ANN: Freeware Book #21

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Steven Burn

Freeware Book
Release #: 21
Date: 09-03-2004
Homepage: www.freewarearena.org
Download:
http://freewarearena.org/PHPNuke/modules.php?name=Downloads&d_op=viewdownloa
d&cid=18

Description: What is the FREEWARE BOOK?

It is a project that originated in the summer of 2002 to showcase great
freeware sites and resources in an electronic book format (it is also a
browser).

It is a resource that is 100% freeware and 0% spyware or adware or in anyway
shape or form ad supported.

It is a 'work in progress' (meaning a new updated version is available on
the 9th of each month so please check back to get your latest copy).

The sole purpose of The FREEWARE BOOK is to present information that will
enable visiblity to freeware sites of all levels to achieve recognition. It
is to (hopefully) foster a community atmosphere for freeware sites, so that
the clique system can be undone (the one in which there is an upper echelon
of sites and all the rest. Or worse yet a class distinction in which high
traffic sites can hold sway over search engine listings as well as having a
stranglehold on traffic. Some 'big' sites can make in my opinion, demands
about linking).

The 'book' is published monthly. It is a fair unbiased (it is done for ZERO
compensation or any type of renumeration - be it monetary or 'favors')
review and informational publication.

The other purpose is to inject energy into the freeware world. For with so
much commercialism pervading the Net, freeware has been unfairly relegated
to playing second fiddle on many sites (even some 'freeware' sites). As the
misinformation about 'free downloads' online, many have no idea that a 'free
download' is NOT neccessarily a true freeware download. So to spread the
'freeware word' is a prime message contained within The FREEWARE BOOK.

The long term goal of The Freeware Book is to foster the growth of freeware
and freeware sites. Also to 'level the playingfield' for all freeware sites.
To enable those that may not be as financially fortunate as others by
providing a resource to be available to all without cost.

Freeware sites would not exist were it not for the great works of the
freeware authors who deserve full credit for the labors they perform.

With thousands of downloads already, the future of The FREEWARE BOOK is very
bright. The FREEWARE BOOK welcomes input from all.

FreewareArena has strived since it's inception in 1997 to not only showcase
great freeware but to also unselfishly list other great freeware sites which
is only fair to visitors as no one site can truly list all freeware.


I will never 'sell out' by listing ads or so on, as freeware is created
freely and should be distributed freely. The goal of this project is to
benefit all, at this point primarily many freeware site operators so that
they may deserve visibility that before may have been unavailable to them.

--
Regards

Steven Burn
Ur I.T. Mate Group
www.it-mate.co.uk

Keeping it FREE!

Disclaimer:
I know I'm probably wrong, I just like taking part ;o)
 
Steven Burn wrote in said:
Description: What is the FREEWARE BOOK?
Click to expand...

A "book" about freeware that needs to be executed (exe) to be read???
Where is the world going.....what happened to simple plain text...?
What is the purpose of the format? Spread the word?? sigh...

All the best,
Bjorn Simonsen
 
Bjorn Simonsen said:
A "book" about freeware that needs to be executed (exe) to be read???
Where is the world going.....what happened to simple plain text...?
What is the purpose of the format? Spread the word?? sigh...

All the best,
Bjorn Simonsen
Click to expand...

Bjorn, the Freeware Book is essentially an e-Book, not a document (atleast,
not in the same sense). Putting it into plain text would make it look
utterly vile aswell as a nightmare to go through.

--
Regards

Steven Burn
Ur I.T. Mate Group
www.it-mate.co.uk

Keeping it FREE!

Disclaimer:
I know I'm probably wrong, I just like taking part ;o)
 
Just a note for anyone that has any questions etc about the Freeware Book.
If your curious about anything pertaining to it, you can either e-mail Scott
Williams (FB author) at;

the_freeware_book [AT] freewarearena [DOT] com

Alternatively, visit the Freeware Book area of his forum at;

http://www.freewarearena.org/forum3/viewforum.php?f=12

--
Regards

Steven Burn
Ur I.T. Mate Group
www.it-mate.co.uk

Keeping it FREE!

Disclaimer:
I know I'm probably wrong, I just like taking part ;o)
 
Steven Burn said:
Bjorn, the Freeware Book is essentially an e-Book, not a
document (atleast, not in the same sense). Putting it into plain
text would make it look utterly vile aswell as a nightmare to go
through.
Click to expand...

