Shareware or Freeware?

I was taking a look at programs to go with my new Forerunner 405 and stumbled upon TrailRunner and am fairly impressed. The author says it is donation-ware as he doesn’t have time to support it and people would expect support. That’s fine and dandy, but if you don’t donate, you get a reminder when you launch the app to donate. So what is the difference between shareware and donation-ware that nags you? In my opinion, there is no difference. The author wants 25 Euros for the app to get rid of the screen.

While the application looks well done, I have a problem with what the author is doing. He should either make it free without a nag (and accept donations) or make it shareware. It is misleading, in my opinion, to say it’s free, but nag you at every startup to donate. Will this prevent me from buying (let’s face it, it is not a donation), I’m not sure. I like how it presents the data and like the mapping, but this really irks me.

Hey author, wake up and make your app shareware. You’d actually be surprised how much well written software can earn you and then you can stop making excuses on why you can’t support the software.

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