Shareware Submitter  Shareware Submitter

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This essay does not describe an existing computer program, just one that should exist. This essay is about a suggested student project in Java programming. This essay gives a rough overview of how it might work. I have no source, object, specifications, file layouts or anything else useful to implementing this project.

This project outline is not like the artificial, tidy little problems you are spoon-fed in school, when all the facts you need are included, nothing extraneous is mentioned, the answer is fully specified, along with hints to nudge you toward a single expected canonical solution. This project is much more like the real world of messy problems where it is up to you to fully the define the end point, or a series of ever more difficult versions of this project, and research the information yourself to solve them.

Everything I have to say to help you with this project is written below. I am not prepared to help you implement it; or give you any additional materials. I have too many other projects of my own.

Though I am a programmer, I don’t do people’s homework for them. That just robs them of an education.

You have my full permission to implement this project in any way you please and to keep all the profits from your endeavour.

Please do not email me about this project without reading the disclaimer above.

The people who run the various shareware distribution sites have done very little to make the process convenient for the shareware author. The problems include:
  1. Each site wants a summary of the program formatted in some unique way.
  2. Most sites want a copy of the program, not a master URL (Uniform Resource Locator) where they can get it. If the code changes, you have to reregister the program and unregister the old one.
  3. Winfiles.com wants a direct URL to the master download file. You thus cannot change the filename on a version change without having to reregister the program from scratch. Further, even if you updated the file without renaming it, there is no guarantee that winfiles.com would ever notice and update its distribution copy.
  4. Other people submit your programs to sites you have never heard of. The universe becomes polluted with old versions of your programs, and there is no way track them all down and update them.
What we need is a program analogous to Register-It for registering websites. This new program will submit your shareware or freeware to all the standard distribution sites. Further, it will submit any necessary updates to all the sites with just a button click. The program keeps track of what shareware has changed and which sites need to be updated.

For each shareware package, the shareware author must write and maintain a master description file. It is the mother of all description files. It must contain sufficient information to generate any of the descriptive material required by any distribution site.

Eventually we might talk the shareware distributors into implementing the MasterDistribution.site files, or an even better variant where they are given a direct link to the mother descriptor file. From then on the distribution sites would poll periodically for updates. Then updates to all sites already carrying your product would be automatic, even if you did not do the original submission.

Here is a list of major software distribution sites. You would have to catalog the requirements of each site, and ensure whatever you submit fits, including relevancy.

Major Software Distribution websites
Site URL Notes
32bit.com - The 32bit OS Center! http://www.serverfiles.com Does not use PADs. Server software only.
C|Net http://www.cnet.com
CoolShare http://www.coolshare.com/
Digi Safari http://www.digisafari.com
download.cnet.com http://download.cnet.com/windows/ Submit via https://upload.cnet.com/
Filez http://www.filez.com/ Pornographic
Freeware Home http://www.freewarehome.com Does not use PAD (Portable Application Description) s, rather home and download URL
Freeware32 http://www.freeware32.com
Hotlib http://www.hotlib.com
Jumbo http://www.jumbo.com/
LinkMonster http://www.linkmonster.com
Lockergnome http://www.lockergnome.com
My Shareware Page http://www.mysharewarepage.com
Nonags http://www.nonags.com
Pass the Shareware http://www.passtheshareware.com
Rocket Download http://www.rocketdownload.com
Sharelook Deutschland http://www.sharelook.de
Shareware.com http://www.shareware.com
Simtel.Net http://www.simtel.net
Jumbo http://www.jumbo.com
Tucows http://www.tucows.com/
Windows Magazine http://www.informationweek.com/windows/
cnet.com http://download.cnet.com/
WinSite http://www.winsite.com
ZDnet http://downloads.zdnet.com/
Now that most shareware is distbuted byPAD sites, this list is now barely relevant.

I implemented a simple version of this project that submits XML (extensible Markup Language) PAD files.

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