Trial & Error, vs. No Trial IS an Error
Posted by: PatrickJ on Jul 31 2006
Is anyone else noticing more and more new Pocket PC / handheld software titles appearing and not offering a Trial version?
This is based on absolutely NO hard research or statistics of any kind. Just a growing impression, something I feel like I’m noticing more often - new software for handhelds with no trial version available.
And that seems … well … strikingly dumb. Especially when the application you’re sizing up is from a brand new or little known vendor.
If SBSH, Ilium, WebIS, Developer One, or one of the other leading application vendors suddenly changed their policy to say no trial versions available, I would be disappointed, maybe even more than that - but when considering a new product of theirs I’d still have their history and track record, numerous great reviews, user forums etc to go on in having faith in the new app and how it might work out for me.
With a brand new or little-known publisher, none of that comfort level is there. We’re expected to buy based on … what exactly? A one or two paragraph blurb, and a couple of screenshots?
So what happens? Most of the time, I pass on the product. Sometimes, if it seems really unique or compelling, I may make a note of the application name, watch out for future reviews etc., and maybe come back to look at buying again someday. Many other times, I’ll just simply never think of that program again - or worse, I’ll think of it only in negative terms *because* it offers no trial.
Just one quick example on the No Trial front. Tonight, a product called TextSpeech Pro for PocketPC caught my eye, and it looks like a very interesting app. But, no trial version - and a $50 price tag! That’s in the HIGH bracket for handheld apps. It’s from a company called Digital Software - not a name I have heard of in the handheld apps arena. A search on Handango yields no other titles from them. A google search did turn up a web site, and at a quick glance it looks like they are legit / large (partnerships with AT&T etc). But when it comes to their new program, who cares? Their track record across in entirely different areas means little or nothing to me.
Maybe there are some great reasons I’m not thinking of for the ‘No Trial’ approach. Would like to hear those. For now though, I think usually this approach just loses a lot of potential customers.
Oh, if you want to have a look at TextSpeechPro, and part with $50 on it, visit:
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You are spot-on about the No-trial software. But, maybe (just maybe) with the no-trial approach, the companies have more liberal return policies… like, you try it out, but pay for it first!
In any case, I have a particular problem with Trialware: They leave dirty bits around at various places on your device, and soon this builds-up and causes some problem or the other. Maybe all OSes should have a sandbox built-in to protect you valid and functioning environment from crap that you occassionaly install and try-out.
Agreed 100%. In almost all cases I’ll just ignore a product that doesn’t have a trial and find one that performs a similar function that has a trial. Another way around this (I’m going into the dark part of the internet for a minute) is to search the torrent sites / warez sites / etc and download a copy from there. Now I’m not recommending that you pirate the software, I’m recommending you search for alternative download locations. Why? Well, in most cases you will find that the software really does have a demo version, even though the site you’re looking at doesn’t. Heck, even try different VARs … I’ve seen Handango show no trial version but PocketGear does have one.
Here’s a good example of this (torrent) logic. Sprite (GET A TRIAL) Backup for 2003. When I got my x50v it had been a long time since I had a PPC and everyone recommended this app, but there was no trial and I refuse to plop down my hard earned cash without seeing what I’m buying (highly recommended or not). So, I went to a torrent site, found a pack of software that included Sprite and downloaded it. I ran the download and was actually quite surprised when it told me I had (I don’t remember how many) days to register the software! I got my trial, and I ended up buying the product. Unfortunately for Sprite within the first 30 days they treated people crappy over the WM5 upgrade thing, I got a refund and won’t buy from them again, but reality is I bought the product because I got a chance to trial it.
I hate to say it, but this is where Piracy actually HELPS the software industry. Software vendors seem to think (and sometimes rightly so) that by having free trials it gives the pirates a better shot at cracking the application. Reality is that while that may be true, they are going to get thier hands on it anyway and those of us who like getting updates to the software are going to buy it. Piracy gives some folks a chance to trial the software, sure maybe for a bit longer than you would like, but ultimately if you’ve got a worthy product a great majority will buy it for the new features. I was reading a forum yesterday (on the much darker side) and it was a poll about how many apps people had purchased - private poll - so the answers were honest.
# of apps # of % of
bought Votes Votes
1 - 3 133 30.37%
4 - 6 69 15.75%
7 - 9 30 6.85%
10+ 88 20.09%
None 118 26.94%
Anyway … enough rambling!
I also don’t see why these software developers aren’t creating trial versions for their software. I understand where they are coming from when they are afraid of people reverse engineering their trial products in order to provide key generators, but what I don’t understand is why they don’t just make a limited version of their product for users to trial. Instead of having a “locked” full version as a trail, why not just give out a small version of the full product as a trial. Instead of having functionality “locked”, just don’t include them. Only give out what is necessary for the user to find out what the program is like. Example, trial version of Sprite Backup could only backup PIM. Email programs could only handle 1 account and 5 emails. Games only had the first level. Internet browsers can only handle 10 kb of the webpage. While piracy is inevitable, trials like this would be much more difficult for the software to be “unlocked”. My .02$
I agree with netsyd. I will rarely purchase software unless I have the opportunity to test it first. Why should I pay $20 or more for a program that I don’t even know if it works or whether it does what I need. All software should have a free trial.
Steve - excellent points. Tweaks2k2 does this with the “free” version. It only has a limited number of functions compared to the full version, but a lot of useful ones so you can see how well the program works. The full version only runs three times without being registered so you can see if specific tweaks will work for you. After using the free version a couple times, and trying the functions I wanted from the full version I bought it immediately.
Dgoldring - exactly. Why spend the cash when I have no idea if the product is what I want. Example of that is IPDashboard from OmegaOne. I have been using Spb GPRS Monitor for a short while and I wanted to see if maybe IPDashboard would be a little more functional (or not) given I have a Wifi and GPRS enabled device. Turns out I wasn’t a fan of the application (although it is a great app) and it was overkill for what I needed. Without a trial, I would have wasted $13 on an app I wouldn’t use.