旼컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴커 � � � VENDINFO -- What's in It for the AUTHOR? � � � 읕컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴켸 Anything that improves the quality and efficiency of communication from authors to distributors is beneficial to both. VENDINFO provides many features that assist with this: o VENDINFO provides a very comprehensive coverage of the information an author might want to communicate to distributors. The 750 fields of information in a VENDINFO data record cover the whole range of relevant topics, including product description; required platform; contact information for author, ordering, and support; contact information for other distributors of registered version; prices and registration benefits; and detailed distribution policy, both in general and for each of 13 distribution channels. o The structuredness of the VENDINFO record -- and the editor used to create it -- help the author avoid oversights. o The editor's extensive help system provides a veritable "short course" on the industry for the relatively inexperienced author. o Because the VendEdit editor has been designed to support the import of information files from your regional distributors, you will be able to easily include full and current contact information for them, as well as information about accepted forms of payment, and services provided. o Easy access to the descriptive information in the VENDINFO file increases the chance that your own preferred descriptions will be used in BBS databases, vendor catalogs, etc. This likelihood will become even greater as BBSes and BBS utilities begin to provide internal support for the extraction of this information. Some 30 manufacturers of BBS and related software have already committed to support VENDINFO, including PCBOARD, Wildcat!, Major BBS, Searchlight BBS, and TBBS. o The ease with which distributors can test your distribution policy, and the ease with which illegal distribution can be detected, will put "teeth" into your distribution policies for the first time. No distributor will reasonably be able to claim that "It's just too much work to examine the distribution policies on all those products." o Just to make the point about "teeth" crystal clear, imagine running a batch file that detects all "illegally distributed" packages on an entire "pirate" CD-ROM, and automatically creates and prints form letters inviting the authors to participate in a class-action suit. The VENDINFO system will make this technically possible, for anyone so inclined. o At the author's option, it will soon be possible to "brand" your executables with a brief VENDINFO record containing product identification and author contact information, along with your complete distribution policy. This will insure that your package can be tested for violation of its distribution policy even if the VENDINFO.DIZ file has been removed. The VENDINFO "branding record" can be inside your own CRC envelope, and thus protected from modification or removal. Furthermore, if you choose, you will be able to protect the specific VENDINFO file from within the executable, both by storing a verifiable CRC-like value calculated from the file, and even by doing a run-time test for its presence, if desired. o The VENDINFO Product Registry will provide visibility of your products to distributors, journalists, and even individual users who might not otherwise have discovered them. It will also provide an easy way to distribute screenshots, and perhaps other artifacts related to your products. It even provides a possibility for you to realize a small additional income, by sharing in the fees paid by distributors to use this service. o The VENDINFO record actually SAVES space in the distribution package, because it's almost always smaller than the VENDOR.DOC, SYSOP.DOC, READ_ME.DOC, and other files it replaces. o The free VendView viewer will soon give users an ability to access relevant information about your product from a pleasing, menu-driven viewer. It will even allow individual users to test your product for "legality" of distribution, and for changes not allowed by your distribution policy. This will not only increase user confidence, but may even result in users putting pressure on distributors who violate authors' distribution policies.