Chris Trottier

I miss shareware floppies.

At least with NES cartridges you can purchase them at used game stores. Shareware floppies, in contrast, are nowhere to be found—unless you scour eBay. And even then, good luck!

Shareware was an incredible experience. During a time when cartridges were expensive and most people could only afford one or two, people were giving you games—and you could legally play them!

Oct 2, 2023 at 9:54pmWeb
Show threadChris TrottierOct 2, 2023

All right, so let me be clear. It’s not shareware software that I miss. Yes, anyone can download shareware right now and run it.

What I miss is the physical experience of shareware. If you’re unfamiliar with it, picture this.

A friend of yours talks to you at recess. He tells you that he just played the best game ever – so good, he must give you a copy. He passes you that small 3.5” floppy with a handwritten word on the label. He gives you a nod, tells you that you must try it.

You go home, turn on your PC, put the floppy into the drive – and for the first time ever, you encounter Doom. You’re completely, utterly blown away.

So what do you do? You make your own shareware floppy copy, pass it off to another friend, who’s about to discover Doom for the first time.

Now that was the physical experience of shareware.

Show thread🇺🇦🌻@rogue_corq🌻🇺🇦Oct 2, 2023
@atomicpoet for me Wolfenstein 3D 
Show threadChris TrottierOct 2, 2023
@rogue_corq There were many of those experiences with shareware. It happened over and over again, and each time, it was incredible.
Show threadLog 🪵Oct 2, 2023
@rogue_corq @atomicpoet Commander Keen.
Show thread🇺🇦🌻@rogue_corq🌻🇺🇦Oct 3, 2023
@log @atomicpoet Very old school! 💪
Show threadLog 🪵Oct 3, 2023
@rogue_corq @atomicpoet Only time I could ever use a pogo stick without breaking either a part of myself or the surrounding environment.
Show threadMostlyTatoOct 3, 2023
@rogue_corq @atomicpoet
Me too! I was utterly addicted.
Show thread🇺🇦🌻@rogue_corq🌻🇺🇦Oct 3, 2023
@MostlyTato @atomicpoet it seems quaint now but it was my first FPS, and the first few hours playing I got slightly nauseous and had to take breaks, I'm so lame 🤣
Show threadMostlyTatoOct 3, 2023
@rogue_corq @atomicpoet
You can still play it on any number of DOS emulators online.
Show threadRudiOct 2, 2023
@atomicpoet now it's become sharing magnet links in discord channels lol
Show threadRobbie Norlyn, Author 👾Oct 2, 2023
@atomicpoet #MeToo
Show threadGerty SteinblattOct 3, 2023

@robertnorlyn @atomicpoet
Yeah, erm, no.
Please rethink your choice of hashtags.

Edit - Clarification:
Imagine someone looking for helpful MeToo related resources & click on a hashtag. Instead of helpful links, they get a feed clogged up with misappropriated uses like this.

Not only is your use unhelpful, it actively interferes with access to help.

Please delete this hashtag.

Edit 2: Wish you only axed hashtag vs whole post, cos now this one is orphaned. :(
.

Show thread(hic/haec/hoc)Oct 3, 2023
@GertyBz @robertnorlyn I'm sorry, when were you appointed the official Mastodon scold? Why don't you mind your business instead?
Show threadMARIMO APPRECIATION ACCOUNT Oct 2, 2023

@atomicpoet I never caught the floppy era of this, but I was there for the CD era.

For the times your classmate would haul a single CD with some new (albeit cracked and not shareware) game and you were the only one of the class that got convinced to take that CD home and install it.

So much memories. Jedi Academy, KOTOR, Morrowind, Unreal, Quake, Corsair, X-COMs, obscure titles few people know about, all was shared in such a manner.

And we'd coppy the CDs and burn them and spread the word.

Show threadColopenOct 2, 2023
@atomicpoet lol me and midi files
Show threadBookOct 2, 2023
@atomicpoet That's so wholesome and sweet and illegal. I love everything about it.
Show threadChris TrottierOct 3, 2023
@book Actually, shareware was perfectly legal 🙂
Show threadAngela Glansbury 🚽Oct 3, 2023

@atomicpoet @book
right, people talking about shareware aren't saying it as a euphemism. Games and more practical software were being distributed in demo versions (usually quite substantial). Playing the game, when you got to the end of the demo you would get a physical address to write to, a price, and a payee name for your cheque if you wanted to buy the whole thing. Unlimited copying of the demo as a marketing device was all covered by the licence.

Do I need to explain a cheque?

Show threadBookOct 3, 2023
@floppyplopper @atomicpoet You don't, no. 😵‍💫
Show threadfluffy 💜Oct 3, 2023
@atomicpoet @book yeah the act of sharing shareware is right there in the name. It was called that by the publishers and developers. Word of mouth marketing was huge.
Show threadBookOct 3, 2023

@atomicpoet I didn't know that. Each time I heard the word it was in reference to dodgy floppies with keygens and such. The idea of a demo being copied around and talked about needs to be done more these days.

