Freeware

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Freeware is software, most often proprietary, that is distributed at no monetary cost to the end user. There is no agreed-upon set of rights, license, or EULA that defines freeware unambiguously; every publisher defines its own rules for the freeware it offers. For instance, modification, redistribution by third parties, and reverse engineering are permitted by some publishers but prohibited by others. [1] [2] [3] Unlike with free and open-source software, which are also often distributed free of charge, the source code for freeware is typically not made available. [1] [3] [4] [5] Freeware may be intended to benefit its producer by, for example, encouraging sales of a more capable version, as in the freemium and shareware business models. [6]

Contents

History

The term freeware was coined in 1982 [7] by Andrew Fluegelman, who wanted to sell PC-Talk, the communications application he had created, outside of commercial distribution channels. [8] Fluegelman distributed the program via the same process as shareware . [9] As software types can change, freeware can change into shareware. [10]

In the 1980s and 1990s, the term freeware was often applied to software released without source code. [3] [11]

Definitions

Software license

Freeware software is available for use without charge and typically has limited functionality with a more capable version available commercially or as shareware. It is typically fully functional for an unlimited period of time. [12]

In contrast to what the Free Software Foundation calls free software, the author of freeware usually restricts the rights of the user to use, copy, distribute, modify, make derivative works, or reverse engineer the software. [1] [2] [13] [14] The software license may impose additional usage restrictions; [15] for instance, the license may be "free for private, non-commercial use" only,[ citation needed ] or usage over a network, on a server, or in combination with certain other software packages may be prohibited. [13] [14] Restrictions may be required by license or enforced by the software itself; e.g., the package may fail to function over a network.[ citation needed ]

Relation to other forms of software licensing

This Venn diagram describes the typical relationship between freeware and open source software: According to David Rosen from Wolfire Games in 2010, open source software (orange) is most often gratis but not always. Freeware (green) seldom expose their source codes. Open-source-vs-freeware.svg
This Venn diagram describes the typical relationship between freeware and open source software: According to David Rosen from Wolfire Games in 2010, open source software (orange) is most often gratis but not always. Freeware (green) seldom expose their source codes.

The U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) defines "open source software" (i.e., free software or free and open-source software), as distinct from "freeware" or "shareware"; it is software where "the Government does not have access to the original source code". [4] The "free" in "freeware" refers to the price of the software, which is typically proprietary and distributed without source code. By contrast, the "free" in "free software" refers to freedoms granted users under the software license (for example, to run the program for any purpose, modify and redistribute the program to others), and such software may be sold at a price.

According to the Free Software Foundation (FSF), "freeware" is a loosely defined category and it has no clear accepted definition, although FSF asks that free software (libre; unrestricted and with source code available) should not be called freeware. [3] In contrast the Oxford English Dictionary simply characterizes freeware as being "available free of charge (sometimes with the suggestion that users should make a donation to the provider)". [16]

Some freeware products are released alongside paid versions that either have more features or less restrictive licensing terms. This approach is known as freemium ("free" + "premium"), since the "free" version is intended as a promotion for the premium version. [17] The two often share a code base, using a compiler flag to determine which is produced. For example, BBEdit has a BBEdit Lite edition which has fewer features. XnView is available free of charge for personal use but must be licensed for commercial use. The "free" version may be advertising supported, as was the case with the DivX.

Ad-supported software and registerware also bear resemblances to freeware. Ad-supported software does not ask for payment for a license, but displays advertising to either cover development costs or as a means of income. Registerware forces the user to subscribe with the publisher before being able to use the product. While commercial products may require registration to ensure licensed use, registerware do not. [18] [19] [20] [21]

Shareware permits redistribution, but the license only allows limited use before paying the license fee. [22] Some features may be disabled prior to payment, in which case it is sometimes known as crippleware.

Both freeware and shareware sometimes have a limited evaluation period, after which the software is automatically disabled or starts displaying a request to pay a registration fee. In the latter case it is colloquially known as nagware.

Creative Commons licenses

The Creative Commons offer licenses, applicable to all by copyright governed works including software, [23] which allow a developer to define "freeware" in a legal safe and internationally law domains respecting way. [24] [25] [26] The typical freeware use case "share" can be further refined with Creative Commons restriction clauses like non-commerciality (CC BY-NC) or no-derivatives (CC BY-ND), see description of licenses.[ original research? ] There are several usage examples, for instance The White Chamber, Mari0 or Assault Cube, [27] all freeware by being CC BY-NC-SA licensed with only non-commercial sharing allowed.

