For several years I've been a user and strong advocate of Eudora Pro email
software.
Despite all of its advantages, some folks just don't see the value of
spending $40 for a quality program, when something else is available for
free. Soon, price will be no consideration!
Joining the ever-growing wave of free Internet products, Qualcomm will
begin providing a sponsor-supported version of the full-featured Eudora Pro
email program at no charge.
What they're actually doing is rather ingenious; and that is developing a
single program that can run in three different operating modes.
Starting with version 4.3 anyone can download Eudora from the web and then
choose to run the program in:
"Light Mode" - As a "light" product, it will have limited capabilities,
but will be entirely free. The user will actually be "paying" for the
program via a single advertisement banner or logo that will be part of the
software.
"Sponsor Mode" - This will be a full featured program, with nothing held
back; yet still free! In this case you'll simply have to endure rotating
advertisements in lieu of paying cash.
"Paid Mode" - As you can probably guess, this mode is full featured,
without any advertisements displayed whatsoever.
The outstanding value behind this delivery concept is twofold:
- There's only one piece of software to download, (though if you like, the "paid version" will still be available in a box through traditional software retailers) and this will make upgrading in the future a breeze.
- You get to control the choices at your leisure. Thus, most people will probably choose to run the program in "Sponsor Mode" for a while. Then, if, and only if, they find the advertisements too annoying, they can simply choose to pay a fee to make the marketing pitches go away. Fortunately, in this case there will be no new software to acquire, install or configure.
If you've ever wanted to try a professional level email client, but have
been putting it off, you'll soon have a great opportunity!
While the full-blown rollout will not happen for another month or two,
there is a "beta" version now available at Eudora.com .
NOTE: If you don't want to be a "test subject," then skip the beta download. Instead, check the site occasionally until the official release is available.
Published: February 1, 2000
Use of this article without permission is a violation of federal copyright laws.
