Ads in GNU InterNet Software

From: Mike Gnitecki <MikeG_at_tcinternet.net>
Date: Wed, 14 Jul 1999 16:33:41 -0500 (CDT)

Hi,

I'm not sure if this post is appropiate for this list
(although it's about ads in internet software), but I guess
I'll try to send it in.

I'm distributing some free software that's under the GNU,
and I'm hoping to cover my expenses. I've concluded that the
only way to really do it is to put ads in the software.. My
users are home users, who generally don't want to pay a
penny for anything. This way they wouldn't have to, and I'd
still cover my expenses (and maybe even make a little
profit).

Unfortunatley, the GNU seems to be blocking the use of ads,
in every software ad network I've found. According to the
GNU staff, I cannot put the ads in my software, because the
only two ad networks that I've found don't give me the
source code for their ad code (it's either a dll file or a
program that somehow puts the code into the exe).

Does anyone know of any software ad networks that give the
complete code for their ad managament in the software? I
have fairly large volume.. About two thousand downloads of
the software per month. I believe the average user runs it
once a day, for a period of around two hours, although it
may be much more or much less.. I really have no way of
knowing. My guess is based on the fact that it's like a
webserver - it only serves it's purpose while it's running.

The other option I've considered is having the software open
a webbrowser that goes to a webpage that has a banner. That
may be more liked by the users, and might be the only
solution. Unfortunatley, I then couldn't have a new ad every
minute minute (since I'm assuming softwre ad networks would
do that).. The average user would probably close the browser
after a minute, and most banner ad networks don't allow
refreshing. Also, my website only gets about 15,000 hits a
month - I cannot find a decent ad network that will accept a
site with that little impressions. Flycast seems to be the
best ad network, but they require 100,000 impressions a
month - which I can't hope to achieve anytime soon.

Anyone have any ideas?

Thanks,
Mike Gnitecki
http://www.wircd.com

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Received on Wed Jul 14 1999 - 17:11:01 CDT