TalkingSoft.com Forums: Freeware? - TalkingSoft.com Forums

Hello guys.

I was wondering about licence of the programs. I see today that there are only two categories here: freeware and shareware. In my opinion you should add another one: adware. You know why...

Not all of users read the description of the program, and many of them will get infected with problematic spyware. Look at FreeRIP or AutoGK (Auto Gordian Knot) 1.95.

What do you say?

See the download pages/important notes of FreeRIP 2.94 and AutoGK (Auto Gordian Knot) 1.95.
Always declared when possible ad/spyware content recognized.

I understand what you mean, but in my opinion this field could also be marked as Adware. Just my opinion...

Ok maska, we'll try to follow this suggestion. Give us some time

Don't think Euromix has unlimited time... I could be wrong? maybe he wants to weed through 100s of programs to organize them into different categories i.e. demos, shareware, postcardware, freeware, adware BLAH BLAH etc.

Besides adware is a component often bundled with shareware and it's up to the user to make that distinction which software is suitable for them.

If we noticed , thats no free software is clear , i mean people who want us to use thier prodacts always put crevasse in the software ,

so , thats mean if we use free software no one be happy , look into your pc, you will find alot of spyware to buy thier prodact ,

thats my opinion ,

peace

No, I would say only three categories are sufficient: shareware, adware and freeware. Maybe with the help of the readers (like me) the changes would be easier to be made.

Definitions from here (although not very accurate):


And Spyware:
Software that compiles information either once, or on a continual basis while you use the software into which it is built. This information is sent via the internet without your knowledge or consent. Typically, this information is used to track your web browsing habits. Spyware can typically be found in Adware. The information gathered is used to select the type of advertising that will be served to you in the Adware program.

Maska, sounds like you want to volunteer your time as beta tester.

Hmmm.. over 150 programs to test for trial period, install, isolate for spyware/adware, read 3rd party license agreement, not to mention adding the adware category to html pages on website. Of course, some programs are quite obvious... others not so apparent. Take few months I bet. Besides possibly mucking up your computer, this will likely "miff" some software developers by lumping them into "adware" category and evidently business relationships could be potentially severed.

Yes, the definitions are dated...most are just variations of shareware and freeware. Hence, those are the official broad categories.

Don't get me wrong.. sounds like good idea on the surface. However, the new generation of computer users are getting smarter (I like to think) albeit lazy... very easy to do research by punching program into Google to find if it's reputable or if it's ad-infested.

Definitely not.

There's plenty of software on your server with the GPL license which you incorrectly mark as "freeware" (for example Avidemux, ffdshow, VLC etc. etc.).

It is not freeware, it is Free Software. Please note that Free Software is something completely different than freeware (they're not even similar) and saying that GPL-licensed software is "freeware" is as correct as saying that freeware is commercial software.

Please correct this, it is a big mistake.

There are many types of programs, if you take each program hosted here and read the licence... That's why I said "shareware, adware and freeware".

There's at least one other important category - Open Source software. You explicitely said in your description that freeware is different than Open Source. The GPL license is also an open-source license, yet you imply that open-source programs are "freeware".

You contradict yourself.

GPL is absolutely substantial. GPL-licensed programs are definitely not freeware. Freeware is something completely, totally different.

If you're not willing to mark the license properly, then it would be better to remove the license info completely - much better than spreading misinformation. Or remove GPL-licensed programs from this server - but then there wouldn't be much left there.

Because GPL is not some exotic license. Not only it is one of the major, most famous and common licenses these days (definitely more influential and significant than freeware), but the essential software on this server is GPL-licensed. For example:

XviD
ffdshow
LAME MP3 encoder
VirtualDub
VirtualDubMod
Avisynth

and others - they're all GPL programs (actually, LAME uses LGPL, not GPL).

Furthermore - if VirtualDub was freeware, VirtualDubMod wouldn't exist (because VirtualDubMod is based on VirtualDub - this is impossible with freeware). If FFmpeg was freeware, ffdshow couldn't exist (because ffdshow is based on the FFmpeg codecs). If XviD was freeware, Koepis's and Nic's XviD builds (which are included on this server, too) wouldn't exist. And so on.

By marking these programs as "freeware", you deny their existence. Because if it was freeware, these programs wouldn't exist. It's the open-source license that allows their existence (people work on them together, as the source code is open). It is absolutely essential - if you want, I'll give you a complete list of GPL-licensed programs on this server. Please mark the license properly as GPL.

The GPL definition is clear:

http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/gpl.html

Also, read the Free Software definition:

http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-sw.html

Please realize that while freeware is software for free, the word "free" in Free Software means freedom, not price - you can sell Free Software for whatever price you want. And it happens - people distribute the GPL-licensed programs for money.

Very useful advices, am I right euromix?

But i think these "freeware" and "shareware" license infos are just brief descriptions on the site. Used mainly for the end-user side to inform: limited in usage or not.
You always have to read the detailed and entire license agreement before installing anything, or deciding to redistribute, etc.

GPL is the exact opposite of freeware in every aspect:

1. Freeware is closed-cource, GPL is open-source.

2. You can modify GPL software, you can't modify freeware. You can distribute the modifications of Free Software as your own software, you can't do that with freeware.

3. Freeware is free of charge, you can sell Free Software (contrary to popular myth, Free Software doesn't mean "software for free"; it's free as in "free speech", not "free beer").

As you can see, the only thing freeware and Free Software have in common is that it's software. Is it enough to justify spreading completely false information?


That's why GPL software shouldn't be marked as "freeware", because there's an exact definition of what freeware is - it is a type of license that gives totally different rights to the user than Free Software does and it is limited in things that Free Software is not limited (as I said, they're completely opposite in every aspect).


Then why is the license info there at all? When it's completely useless and false?

It's like listing a commercial program that costs $1000, labeling it as "freeware" and then saying "the license info is there just as a general guidance, the users always have to check the actual license for these minor insignificant details and nuances".

Besides, like I said, the majority of the most important software here is GPL licensed. Incorrectly labeling the most essential software that you have on your website as "freeware" (i.e. denying its existence, as it's GPL that allows their existence at all) is extremely disrespectful, to say the very least. I don't think there's any serious website that makes this mistake - every serious website labels GPL programs as GPL programs. If that's too much for you, just use the general category "open source", which also covers other open-source licences, not just GPL. I don't think that, in this world and age, there's anyone who has never heard of open source (which is much more significant and far-reaching than freeware).

J.M. is right.

Sorry, I was thinking more about spyware and adware programs, read my first post of this thread.

Perhaps you can help sorting in the right way all the software hosted here.

Of course, and you're right too.
Just take it easy