What is wrong with a PDF format? Doesn't look utterly vile and
provides adequate tools for document navigation.

I share Bjorn's position on this: I don't want to install yet
another app that might throw I-don't-know-what-bloat in my
registry, and certainly not if the content could equally well be
represented in a document format.

Kind regards,
Wald
 
Wald said:
What is wrong with a PDF format? Doesn't look utterly vile and
provides adequate tools for document navigation.

I share Bjorn's position on this: I don't want to install yet
another app that might throw I-don't-know-what-bloat in my
registry, and certainly not if the content could equally well be
represented in a document format.

Kind regards,
Wald
Click to expand...

I certainly understand the apprehensions but, I've been viewing it for a
number of years and for the past year or so, have even been writing articles
for it myself thus, can assure you, it is completely safe, and doesn't
add/change/remove anything in the registry.

As for PDF, I suppose the reason it's in an e-book rather than PDF is simply
because thats what Scott (FB author) is used to.

--
Regards

Steven Burn
Ur I.T. Mate Group
www.it-mate.co.uk

Keeping it FREE!

Disclaimer:
I know I'm probably wrong, I just like taking part ;o)
 
Steven Burn wrote in said:
Bjorn, the Freeware Book is essentially an e-Book, not a document (atleast,
not in the same sense). Putting it into plain text would make it look
utterly vile aswell as a nightmare to go through.
Click to expand...

Nonsense. People have put out readable and nice looking ascii
newsletters since the bbs. Plan ahead, think ahead. Of course I am
sure if you converted the current "book" to plain text it would look
very bad. But, think about it for a second, who needs good freeware
and information about available freeware the most? Do they have fast
DSL lines, or do they access the net over a poor pay-by-the minute
phone line from some rural school bulging somewhere?

All the best,
Bjorn Simonsen
 
Bjorn Simonsen said:
Thanks for the info, but no thanks. I understand that you are not the
author/designer of this "book". But, announce it here, expect feedback
here.

All the best,
Bjorn Simonsen
Click to expand...

No problem at all ;o) (just figured Scott would be able to answer questions
concerning it's format, better than I could)

--
Regards

Steven Burn
Ur I.T. Mate Group
www.it-mate.co.uk

Keeping it FREE!

Disclaimer:
I know I'm probably wrong, I just like taking part ;o)
 
Bjorn said:
Thanks for the info, but no thanks. I understand that you are not the
author/designer of this "book". But, announce it here, expect feedback
here.
Click to expand...

Bjorn,

The Freeware Book just unzips itself into a folder. It's well regarded
by many in the group (including me). I suggest you download a copy and
check it out for yourself.

Susan
 
Susan Bugher wrote in said:
The Freeware Book just unzips itself into a folder. It's well regarded
by many in the group (including me). I suggest you download a copy and
check it out for yourself.
Click to expand...

I did, and I have seen it before. I'm not saying I suspect the exe is
harmful, read my messages, I'm saying it is *bloatware* and not the
way to go if you want to "spread the word" - as the author claims his
intention is. I'm sure he does a great job collecting and editing
information, what I question is the format he publish it in. Is this
so hard to understand?

All the best,
Bjorn Simonsen
 
Bjorn said:
I did, and I have seen it before. I'm not saying I suspect the exe is
harmful, read my messages, I'm saying it is *bloatware* and not the
way to go if you want to "spread the word" - as the author claims his
intention is. I'm sure he does a great job collecting and editing
information, what I question is the format he publish it in. Is this
so hard to understand?
Click to expand...

Apologies - I thought you *hadn't* tried it. . . read too fast and not
carefully enough. The format seems reasonable to me - perhaps we can
agree to disagree.

Susan
 
I share Bjorn's position on this:

Sorry, but me too ... I think I'm going to pass on this from now
on. I didn't like the fact that when I tried to use the ebook it
attempted outbound communications. Also, I didn't like clicking
on blind links I can't "read".
 
Klahn said:
Sorry, but me too ... I think I'm going to pass on this from now
on. I didn't like the fact that when I tried to use the ebook it
attempted outbound communications. Also, I didn't like clicking
on blind links I can't "read".
Click to expand...

The only time the book will attempt an outbound connection, is when you
click on one of the website links.

