Andrew Cardoza Fluegelman (born November 27 1943 -- presumably died July 6 1985) was a publisher, programmer and attorney best known as the inventor of what is now known as the shareware business model for software marketing. He was also the leader of the 1970s New Games movement which advocated the development of noncompetitive games.

A successful book publisher/packager, Andrew created The Headlands Press, which produced the following books and negotiated publishing contracts for them with major publishers. Many of the books were designed by Howard Jacobsen and produced by his company, Community Type and Design.

Shortly after the introduction of the IBM PC Fluegelman developed PC-Talk, a very popular and successful communications software. He marketed it under a system he called "Freeware," which he characterized as "an experiment in economics more than altruism." Freeware was licensed under terms that encouraged users to make voluntary payments for the software, and allowed users to copy and redistribute the software freely as long as the license terms and text were not altered. He trademarked the term "freeware" in order to retain control of the word's meaning, which ironically had the unintended result of causing other developers to use the subsitute term "shareware" in order to avoid infringing the trademark.

Fluegelman edited PC World magazine from its introduction in 1982 until 1985, and Macworld magazine from its introduction in 1984 until 1985.

In 1985, Fluegelman, already suffering from colitis, was diagnosed with cancer. On the afternoon of July 6, 1985, he left his office in Tiburon, California. A week later, his abandoned car was found at the north end of the Golden Gate Bridge near San Francisco. A memorial service was held for Fluegelman by his family, 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. InfoWorld rejected this column, but an online news service published it.^*. Note complicated provenance. The Textfiles website is said to be an archive of text postings from the days of text-based computer networking; this item is identified as being from NEWSBYTES (dated 7/30/85), an electronic publication available on The Source. NEWSBYTES says that it is the full text of an InfoWorld article that led to Strehlo's resignation from that publication "because the editors saw the last few paragraphs unfit for publication." Article says in part "Fluegelman had been missing for about a week when his car was found parked near the toll plaza on the Marin County side of the Golden Gate Bridge, the site of so many of his moments of inspiration. Friends say a suicide note was found inside. His family held a memorial service in New York the following Sunday. Yet, as this is being written, no body has been found. Police still list Fluegelman as a missing person."

List of books published by Fluegelman

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1976. New Games. Edited by Andrew Fluegelman and Shoshana Tembeck. A Headlands Press Book, Dolphin/Doubleday. ISBN 038512516X

1977. A Traveler's Guide to El Dorado & the Inca Empire. By Meisch, Lynn. A Headlands Press Book. Publisher: Penguin Books New York 1977. ISBN 0140462805

1978. Familiar Subjects: Polaroid SX-70 Impressions. By Norman Locks. A Headlands Press Book. HARPER & ROW, PUBLISHERS, San Francisco. ISBN 0062505300

1979. How to Make and Sell Your Own Record. By Diane Sward Rapaport. A Headlands Press Book. Putnam, Prentice-Hall. ISBN 0825699320

1980. How to watch a football game. by Frank Barrett; Lynn Barrett. Publisher: New York : Holt, Rinehart, and Winston, (1980). ISBN 0030569583

1981. Worksteads: Living and Working in the Same Place. By Hewes, Jeremy Joan. The Headlands Press, Inc., San Francisco. Doubleday (January 1981). ISBN 0385159951

1981 More New Games. By The New Games Foundation. Main Street Books New York: Dolphin Books/Doubleday & Company (1981). ISBN 0385175140

1983 SUSHI. By Mia Detrick, Illustrated by Kathryn Kleinman A Headlands Press Book. Chronicle Books LLC (November 1, 1983) ISBN 0877012385

References

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See also

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• List of programmers

Disappeared people | 1985 deaths