Restrictions

Freeware cannot economically rely on commercial promotion. In May 2015 advertising freeware on Google AdWords was restricted to "authoritative source"[s]. [28] Thus web sites and blogs are the primary resource for information on which freeware is available, useful, and is not malware. However, there are also many computer magazines or newspapers that provide ratings for freeware and include compact discs or other storage media containing freeware. Freeware is also often bundled with other products such as digital cameras or scanners.

Freeware has been criticized as "unsustainable" because it requires a single entity to be responsible for updating and enhancing the product, which is then given away without charge. [17] Other freeware projects are simply released as one-off programs with no promise or expectation of further development. These may include source code, as does free software, so that users can make any required or desired changes themselves, but this code remains subject to the license of the compiled executable and does not constitute free software.

"Free" trial

A "free" trial is another related concept in which customers are allowed to use a product, free of charge, for a limited time. [29]

When a software monopoly has a strong network effect, it may be more profitable for it to offer a "free" trial. [30] Also, customers acquired via a "free" trial have a much lower customer lifetime value as opposed to regular customers, but they also respond more to marketing communications. [31]

Some factors that may encourage or discourage people to use "free" trials include: [32]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Free software</span> Software licensed to be freely used, modified and distributed

Free software, libre software, libreware or rarely known as freedom-respecting software is computer software distributed under terms that allow users to run the software for any purpose as well as to study, change, and distribute it and any adapted versions. Free software is a matter of liberty, not price; all users are legally free to do what they want with their copies of a free software regardless of how much is paid to obtain the program. Computer programs are deemed "free" if they give end-users ultimate control over the software and, subsequently, over their devices.

Shareware is a type of proprietary software that is initially shared by the owner for trial use at little or no cost. Often the software has limited functionality or incomplete documentation until the user sends payment to the software developer. Shareware is often offered as a download from a website. Shareware differs from freeware, which is fully-featured software distributed at no cost to the user but without source code being made available; and free and open-source software, in which the source code is freely available for anyone to inspect and alter.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Adobe Acrobat</span> Set of application software to view, edit and manage files in Portable Document Format (PDF)

Adobe Acrobat is a family of application software and Web services developed by Adobe Inc. to view, create, manipulate, print and manage Portable Document Format (PDF) files.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Adobe PageMaker</span> Desktop publishing program

Adobe PageMaker is a desktop publishing computer program introduced in 1985 by the Aldus Corporation on the Apple Macintosh. The combination of the Macintosh's graphical user interface, PageMaker publishing software, and the Apple LaserWriter laser printer marked the beginning of the desktop publishing revolution. Ported to PCs running Windows 1.0 in 1987, PageMaker helped to popularize both the Macintosh platform and the Windows environment.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">PC-Write</span> Early word processing shareware

PC-Write was a computer word processor and was one of the first three widely popular software products sold via the marketing method that became known as shareware. It was originally written by Bob Wallace in early 1983.

Source-available software is software released through a source code distribution model that includes arrangements where the source can be viewed, and in some cases modified, but without necessarily meeting the criteria to be called open-source. The licenses associated with the offerings range from allowing code to be viewed for reference to allowing code to be modified and redistributed for both commercial and non-commercial purposes.

Freely redistributable software (FRS) is software that anyone is free to redistribute. The term has been used to mean two types of free to redistribute software, distinguished by the legal modifiability and limitations on purpose of use of the software. FRS which can be legally modified and used for any purpose is the same as free software. Non-legally modifiable FRS is freeware, shareware or similar.

Free/open-source software – the source availability model used by free and open-source software (FOSS) – and closed source are two approaches to the distribution of software.

Multi-licensing is the practice of distributing software under two or more different sets of terms and conditions. This may mean multiple different software licenses or sets of licenses. Prefixes may be used to indicate the number of licenses used, e.g. dual-licensed for software licensed under two different licenses.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Public-domain software</span> Software in the public domain

Public-domain software is software that has been placed in the public domain, in other words, software for which there is absolutely no ownership such as copyright, trademark, or patent. Software in the public domain can be modified, distributed, or sold even without any attribution by anyone; this is unlike the common case of software under exclusive copyright, where licenses grant limited usage rights.

Connect Business Information Network, formerly known as MacNET, was a proprietary dial-up online network with a graphic user interface similar to AppleLink.

Photoshop plugins are add-on programs aimed at providing additional image effects or performing tasks that are impossible or hard to fulfill using Adobe Photoshop alone. Plugins can be opened from within Photoshop and several other image editing programs and act like mini editors that modify the image.

