Andrew Cardozo Fluegelman (November 27, 1943 – c. July 6, 1985) was a publisher, photographer, programmer and attorney[1] best known as a pioneer of what is now known as the shareware business model for software marketing.
[2] In 1981, Fluegelman was the owner and sole employee of The Headlands Press, a small book publisher in Tiburon, California.
[2][4] In late 1982 Fluegelman developed PC-Talk, a very popular and successful communications program.
[5] He marketed it under a system he called "Freeware", which he characterized as "an experiment in economics more than altruism".
[6] Freeware was licensed under terms that encouraged users to make voluntary payments for the software, and it allowed users to copy and redistribute the software freely as long as the license terms and text were not altered.
He collaborated with PC-File (database software) developer Jim Knopf to adopt similar names (PC-File was originally "Easy-File"), and prices, for their initial shareware offerings; they also agreed to mention each other's products in their program's documentation.
[2] In order to reduce his stress, his employer rearranged his work schedule; Fluegelman's behavior did not improve.
A week later, his abandoned car was found at the north end of the Golden Gate Bridge near San Francisco.
His family held a memorial service for Fluegelman, and he is presumed dead, though his body has never been found.
Kevin Strehlo, then an InfoWorld columnist, submitted a memorial column which mentioned that "friends say a suicide note was found inside" his car.
This list is arranged by year of book publication: Edited by Andrew Fluegelman and Shoshana Tembeck.