Shareware Collections

[tt]

When I was a wee lad, I would sometimes go to Weird Stuff at it's original location off of Lawrence Expressway across one of the early Fry's Electronic's store. Weird Stuff was an amazing place at that time and after it moved it was never quite the same. I remember going through binders that would have catalogs of shareware disks that would have icons and names of the programs and which disks they were on. They were grouped by category and either Mac or IBM compatible. Where did these collections come from? Are there archives of this stuff available?

 

[Scott Baret]

The best shareware archive out there for 68K Macs is the CD which comes with the book Macintosh Revelations by Ken Maki. It's the BMUG archive circa 1994 and has more shareware than you'll wind up using. It doesn't have everything (notably missing is Backdrop, a System 6 desktop pattern utility which has been discussed and linked to on this forum) but will satisfy your shareware cravings. The book itself is pretty good, but the CD is the reason it's so sought after these days.

 

[beachycove]

Is this because of the choice or because of the range of the collection on the CD?

I think I have it — and the book — but cannot recall being especially impressed. What did I miss?

 

[tt]

It's the BMUG archive circa 1994 and has more shareware than you'll wind up using.

I checked out a description, and it mentions system utilities. Does it also include games and other programs?

 

[Scott Baret]

Beachycove, I like it because of the overall variety. They have a little of everything. I felt it was a more complete library than the one LaCie gave you on an external hard drive from the same time, although the disc doesn't have everything.

TT, they do have some games and other programs. There's even a collection of icons and some After Dark modules.

I may get it out today and look for some highlights.