90s revival, anyone?

Show threadthe notorious gztOct 3, 2023
@atomicpoet and he was right, it was and still is the best game ever
Show thread Why Not Zoidberg? 🦑Oct 3, 2023
@atomicpoet Game or Malware script? Let's find out 😜
Show threadAnders LagerfjärdOct 3, 2023
@atomicpoet Not exactly the same but when I was in secondary school, mid 90s, the guy running the computer lab had a CD from somewhere full of games. Yes, an entire CD, those 700 MB fit an unimaginable number of games. You could ask him for some, bring a floppy and he'd fill the floppy with a bunch of new, exciting games that you'd then go home and try for the first time. Magic stuff.
Show threadChris KendallOct 3, 2023
@atomicpoet Wolf 3D was 🤯 but Doom was just 🤯🤯🤯 - and in my case it wasn’t the playground, it was the office - back when you could and did just stick anything you wanted on your office machine without IT knowing or caring
Show threadPiers CawleyOct 3, 2023
@ottocrat @atomicpoet and the office was where the network was. So many lunchtimes snatching a sandwich, then shooting the crap out of officemates.
Show threadChris KendallOct 3, 2023
@pdcawley @atomicpoet We never did get to hook ourselves up to each other and LAN it out, though we talked about it. However we did indulge in all sorts of autoexec.bat and config.sys shenanigans. Good times.
Show threadEstarriol, Terrorist DragonOct 3, 2023
@atomicpoet also Doom, you could buy a book on making new maps and levels for doom, that had the design software in it taped to the back cover.
Show threadLightning Bjornsson*  Oct 3, 2023
@atomicpoet The modern equivalent would be passing off an SD card to your friend and they discover your neat li’l Tcl programme for the first time?
Show threadAndrew UnickOct 3, 2023
@atomicpoet 😁 I remember back in the mid-90s(?) sending off a stamped self-addressed envelope for some guy to send back a paper list of available shareware. You’d fill out the order form, enclose payment (in the form of postage stamps), and receive your floppies in the post. Cost was by the floppy, so you’d be sure to pack them with any nonsense, joke list text file or grainy jpeg of Pamela Anderson 🤣
Show threadMars Buttfield-Addison 🛰Oct 3, 2023

@atomicpoet if you feel like reminiscing about this era, you should check out this book by @MossRC 💾

We cold-emailed Richard to speak at our Apple-focused conference about his first book “The Secret History of Mac Gaming” that was a total banger, and he was such a great storyteller. It’s no surprise this one’s great too.

Show threadRichard MossOct 3, 2023
@TheMartianLife @atomicpoet Thank you! I had a great time putting that talk together (and checking out the other sessions at Devworld while I was there).
Show thread🅺🅸🅼 🆂🅲🅷🆄🅻🆉:~$ ▓Oct 3, 2023
@atomicpoet Also: buying a PC magazine and get a floppy or CD filled with lovely shareware and demos. ❤️
Show threadkpfssportOct 3, 2023
@atomicpoet never did that but cassettes taped off the radio that you'd share with friends!!!
Show threadSirMarsOct 3, 2023
@FreakyFwoof @atomicpoet And of course. remember. Don't copy that floppy. As Computer Chronicles always used to say.
Show threadSean RandallOct 3, 2023
@atomicpoet @atomicpoet those were the days. Always-on has its benefits, but the Internet being this thing that was useful but not used perpetually gave it a feeling lost to time.
Show threadAdoxographOct 3, 2023
@atomicpoet that and the mixtape.
Show threadInari Oct 3, 2023
@atomicpoet One of the best parts of my childhood was the little gang of friends passing around floppy disks at high school, so I totally get this. Of course, the teachers would look at you like you were doing drug deals too ... especially when you're trying to hide a 20-30 disk pack exchange.
Show threadGeorgina BensleyOct 3, 2023
@atomicpoet I think I'm too old for much floppy shareware. I was the only person at school who _had_ a computer. Non-commercial software that came into my family came via BBS.
Show threadCarl B. LatroOct 3, 2023
@atomicpoet I used to review shareware and public domain software, and thus saw lots of it, most of it arriving by post. Great times!
Show threadJohan 🌀Oct 2, 2023
@[email protected] I remember when Christmas came early in the form of one of my dad's acquaintances throwing a ton of shareware stuff at me. Jazz Jackrabbit, Jill of the Jungle, all that early-90s stuff.
Show threadChris TrottierOct 2, 2023
@spiralmind I remember all of those games. Epic MegaGames (as they were then called) were on a roll!
Show threadJohan 🌀Oct 2, 2023
@[email protected] Apogee also had a ton of real bangers.