• Based on our own information/searches or user suggestions we find the e-mail addresses of authors of interesting software,
• We conact the authors and send them a letter (see below) which explains what AIRI is and proposes co-operation,
• When the authors agree to co-operate, we open a regsite on agreed terms and conditions.

If you are an Amiga user you are welcome to send the above authors mail with comments on their lack of co-operation >;->.
As it can be clearly seen not all authors are too happily co-operating. Luckily the authors of programs which you can see on the list of registered software, have treated us very positively.

• author of GMS - Mirko Viviani - proposed a 50% discount right away and co-operated without a smallest problem from the start of AIRI,
• author of MailManager - Pino Aliberti - similarly, additionally offering free MUI keys for Polish users with every MM registration (!),
• author of Daywatch - Allan Odgaard - lowered the price by more than 50% and sends keys when the money gets to the regsite, and not when the payment reaches him.
• author of CallMan - Alexander Fichtner - reached us thanks to our announcements.

We are hoping that more authors will be as willing to co-operate, especially with the constant development of AIRI.

Below we present a suggested letter, which you can send to any shareware author to ask him/her to co-operate with AIRI.

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 (AIRI Initiative Group, Magazyn Amiga, Amiga Promotion Group and local Amiga users) 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 5 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, and the ones available for private users cannot be cashed abroad by anyone but their owner. 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.

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. The registration will be handled by small companies or private people for non-profit reasons. 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 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, via Amiga magazines (there are currently 3 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 will be thinking of other methods of safe and easy payment transfer abroad).

5. The initial registration sites could develop, if necessary, into more and more similar regsites around Poland which (only in case of large demand) would handle local support in various regions of Poland.

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 co-operate with the largest organisation of Amiga shareware translators in Poland, working under the acronym of WFMH. They have already released a large package of shareware translations (WFMH LocalePL) and they have stated that they are open for such co-operation independent whether it will be profitable for them or not, as they are devoted to the future of the Amiga computer.

7. There remains a question of pricing schemes. The suggestion is that the authors of shareware think about at least 50% reductions of their pricing for Poland (possibly also 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 more than one program (authors supporting AIRI are now finally getting registrations from Poland).

This concludes our short proposal of co-operation. Please treat it seriously and feel free to discuss details via e-mail as much as you want to. Our approach is that only talking and discussing solves issues, and we hope we can work together. Thank you for your co-operation.

You can contact AIRI via the following media:

Tomasz Nidecki
Internet email: tonid@cryogen.com

or
Piotr Wojciechowski
soldier@airi.plukwa.pdi.net
soldier@it.pl

Long live the AMIGA computer.