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Dictionary:

freeware

  (frē'wâr') pronunciation
n.

Software that is available for free, usually over the Internet.


 
 
Computer Desktop Encyclopedia: freeware

Software that is distributed without charge and which may be redistributed without charge by its users. However, ownership is retained by the developer who may change future releases from freeware to a paid product (feeware). See shareware, free software and public domain software.


 
Marketing Dictionary: freeware

Software that may be passed on to additional users at no charge. Freeware is either in the public domain or is copyrighted but made available at no charge to anyone who wants a copy. Freeware is often confused with shareware, copyrighted software that may be freely copied and distributed by users but that requires payment from each new user.

 
Business Dictionary: Freeware

Computer software, usually in the early stages of development, that is freely distributed at no charge, usually via the Internet. The author often hopes to benefit from improvements added by other developers and eventually market the program commercially or as Shareware.

 
Hacker Slang: freeware

[common] Freely-redistributable software, often written by enthusiasts and distributed by users' groups, or via electronic mail, local bulletin boards, Usenet, or other electronic media. As the culture of the Internet has displaced the older BBS world, this term has lost ground to both open source and free software; it has increasingly tended to be restricted to software distributed in binary rather than source-code form. At one time, freeware was a trademark of Andrew Fluegelman, the author of the well-known MS-DOS comm program PC-TALK III. It wasn't enforced after his mysterious disappearance and presumed death in 1984. See shareware, FRS.

 
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Wikipedia: freeware

Freeware is copyrighted computer software which is made available for use free of charge, for an unlimited time. Authors of freeware often want to "give something to the community", but also want credit for their software and to retain control of its future development.

Freeware is different from shareware, where the user is required to pay (e.g. after some trial period or for additional functionality). It should be noted that although free software is sometimes used as a synonym for freeware, it is not the same as Free Software.

History

The term freeware was coined by Andrew Fluegelman when he wanted to sell a communications program named PC-Talk that he had created but for which he did not wish to use traditional methods of distribution because of their cost.[1] Previously, he held a trademark on the term "freeware" but this trademark has since been abandoned. Fluegelman actually distributed PC-Talk via a process now referred to as shareware.

Criteria

The only criterion for being classified as "freeware" is that the software must be made available for use for an unlimited time at no cost. The software license may impose one or more other restrictions on the type of use including personal use, individual use, non-profit use, non-commercial use, academic use, commercial use or any combination of these. For instance, the license may be "free for personal, non-commercial use." Everything created with the freeware programs can be distributed at no cost (for example graphic, documents, or sounds made by user).

There is some software which may be considered freeware, but which has limited distribution; that is, it may only be downloaded from a specific site, and cannot be redistributed. Hence, this software wouldn't be freely redistributable software. According to the basic definition, that software would be freeware; according to stricter definitions, it wouldn't be.

The term 'freeware' may include public domain software and proprietary software. However, freeware does not include such loss leaders as crippleware, adware, shareware or demoware, where there is hidden cost to be paid to use the software. Such a cost may be having to give up part of your screen in order for the program to display advertising; continually being reminded about a "pro" version of the program via nag screens; having to use the program quickly before it becomes disabled; etc. Note that there are other types of costs than monetary when describing the term "free" as in "freeware."

See also

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References

  1. ^ http://textfiles.fisher.hu/news/freeware.txt

External links

Forms of software distribution
Adware · Beerware · Careware · Crippleware · Demoware · Donationware · Donateware · Foistware · Freely redistributable software · Free software · Freeware · Greenware · Nagware · Open source · Otherware · Postcardware · Proprietary software · Ransomware · Registerware · Shareware

This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)

 
Translations: Translations for: Freeware

Dansk (Danish)
n. - gratis software

Français (French)
n. - (Comput) logiciel gratuit

Deutsch (German)
n. - (Comp.) lizenzfreie Software

Ελληνική (Greek)
n. - δωρεάν προγράμματα Η/Υ

Español (Spanish)
n. - programas de libre distribución, programas gratuitos, programas de dominio público

Svenska (Swedish)
n. - gratisprogram (data)

中文（简体） (Chinese (Simplified))
免费软件

中文（繁體） (Chinese (Traditional))
n. - 免費軟體

한국어 (Korean)
n. - 가벼운 자유로운 복장

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(الاسم) برامج مجانيه‏

עברית (Hebrew)
n. - ‮תוכנה הניתנת להעתקה חינם באינטרנט‬

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Copyrights:

Dictionary. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2007. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.  Read more
Computer Desktop Encyclopedia. THIS COPYRIGHTED DEFINITION IS FOR PERSONAL USE ONLY.
All other reproduction is strictly prohibited without permission from the publisher.
© 1981-2008 Computer Language Company Inc.  All rights reserved.  Read more
Marketing Dictionary. Dictionary of Marketing Terms. Copyright © 2000 by Barron's Educational Series, Inc. All rights reserved.  Read more
Business Dictionary. Dictionary of Business Terms. Copyright © 2000 by Barron's Educational Series, Inc. All rights reserved.  Read more
Hacker Slang. The Jargon File. Copyright © 2007.  Read more
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Wikipedia. This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Freeware".  Read more
Translations. Copyright © 2007, WizCom Technologies Ltd. All rights reserved.  Read more

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