Guiltware
I have been using Wordweb for over 2 years (on different laptops). It has a good dictionary which includes pronunciation and usage information. While looking up “pabulum” from a NYTimes Guy Kawasaki interview it gave me this message.
“You have been using wordweb for over a year. Please remember that you may continue using this free version only if you took at most four flights (two return flights) in the last 12 months and you do not own a SUV. If you do not qualify you must uninstall this program or order the pro version, otherwise this is software theft. Al users also benefit from the extra features of Wordweb Pro”.
There is a weird sense of fairness in this message – “If you can afford it, please pay up or uninstall”. The software author is banking on the fact that if you can afford to pay for it and don’t pay for it then you have a sense of guilt. You would just pay up to clear your conscience. But I am not sure how that equates to software theft. The user (in this case me) has not pirated the software or got it off a warez site, so a message such as this is disconcerting.
The Jargon files by Eric S Raymond defines guiltware as
A piece of freeware decorated with a message telling one how long and hard the author worked on it and intimating that one is a no-good freeloader if one does not immediately send the poor suffering martyr gobs of money.
Nevertheless, Wordweb is a good software and I don’t mind paying for it. I wish however the software author would not send me on a guilt trip. What do you think ?
PS: Then there’s beerware and postcardware as well 
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