Antedating of "demoware"

Hugo hugovk at GMAIL.COM
Tue Mar 18 14:40:16 UTC 2014


"Demoware" has been added to the OED in this month's March 2014 update,
first cited September 1987.

Here's an antedating of "demo-ware" in a Google Books snippet. It's claimed
to be Microcomputing, Volume 8, Issues 6-11 from 1984 and there's
supporting evidence in the snippet for the year to be correct, and is
probably from spring 1984.

http://books.google.com/books?ei=pngjU-DXFeiGywPy2oKwAg&id=96vbAAAAMAAJ&dq=demoware&focus=searchwithinvolume&q=demo-ware

An overview of Lotus Symphony program, that's still at the demo-ware stage
and not yet released:

[Begin]
Symphony's basic functions include a spreadsheet, database manager and
graphics package that are better than those in 1-2-3. The package adds word
processing and data communications to the original 1-2-3 functions. I
haven't had a chance to use either of these new functions yet (this program
is still in the "demo-ware" stage), but the demonstrations show that Lotus
did a good job designing both of these modules.
[End]

Wikipedia links to a Lotus advertisement in Computerworld, July 16, 1984
(pg. 66-67) that urges you to "visit your nearby computer dealer" and
suggests it's ready and on sale.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lotus_Symphony_(DOS)
http://books.google.com/books?id=MdBP83DW6g4C&pg=RA1-PA66#v=onepage&q=&f=false
---
Right column says DesQ and Symphony are soon to be released:
[Begin]
you have to wonder if Symphony will run in a DesQ window or if DesQ will
run in a Symphony window. At the moment, since all of these programs are
just reaching the stage of being real released products, the relationships
are unclear.
[End]

Wikipedia says DesQ "shipped late April [2] or May 1984 [3]".
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DESQview
---
Middle column:
"This summer you're going to see..."
---

A bit of excavation shows this on the same page, confirming it's the first
release of Symphony:

[Begin]
If your machine isn't 100 percent IBM PC-compatible, it may not be able to
run the first release of Symphony even though it can run 1-2-3.
[End]

Here's the OED definition:
[Begin]
Computing software which demonstrates the capabilities of a commercially
available software product, and is typically distributed free of charge by
the producer.
[End]

So this 1984 "demo-ware" isn't quite the same but is close -- it's
computing software which demonstrates the capabilities of a *soon-to-be*
commercially available software product, and is typically distributed free
of charge by the producer *but presumably only for a reviewer*.

Hugo

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