally pursued for using a shareware crack/pirate key. Being unable to change the legal approach, we aim to change the moral approach to shareware in Poland, by allowing easy registration and good pricing schemes for Amiga users, along with promotion in all media possible (FIDOnet, Internet, Amiga Magazine, Scene groups, etc.) and promoting the registered users as "the better ones". Reason #2 - local language and support Poland being a post-communist country still has a mediocre level of understanding and active use of foreign languages, English being now the most popular, but still not known too well my many people in our country. Lack of local support for shareware makes it impossible for many people to understand the registration requirements, not to mention problems with contacting the authors of shareware. Reason #3 - registration difficulties The Polish banking and mail/post system is not yet advanced enough for foreign contacts. Registration via the "cash-in-envelope" method is not safe due to the post offices still often opening letters to other countries. Eurocheques are available only in some banks and most often only for companies and not private account owners. International Money Orders are not yet implemented; credit cards are very recently introduced, and not many people use/possess them due to lack of local support (not many shops and institutions take credit card payments yet). This makes it very difficult for an average user to send a registration fee abroad, and most resort to cash-in-envelope, and there were multiple cases of theft using this method. Reason #4 - pricing The currency exchange rates in Poland are still not too favourable, and pricing of shareware compared to Polish reality is 2 to 5 times higher than it would be if we had western wages. For comparison purposes, the average wage in Poland in fall 1996 was about $300 a month ($3600 a year). Please compare this to your local average wage and you will understand our problems much clearer. This means that often it is suggested that shareware pricing for Poland (and Eastern Europe countries in general, due to the fact most of the post-communist countries experience similar problems) was reduced at the convenience and good will of the author, and we already had cases like this (for example Pino Aliberti the author of Mail Manager has reduced pricing for MM for Poland). Solution: We see a possibility of solving this problem through establishing an integrated local support and registration site(s) for most popular shareware products. This site would be established before the interest in shareware rises (as the above reasons for low interest have to be fought first in order to rise the interest), and would function as a gateway from Polish local community to the Western world. Here is exactly how we see it done. 1. I run a small company of my own, which does amongst many other things also computer consulting services. It is fully functional according to local laws and is capable of managing money transfers needed for a regsite. There would be no initial costs for any shareware authors with the introduction of a Polish regsite, only a bit of hassle which can definitely be tolerated and brought down to a minimum, as we do not want to trouble authors (we would rather have them spend their time and effort on developing good shareware). 2. It is proposed that the interested shareware authors establish a regsite in Poland via this company (called TONID), either as a fully functional regsite, or as a local support site that would be capable of organising group registrations (if the idea of having a regsite in such a minor country does not appeal to you, this would be an ideal solution). The regsite might also function for the rest of Eastern Europe and post-USSR countries as well, but it would be more efficient if local support was found there as well, as we do not speak other E.E. languages well enough to provide support for them (however, the idea is taken into consideration). 3. We will inform our local community of the functioning of the regsite and of the programs it currently supports via: FIDOnet network echomail conferences, Usenet local conferences, IRC, possibly via Amiga magazines (there are currently 2 country-wide magazines appearing), via the Amiga Scene contacts and similar media, possibly to the extension of local radio and television. This should be joined with a campaign in the media encouraging registration and teaching about its importance to the Amiga community, and the negative role of shareware piracy. 4. The registration site will manage all local currency and key transfers via snail-mail, e-mail, personal contact, local post and bank transfers, etc. All transfer of keys with the authors can be done via either e-mail or on-line connections (FIDOnet or Internet) and payment transfer can also be agreed (we currently offer either foreign cheques or VISA, but we are in train of providing Eurocheque support as well, and will be thinking of other methods of safe and easy payment transfer abroad). 5. The registration site could develop, if necessary, into more similar regsites around Poland which (only in case of large demand) would handle local support in various regions of Poland, although this necessity is not seen at this time and rather improbable, but must be thought of in advance. 