J
John Corliss
A long time ago, I warned that those who seek to make a profit by
disguising non-freeware as freeware would come into this group and
promote that kind of garbage. They would also attempt to dilute the
definition of freeware to mean something that would serve their
purposes. There are also those who through sheer laziness or a desire
to simply be disruptive, and those who are commercial software shills
don't care that they are promoting non-freeware in this group. This
has been happening with increasing frequency, so I now repost (edited)
a previous message I sent a while back as a wakeup call to the group
and as an expression of *my* opinion. You are free to disagree, but I
will not answer replies to this post.
***************************************
Freeware is very clearly defined in my mind as being fully
featured software that was originally intended to be free to use, no
strings attached. What are strings? Any requirement on you the user's
part, that are not related to the actual functioning of the software
but which must be done in order to use the software. This doesn't mean
that there aren't types of non-freeware that shouldn't be recommended
as solutions in this group, it's just that common sense should tell
you which that is. Examples of such software are:
Careware
Donationware
Liteware
Postcardware
Still:
*Adware* is not freeware.
*Betaware* is not freeware (although sometimes discussed here)
*Careware* is not freeware (although sometimes discussed here, but
there isn't a lot of it)
*CDware* is not freeware (unless it is freeware available on the
internet.)
*Commercial software* is not freeware.
*Crippleware* is not freeware.
*Demoware* is not freeware.
*Donationware* is not freeware (although sometimes discussed here)
*"Free to download"* may or may not be freeware.
*Fonts* are not freeware, they are data files.
*Free services* are not freeware, although the software required to
use such services may or may not be freeware.
*Liteware* is not freeware (although sometimes discussed here)
*Nagware* is not freeware.
*Orphanware* is only freeware if the author specifically says that it
is when he/she drops support of the software.
*Pirated software* is not freeware.
*Postcardware* is not freeware (although sometimes discussed here)
*Porno sites* are not freeware.
*Shareware* is not freeware.
*Spyware* is not freeware.
*Text and other data files* are not freeware.
*Time limited software* is not freeware.
*Trialware* is not freeware.
*Trojans* are not freeware.
*Viruses and virus authoring* software are not freeware.
*Warez* is not freeware.
If a program is "sort of" any of these; even if you wouldn't call it
"exactly" one of these other types of software, then it definitely
ISN'T freeware.
Here's a "little" prediction that will let you in on why I am so
vociferous in my protestations:
**************************
Some day, your software BE IT COMMERCIAL or ANY OTHER VARIETY, will be
as overly saturated as U.S. commercial broadcast television is
currently with advertisements. Your time will be wasted wading through
or simply being forced to endure, endless and worthless static and
animated messages that squander your life force. You won't be able to
type a document into a word processor without wasting portions of your
life viewing commercials about products which are of absolutely NO
interest to you. Much in the way a man is currently subjected to
women's hygiene and cosmetic products during the evening news hour or
a woman has to watch beer commercials if she's into sports.
This is not just a possibility, it is in fact what the future holds
for us. It's one reason why there's such a big push to put all
software online; so that the makers of such software can control it
with immediacy; so that they will be able to alter the commercials
that will be contained in the software as well as monitor our behavior
while online. Bill Gates and Microsoft want a future where you WILL be
online whenever you use your computer. Period.
We are all subject to the whims of those in the world who can't
control their own greed and such people will never go away. In fact,
as our population increases uncontrollably towards our own massive
extinction in the not too distant future, the ratio of those who
employ unethical methods to survive to those who don't will only
increase. We are all victims. As we usurp the carrying capacity of
other species, we will increasingly begin to prey upon ourselves until
actual government sanctioned cannibalism is a reality ("Soylent Green"
*will* eventually happen).
You buy a video movie and the first 10 minutes of it are spent
watching "previews", or commercials for other movies. Soon, there will
be one commercial break in the middle of the movie, then there will be
two. Those breaks will grow longer and then there will be three, etc.
This also, is not speculation; it is inevitable.
Software is NO DIFFERENT. You are sitting in front of a monitor, just
like a television, and your undivided attention is being given to it.
According to the thinking of the advertising community, this
opportunity MUST be exploited as closely as possilbe up to the point
where you are repulsed by the act of surfing the internet or running
software. Sooner or later, the villains of this world will insidiously
infest and cram commercial content into everything you view. In fact
they have already begun to do so, and the speed and thoroughness at
which they will perform this villainy will increase at a logarithmic rate.
******************************
Sounds pretty far fetched? Just wait. It is already happening. I
continually get email messages from friends and relatives with little
advertisements at the bottom of the message. Microsoft continually
plugs their services and other software from *within their commercial
software!* Adware has reared its ugly head and is being promoted by
many in this group as being true freeware. This is what I dread, and
am fighting tooth and claw. I also dread:
* the eventual future where Microsoft controls who can and who cannot
write any software.
* a future where Microsoft has effectively and completely taken over
the software market.
* a future where your activities are monitored all the time as the
natural outcome of "Orwellian creep."
We are all adherents of the third law of thermodynamics, i.e.
"any system which uses energy will devote a portion of that energy to
degrading the ability of the system to use energy. Ultimately, the
system will be unable to use energy and will fail."
We humans and our society are a system which uses energy. Entropy
(called Shiva the Destroyer by the Hindus), is soundly at work in this
newsgroup when I see people attempting to water down the meaning of
the term "freeware" due to laziness, a resentment of "being told what
to do" or so as to profit monetarily.