Courier was an email client for Microsoft Windows. The software was originally released in 1996 as Calypso by Micro Computer Systems (MCS).

Proprietary software is software that grants its creator, publisher, or other rightsholder or rightsholder partner a legal monopoly by modern copyright and intellectual property law to exclude the recipient from freely sharing the software or modifying it, and—in some cases, as is the case with some patent-encumbered and EULA-bound software—from making use of the software on their own, thereby restricting their freedoms.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Software categories</span> Groups of software

Software categories are groups of software. They allow software to be understood in terms of those categories, instead of the particularities of each package. Different classification schemes consider different aspects of software.

A free license or open license is a license that allows copyrighted work to be reused, modified, and redistributed. These uses are normally prohibited by copyright, patent or other Intellectual property (IP) laws. The term broadly covers free content licenses and open-source licenses, also known as free software licenses.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Open source</span> Source code made freely available

Open source is source code that is made freely available for possible modification and redistribution. Products include permission to use the source code, design documents, or content of the product. The open source model is a decentralized software development model that encourages open collaboration. A main principle of open source software development is peer production, with products such as source code, blueprints, and documentation freely available to the public. The open source movement in software began as a response to the limitations of proprietary code. The model is used for projects such as in open source appropriate technology, and open source drug discovery.

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Freeware Definition". The Linux Information Project. 2006-10-22. Retrieved 2009-06-12.
  2. 1 2 Graham, Lawrence D (1999). Legal battles that shaped the computer industry. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 175. ISBN   978-1-56720-178-9 . Retrieved 2009-03-16. Freeware, however, is generally only free in terms of price; the author typically retains all other rights, including the rights to copy, distribute, and make derivative works from the software.
  3. 1 2 3 4 "Categories of free and nonfree software" . Retrieved 2017-05-01. The term "freeware" has no clear accepted definition, but it is commonly used for packages which permit redistribution but not modification (and their source code is not available). These packages are not free software, so please don't use "freeware" to refer to free software.
  4. 1 2 Frequently Asked Questions regarding Open Source Software (OSS) and the Department of Defense (DoD) , retrieved 2012-06-11, Also, do not use the terms "freeware" or "shareware" as a synonym for "open source software". DoD Instruction 8500.2, "Information Assurance (IA) Implementation", Enclosure 4, control DCPD-1, states that these terms apply to software where "the Government does not have access to the original source code". The government does have access to the original source code of open source software, so these terms do not apply.
  5. 1 2 Rosen, David (May 16, 2010). "Open-source software is not always freeware". wolfire.com. Retrieved 2016-01-18.
  6. ↑ Lyons, Kelly; Messinger, Paul R.; Niu, Run H.; Stroulia, Eleni (2012). "A tale of two pricing systems for services". Information Systems and E-Business Management. 10 (1): 19–42. doi:10.1007/s10257-010-0151-3. ISSN   1617-9846. S2CID   34195355.
  7. ↑ "Shareware: An Alternative to the High Cost of Software", Damon Camille, 1987
  8. ↑ Fisher.hu Archived 2006-06-14 at the Wayback Machine
  9. ↑ The Price of Quality Software by Tom Smith
  10. ↑ Corbly, James Edward (2014-09-25). "The Free Software Alternative: Freeware, Open Source Software, and Libraries". Information Technology and Libraries. 33 (3): 65. doi: 10.6017/ital.v33i3.5105 . ISSN   2163-5226.
  11. ↑ Stallman, Richard M. "Words to Avoid (or Use with Care) Because They Are Loaded or Confusing". GNU.org. Free Software Foundation. Retrieved 2017-05-01. Please don't use the term "freeware" as a synonym for "free software." The term "freeware" was used often in the 1980s for programs released only as executables, with source code not available. Today it has no particular agreed-on definition.
  12. ↑ Dixon, Rod (2004). Open Source Software Law. Artech House. p. 4. ISBN   978-1-58053-719-3 . Retrieved 2009-03-16. On the other hand, freeware does not require any payment from the licensee or end-user, but it is not precisely free software, despite the fact that to an end-user the software is acquired in what appears to be an identical manner.