6. Local translations (locale, .guide/.doc files) can be handled either by the regsite if there is a large demand from the user side, or we will attempt to co-operate with the largest organisation of Amiga shareware translators, working under the scene acronym of WFMH. They have already released a large package of shareware translations and we believe they will be open for such co-operation with mutual benefits (local support and larger demand for the regsite and larger demand for the WFMH Locale shareware product which brings them more profits). 7. There remains a question of pricing schemes. The suggestion is that the authors of shareware think about at least small reductions of their pricing for Poland (possibly as promotions, limited-time offers, group requirements, etc.), and also that there should be a small amount of money dedicated to supporting the operations of the regsite and associated costs (bank fees, disk fees, etc.). All pricing will be agreed with the authors of shareware, and so will be the currency in which the regsite will communicate with those authors. Why should you help us and what will you gain?: The establishment of the regsite in Poland will not only gain you larger amount of local interest and popularity and will bring you extra profits. It will as well open the door to the rest of Eastern Europe and post-USSR countries, due to the strategic location and meaning of Poland. Establishment of an integrated regsite is now an experiment, and if it succeeds (meaning if the authors of shareware show an interest in this idea), it may open the way for other such initiatives, which would facilitate registration for users by giving them a single contact point for many programs, instead of many different ways and methods of registrations dependent on the wishes of the authors of shareware. We believe this kind of establishment deserves serious consideration, as we already had a proof of the importance of local support and registration through Pino Aliberti's Mail Manager - FIDOnet editor/tosser/scanner - which used to have a regsite here (not active any longer, but attempts are made to integrate it with the above initiative), and there was a number of registrations done during that time, while both before that time and now that the regsite is not active, local users are asking where and how to register and, do not do it, due to the lack of local support and difficulties discussed above. Why us?: Why me, I should say. There are a couple of reasons why I chose to take care of this initiative. One - I'm an active member of the Amiga community in Poland, both in more serious applications (I'm an author of articles for local Amiga Magazines) as in the networks (I run a FIDOnet node, one of the very few nodes run on Amigas in Poland, I have a private Internet account as well) and on the scene (as a musician, .mod composer), now also a member of Team AMIGA. Second of all, I own a small company developed for other reasons, but this now makes it very easy for me to handle financial transactions. Third of all, I am a professional translator/interpretor which makes it easy for me to communicate with shareware authors around the world. Fourth of all, I'm a never-ending fan of the Amiga computer and feel I have an obligation to support it as much as I can, and I believe this initiative does express this will of support much more than it brings financial gains (I do not expect financial gains from this initiative, other than coverage of costs). This concludes my short proposal of co-operation. Please treat it seriously and feel free to discuss details with me via e-mail as much as you want to. My approach is that only talking and discussing solves issues, and I hope we can work together. Thank you for your co-operation. You can contact me via the following media: Internet email: tonid@elektron.pl Tomasz.Nidecki@f78.n480.z2.fidonet.org FIDOnet netmail: Tomasz Nidecki 2:480/78@fidonet Phone (fax on demand): +48 (22) 39 17 20 (late hours preferred) Snail mail: Tomasz Nidecki ul. Sokolicz 1B m.10 01-508 Warszawa Poland This message will be crossposted to all possible AMIGA groups, conferences, also uploaded to Aminet, and possibly sent directly to Amiga shareware authors (addresses will be provided by the people interested in registering). The recipient of this message is kindly asked to forward it to anyone that he/she thinks might be interested in this initiative. If you can, post this message on your WWW site for people who might be interested to read it. If you know someone who writes good, popular shareware - send it to them. If you are in Poland and are interested that some shareware author supports this initiative - send it to them (also send me the information of what shareware you might be interested in). Let us all help ourselves for the bright future of the Amiga computer. I also encourage users in other countries who have similar capabilities as myself to start such initiative in your country. Long live the AMIGA computer. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------