Why freeware???

[M.L.]

One word answer = Value.
Open Office
PhotoFiltre

I know PhotoFiltre is a favorite of this group but its lack of support
for layers and Photoshop plugins (reserved for their payware version)
leaves me unimpressed. A much better photo editing "value" is Serif
PagePlus6. I actually use it instead of Photoshop sometimes because it
is smaller and handles layers more logically and nimbly.
www.freeserifsoftware.com registerware though :-(

Another good graphics value is Inkscape. Its tracing feature
outclasses that of CorelDraw. www.inkscape.org/

 

[George]

You can tell your friend that there is some risk in installing
freeware. You can keep the risk to a minimum by downloading freeware
from trusted sites like snapfiles.com. The fact is that you take some
risk just navigating to a web page. I opened a web page once that
installed a large amount of malware. I ended up spending a couple of
hours getting rid of it.

 

[jbovey]

Freeware is a way of getting your program out there and get it used.
There are over a billion people on the internet.

jc
http://www.infotive.com
PimZilla Lite , a freeware solution for managing your info....

 

[Telemagic]

Linux is ...
the reason why it has no bugs

Ahem.... there went your credibility

 

[Tweedledum]

from about 8 years of reading this group, it seems to me that there are
only a few areas where there is no real freeware alternative. Font
creation software comes to mind, and perhaps a couple of the more
esoteric and advanced music and graphics editing systems....but 'almost'
everything else can be done for free.

 

[Al Klein]

from about 8 years of reading this group, it seems to me that there are
only a few areas where there is no real freeware alternative. Font
creation software comes to mind

Actually there used to be a few really good free font factories that
run on Macs many years ago, so there's free font software. The catch
is that no one is giving freeware Macs away.

 

[Susan Bugher]

Dear Group,
As I was trying to convince afriend of mine to use more freeware
instead of e.g. microsoftproducts he asked me "why freeware?? there
must be a big "but" hidden somewhere since its for free...(...) ...and
what about all those viruses....???"

Actually I couldnt give him adefinite answer... I know there are lots
of different freeware butfor different reasons, but...

well , I was hoping someone in this group could help me out...

I imagine your friend thinks some things that are free are okay. ISTM
the real question is what's *different* about giving away Freeware and
giving away other things (calendars, Tshirts, candy etc. etc.)?

ISTM the reasons for giving away Freeware are as varied as the reasons
for giving *anything* away. Some people like to do nice things for other
people or the community. Some people get a kick out of having their
handmade gifts admired by the recipient. Some people volunteer to take
the neighbor's kids to school along with their own because it doesn't
cost them anything extra to do that. Maybe your garden produced more
tomatoes than you know what to do with so you take some to the office. .
.. and some people pass out Halloween candy with razor blades in it. . .

Some people donate goods to charity when they no longer need/want them -
making a commercial app Freeware when it no longer sells well seems like
somewhat the same sort of thing to me.

Reasons for commercial give-a-ways apply to Freeware - to bring people
into the store, to get your business name known, as a free sample to get
people to try your product etc. etc. There are bait-and-switch operators
in the Freeware world too. . .

I think you can often make a good guess about the *reason* a particular
program is Freeware if you pay attention to the author's web site. A
commercial web site is likely to be giving away Freeware for a
commercial reason. Authors with personal web sites are less likely to be
motivated by commercial considerations. . .

One big *difference* between giving away Freeware and giving away other
things is that few people/companies can afford to give away unlimited
quantities of ice cream cones or automobiles (especially the latter).
OTOH Freeware authors have an inexhaustible supply. They *can* afford to
give their programs to everybody.

Susan
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