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Originally Posted by Olympus
I guestimate that for each payed shareware version 100 versions are not payed for - could somebody explain to me why this seems to be OK for software but not for e-books
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There is no difference. Most shareware's license states that if you continue to use the software past it's original 30 days (or whatever) you MUST pay for it or discontinue it's use.
Some shareware allows use for certain functions without paying for it. For example, WinZip doesn't require you to buy it if you are only using it to Unzip files (used to be this way anyhow). If you create Zips then you must pay for it. Also, paying for it adds the features of being able to create self-extracting zips. You see their motivation here... if people that bought Zip to create zips are sending files to others that couldn't unzip them then the software was useless.
There also is some "shareware" more correctly "freeware" in which the author says use this as you like, and if you like it make a donation... but that is not required. In this case it is much different from books because the author has made the decision to give it away. This is also the case with ebooks from Cory Doctorow which are under the creative commons license.
So, it is not the "form" of the digital item that decides this issue... it is the licenses or copywrite permissions you are given (or not given).
BOb