How best to provide evaluation versions?

From: Simon (no.spam_at_for.me)
Date: 07/15/04 

Date: 15 Jul 2004 03:17:47 -0700

Hi Folks,

I'm a small developer who sells a single graphical component. I want potential customers to be able to trial the component before purchase, preferably in their own application, so I distribute various DCUs along with a demo program.

I currently distribute DCUs for Delphi 4.03, 5.01, 6.0 and 7.0, but it recently dawned on me that this isn't enough, as, in addition to the version, the DCU is specific to the "level" of Delphi. For example, the DCU for Delphi 5.01 Professional cannot be used with Delphi 5.01 Enterprise. Is that correct?

If so, how can I best allow potential customers to evaluate my component? I don't make many sales, and can't afford to buy each and every version and level of Delphi.

Is there any alternative to merely providing my own demo program?

I had the idea of packaging the component in a DLL - would that work with all versions and levels? (But then that's what a BPL is, so I guess it's no better.)

Any ideas?

Simon