  13. 1 2 "ADOBE Personal Computer Software License Agreement" (PDF) (in Arabic). Adobe. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2011-05-10. Retrieved 2011-02-16. This license does not grant you the right to sublicense or distribute the Software. ... This agreement does not permit you to install or Use the Software on a computer file server. ... You shall not modify, adapt, translate, or create derivative works based upon the Software. You shall not reverse engineer, decompile, disassemble, or otherwise attempt to discover the source code of the Software. ... You will not Use any Adobe Runtime on any non-PC device or with any embedded or device version of any operating system.
  14. 1 2 "ADOBE READER AND RUNTIME SOFTWARE – DISTRIBUTION LICENSE AGREEMENT FOR USE ON PERSONAL COMPUTERS". Adobe . Retrieved 2011-02-16. Distributor may not make the Software available as a standalone product on the Internet. Distributor may direct end users to obtain the Software, with the exception of ARH, through electronic download on a standalone basis by linking to the official Adobe website.
  15. ↑ "IrfanView Software License Agreement" . Retrieved 2011-02-16. IrfanView is provided as freeware, but only for private, non-commercial use (that means at home). ... IrfanView is free for educational use (schools, universities and libraries) and for use in charity or humanitarian organisations. ... You may not distribute, rent, sub-license or otherwise make available to others the Software or documentation or copies thereof, except as expressly permitted in this License without prior written consent from IrfanView (Irfan Skiljan). ... You may not modify, de-compile, disassemble or reverse engineer the Software.
  16. ↑ "freeware" . Oxford English Dictionary (Online ed.). Oxford University Press.(Subscription or participating institution membership required.)
  17. 1 2 Wainewright, Phil (July 6, 2009). "Free is not a business model". ZDNet . CBS Interactive. Archived from the original on May 23, 2010.
  18. ↑ Foster, Ed (11 Jan 1999). "An exercise in frustration? Registerware forces users to jump through hoops". InfoWorld . 21 (2). InfoWorld Media Group. ISSN   0199-6649.
  19. ↑ "Is registerware an anti-piracy necessity?". InfoWorld . 21 (5). InfoWorld Media Group. 1 Feb 1999. ISSN   0199-6649.
  20. ↑ Foster, Ed (14 Oct 2002). "Since you asked..." InfoWorld . 24 (41). InfoWorld Media Group. ISSN   0199-6649.
  21. ↑ Foster, Ed (18 Nov 2002). "A vote for fair play". InfoWorld . 24 (46). InfoWorld Media Group. ISSN   0199-6649.
  22. ↑ "Categories of free and nonfree software" . Retrieved 2023-04-03. Shareware is software which comes with permission for people to redistribute copies, but says that anyone who continues to use a copy is required to pay a license fee.
  23. ↑ "Creative Commons Legal Code". Creative Commons. January 9, 2008. Archived from the original on February 11, 2010. Retrieved February 22, 2010.
  24. ↑ Peters, Diane (November 25, 2013). "CC's Next Generation Licenses — Welcome Version 4.0!". Creative Commons. Archived from the original on November 26, 2013. Retrieved November 26, 2013.
  25. ↑ "What's new in 4.0?". Creative Commons. 2013. Archived from the original on November 29, 2013. Retrieved November 26, 2013.
  26. ↑ "CC 4.0, an end to porting Creative Commons licences?". TechnoLlama. September 25, 2011. Archived from the original on September 2, 2013. Retrieved August 11, 2013.
  27. ↑ "AssaultCube - License". assault.cubers.net. Archived from the original on 25 December 2010. Retrieved 2011-01-30. AssaultCube is FREEWARE. [...]The content, code and images of the AssaultCube website and all documentation are licensed under "Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported
  28. ↑ "Legal requirements". Advertising Policies Help. Retrieved 6 November 2016.
  29. ↑ "FREE TRIAL | definition in the Cambridge English Dictionary". Cambridge Dictionary. Retrieved 3 April 2024.
  30. ↑ Cheng, Hsing Kenneth; Tang, Qian Candy (September 2010). "Free trial or no free trial: Optimal software product design with network effects". European Journal of Operational Research. 205 (2): 437–447. doi:10.1016/j.ejor.2010.01.014. ISSN   0377-2217.
  31. ↑ Datta, Hannes; Foubert, Bram; Van Heerde, Harald J. (April 2015). "The Challenge of Retaining Customers Acquired with Free Trials". Journal of Marketing Research. 52 (2): 217–234. doi:10.1509/jmr.12.0160. ISSN   0022-2437.
  32. ↑ Zhu, Dong Hong; Chang, Ya Ping (January 2014). "Investigating consumer attitude and intention toward free trials of technology-based services". Computers in Human Behavior. 30: 328–334. doi:10.1016/j.chb.2013.09.008. ISSN   0747-5632.


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