Perhaps it's inevitable that this newsgroup should someday be
consumed by spammers, trolls and off-topic discussions of
non-freeware. I would like to see that day put off as long as
possible, but concurrent with the posting of this message I see a
rapidly approaching end to the usefulness of this group.
disguising non-freeware as freeware would come into this group and
promote that kind of garbage. They would also attempt to dilute the
definition of freeware to mean something that would serve their
purposes. There are also those who through sheer laziness or a desire
to simply be disruptive, and those who are commercial software shills
don't care that they are promoting non-freeware in this group. This
has been happening with increasing frequency, so I now repost (edited)
a previous message I sent a while back as a wakeup call to the group
and as an expression of *my* opinion. You are free to disagree, but I
will not answer replies to this post.
***************************************
Freeware is very clearly defined in my mind as being fully
featured software that was originally intended to be free to use, no
strings attached. What are strings? Any requirement on you the user's
part, that are not related to the actual functioning of the software
but which must be done in order to use the software. This doesn't mean
that there aren't types of non-freeware that shouldn't be recommended
as solutions in this group, it's just that common sense should tell
you which that is. Examples of such software are:
Careware
Donationware
Liteware
Postcardware
Still:
*Adware* is not freeware.
*Betaware* is not freeware (although sometimes discussed here)
*Careware* is not freeware (although sometimes discussed here, but
there isn't a lot of it)
*CDware* is not freeware (unless it is freeware available on the
internet.)
*Commercial software* is not freeware.
*Crippleware* is not freeware.
*Demoware* is not freeware.
*Donationware* is not freeware (although sometimes discussed here)
*"Free to download"* may or may not be freeware.
*Fonts* are not freeware, they are data files.
*Free services* are not freeware, although the software required to
use such services may or may not be freeware.
*Liteware* is not freeware (although sometimes discussed here)
*Nagware* is not freeware.
*Orphanware* is only freeware if the author specifically says that it
is when he/she drops support of the software.
*Pirated software* is not freeware.
*Postcardware* is not freeware (although sometimes discussed here)
*Porno sites* are not freeware.
*Shareware* is not freeware.
*Spyware* is not freeware.
*Text and other data files* are not freeware.
*Time limited software* is not freeware.
*Trialware* is not freeware.
*Trojans* are not freeware.
*Viruses and virus authoring* software are not freeware.
*Warez* is not freeware.
If a program is "sort of" any of these; even if you wouldn't call it
"exactly" one of these other types of software, then it definitely
ISN'T freeware.
Here's a "little" prediction that will let you in on why I am so
vociferous in my protestations:
**************************
Some day, your software BE IT COMMERCIAL or ANY OTHER VARIETY, will be
as overly saturated as U.S. commercial broadcast television is
currently with advertisements. Your time will be wasted wading through
or simply being forced to endure, endless and worthless static and
animated messages that squander your life force. You won't be able to
type a document into a word processor without wasting portions of your
life viewing commercials about products which are of absolutely NO
interest to you. Much in the way a man is currently subjected to
women's hygiene and cosmetic products during the evening news hour or
a woman has to watch beer commercials if she's into sports.
This is not just a possibility, it is in fact what the future holds
for us. It's one reason why there's such a big push to put all
software online; so that the makers of such software can control it
with immediacy; so that they will be able to alter the commercials
that will be contained in the software as well as monitor our behavior
while online. Bill Gates and Microsoft want a future where you WILL be
online whenever you use your computer. Period.
We are all subject to the whims of those in the world who can't
control their own greed and such people will never go away. In fact,
as our population increases uncontrollably towards our own massive
extinction in the not too distant future, the ratio of those who
employ unethical methods to survive to those who don't will only
increase. We are all victims. As we usurp the carrying capacity of
other species, we will increasingly begin to prey upon ourselves until
actual government sanctioned cannibalism is a reality ("Soylent Green"
*will* eventually happen).
You buy a video movie and the first 10 minutes of it are spent
watching "previews", or commercials for other movies. Soon, there will
be one commercial break in the middle of the movie, then there will be
two. Those breaks will grow longer and then there will be three, etc.
This also, is not speculation; it is inevitable.
Software is NO DIFFERENT. You are sitting in front of a monitor, just
like a television, and your undivided attention is being given to it.
According to the thinking of the advertising community, this
opportunity MUST be exploited as closely as possilbe up to the point
where you are repulsed by the act of surfing the internet or running
software. Sooner or later, the villains of this world will insidiously
infest and cram commercial content into everything you view. In fact
they have already begun to do so, and the speed and thoroughness at
which they will perform this villainy will increase at a logarithmic rate.
******************************
Sounds pretty far fetched? Just wait. It is already happening. I
continually get email messages from friends and relatives with little
advertisements at the bottom of the message. Microsoft continually
plugs their services and other software from *within their commercial
software!* Adware has reared its ugly head and is being promoted by
many in this group as being true freeware. This is what I dread, and
am fighting tooth and claw. I also dread:
* the eventual future where Microsoft controls who can and who cannot
write any software.
* a future where Microsoft has effectively and completely taken over
the software market.
* a future where your activities are monitored all the time as the
natural outcome of "Orwellian creep."
We are all adherents of the third law of thermodynamics, i.e.
"any system which uses energy will devote a portion of that energy to
degrading the ability of the system to use energy. Ultimately, the
system will be unable to use energy and will fail."
We humans and our society are a system which uses energy. Entropy
(called Shiva the Destroyer by the Hindus), is soundly at work in this
newsgroup when I see people attempting to water down the meaning of
the term "freeware" due to laziness, a resentment of "being told what
to do" or so as to profit monetarily.
Perhaps it's inevitable that this newsgroup should someday be
consumed by spammers, trolls and off-topic discussions of
non-freeware. I would like to see that day put off as long as
possible, but concurrent with the posting of this message I see a
rapidly approaching end to the usefulness of this group.
I hope this message will cause most of the people to stop