1) How big is the software industry per year?

2) How much of this is from "big" software companies who each own more
than 1% of the total industry, vs. from smaller companies and
independent developers? (E.g., not counting Microsoft, Adobe,
Intuit...)

3) The above info for consumers, and for small business. (E.g., not
counting enterprise, government, etc.)

4) What is the total size of the "shareware" software market (for
consumers, small business, and enterprise), where shareware means
software with optional usage fees.

Please cite sources for all of the above.

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Request for Question Clarification by answerguru-ga on 31 Jul 2003 09:30 PDT

Hello there,

As is the case with most "market size" type questions, the best and
most recent data is proprietary and reports can be purchased from
anywhere between several hundred and several thousand dollars apiece.
However, for the information you are requesting, I have managed to
come across a couple sources that are a little older (2000-2001
range), cover prepackaged software (not shareware), but are freely
available. Would this information be a sufficient answer?

answerguru-ga

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Clarification of Question by englishpaulm-ga on 31 Jul 2003 09:49 PDT

Data from a couple years ago is fine; however, I would also like some
shareware data if possible, even if from a different source.

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Request for Question Clarification by answerguru-ga on 31 Jul 2003 11:46 PDT

Hi again,

Unfortunately I'm coming up empty in terms of finding anything
substantial for the shareware portion of your question. May I provide
another option?

1. Cancel this question and create two questions...you can direct the
commercial software question to my attention by placing my user name
in the subject of that question (consists of #1-3 from your original
question). The second question (consisting of #4) can be left open so
that another researcher can respond if they are able to come up with
anything else.

2. Modify this question to omit #4 by posting a clarification
accordingly.

Thanks,
answerguru-ga