Ahh it didn't click that this was shareware enforcement, thanks. I guess back in those days developers weren't really fussed about payment, because paying was really hard (mailing in checks, and nobody had credit cards).
Many of them (us) made software for the love of it, and didn't care if it was cracked. I never got a single sale from my software but I didn't care.
I'm pretty sure I eventually either payed or ran one of those keygen-and-virus.exe scripts. At least I also remember Hector thanking me for paying.
It got me thinking: could I somehow pay them now? There's some sad news here: one of the original creators, Peter Cartwright, passed away [1] in 2026 :(
His project to remaster EV: Override, Cosmic Frontier, was fully funded after his death though!
[1]: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/cosmicfrontier/cosmic-f...