As for "blind" links, you can always just right click and "Copy Shortcut"
;o)

--
Regards

Steven Burn
Ur I.T. Mate Group
www.it-mate.co.uk

Keeping it FREE!

Disclaimer:
I know I'm probably wrong, I just like taking part ;o)
 
Bjorn said:
I did, and I have seen it before. I'm not saying I suspect the exe is
harmful, read my messages, I'm saying it is *bloatware* and not the
way to go if you want to "spread the word" - as the author claims his
intention is. I'm sure he does a great job collecting and editing
information, what I question is the format he publish it in. Is this
so hard to understand?

All the best,
Bjorn Simonsen
Click to expand...

Hi Bjorn,
I think that the FreewareBook that Scott of FreewareArena started is
not specificly ment for us, freeware-junkies. This book is for those
folks who cannot find their way in the freeware-country. I think that
the most of us know how to find freeware, but there are lots and lots
of people 'out-there' who don't. For them this FreewareBook can be of
great help, and they can find the freewaresite, we are familiar with,
in a quick and comfortable way. Also the FreewareBook is a great way to
achieve what Scott said: spread the word about freeware.

With kind regards,

--
Henk de Jong
The Netherlands
(e-mail address removed) (Remove _NO_SPAM_)
'Links to Freeware'
http://www.linkstofreeware.vze.com/
http://home.hccnet.nl/hmdejong/
 
| Susan Bugher wrote in <[email protected]>:
|
| >The Freeware Book just unzips itself into a folder. It's well regarded
| >by many in the group (including me). I suggest you download a copy and
| >check it out for yourself.
|
| I did, and I have seen it before. I'm not saying I suspect the exe is
| harmful, read my messages, I'm saying it is *bloatware* and not the
| way to go if you want to "spread the word" - as the author claims his
| intention is. I'm sure he does a great job collecting and editing
| information, what I question is the format he publish it in. Is this
| so hard to understand?
|
| All the best,
| Bjorn Simonsen

Since you have such a big problem with this executable, why don't YOU go to
all the time and trouble of compiling a document? Then you will hav a
legitimate reason to complain about someone else's //free// offering.
 
Thip wrote in said:
Since you have such a big problem with this executable,
why don't YOU go to all the time and trouble of compiling
a document? Then you will hav a legitimate reason to
complain about someone else's //free// offering.
Click to expand...

LOL. Here we praise and criticise software all the time. Software
someone have taken the time and trouble to write, and offer for free.
If I am to take you serious, we should not criticise bad software here
- unless we have written and offered our own. Ditto if the
Pricelessware maintainer makes a bad judgment call and as a result
implements a hard to navigate and inaccessible web site, we should not
voice our dissatisfaction unless we can offer our own Pricelessware or
similar freeware site, right?

All the best,
Bjorn Simonsen
 
| Thip wrote in <[email protected]>:
|
| LOL. Here we praise and criticise software all the time. Software
| someone have taken the time and trouble to write, and offer for free.
| If I am to take you serious, we should not criticise bad software here
| - unless we have written and offered our own. Ditto if the
| Pricelessware maintainer makes a bad judgment call and as a result
| implements a hard to navigate and inaccessible web site, we should not
| voice our dissatisfaction unless we can offer our own Pricelessware or
| similar freeware site, right?
|
| All the best,
| Bjorn Simonsen

Good point. :-) My problem was that, IMO, this isn't really *software* so
good/bad/indifferent doesn't enter into it--it's more a compilation someone
was kind enough to put together for freeware junkies like me. Thanks to
him, I have all this neat stuff practically at my fingertips, and I'm not
one to bite the hand that was kind enough to feed me.
 
Bjorn said:
LOL. Here we praise and criticise software all the time. Software
someone have taken the time and trouble to write, and offer for free.
If I am to take you serious, we should not criticise bad software here
- unless we have written and offered our own. Ditto if the
Pricelessware maintainer makes a bad judgment call and as a result
implements a hard to navigate and inaccessible web site, we should not
voice our dissatisfaction unless we can offer our own Pricelessware or
similar freeware site, right?
Click to expand...

that's right, by golly, never criticize the Pricelessware maintainer . .
.. :) :) :)

ROTFLMAO . . . IMO thoughtful criticism is *essential* for improvement -
in programs and in the Pricelessware site. . .

Susan
 
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