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Re: Screenshot Captor: A New Definition for Freeware
de Roger Johansson 05/18/2006 09:29
Susan Bugher wrote:
> Some "free software"/ open source advocates are actively promoting
> erroneous defintions of Freeware. Please help us conteract the spread of
> the kind of FUD found on this web page.
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freeware
What surprises me most is how they seem so totally unaware of the real
world.
Most people are still using some version of windows, and they often use
freeware like the Opera browser. That is the real world.
I think software is first divided into the main categories freeware and
payware, that is what most people think about software, you either get
it for free or you have to pay for it.
Then there are further subdivisions of these main categories.
Freeware is divided into proprietary and open source, with further
subcategories and distinctions of each of these categories.
The term "shareware" is antiquated and should not be used at all, but
OSS advocates often use it to confuse the issue and to confuse the
terms freeware and shareware with each other.
Today we call shareware and all other commercial software "payware",
which is a better and more generally accepted term. "Commercial
software" is an alternative to "payware", but too long and less
popular. "Shareware" was a way to distribute payware before internet
became generally available and simplified distribution.
--
Roger J.