Why is such good software available for free??

[leoblob]

I am running AVG Free, Zone Alarm Free, and Ad-Aware Free. Why do these companies give these away for free?? I'm glad they do, but what is the reasoning?

[tfflivemb2]

That is so that you will get really interested in them, and hope that you upgrade to the retail version (with more options).

[Kyocera]

And perhaps someday (not to soon I hope) the gravy train will end.

[damorg]

In addition to hoping to convert free users to paying users, they also gain some other tangible benefits:

1) increased market- and mind-share. The more (positive) name recognition the free product has, the more likely they are to make actual sales. Similarly, if a significant portion of a company's staff (including IT and decision makers) knows, uses, and likes a free product, that's extra familiarity and consideration that organization may likely give to a pay-version of the software to use at the business. Plus, it creates some level of goodwill...people like free stuff and companies like to appear as if they're being "nice."

2) The increased pool of free users give lots of feedback, trouble-shooting/testing, and suggestions for enhancements. Msny of those free users point out flaws and rough spots. Lots of free users are very loyal and have lots of energy and give great feedback that benefits the company a great deal. Some companies even "preview" new functionality and features in the free version so that major problems are identified and fixed before rolling them out to paying customers or creating a pay-for product. It's a balancing act though...users don't like feel they're doing "all the work" and getting nothing but buggy/crashy stuff while a company profits off a pay-for version.

[Kyocera]

It is important to note that not all freeware is good. I found out about Zone alarm a couple of years ago from the Microsoft Newsgroups.
That is the only reason I even tried it. Did a lot of research about AVG as well, have to admit I loaded it on a couple of pc's at work before I used it myself. Major Geeks is a good source of freeware, if people complain about a certain program they will remove it from their mirrors. If you do a lot of "tweaking" of your system there are web sites totally dedicated to this type of behaviour.

[leoblob]

Thanks! Good answers.

[440roadrunner]

Any of you use "open office?"

[GomJabbar]

Any of you use "open office?"

There are two threads pertaining to this on the same page of the forum you posted this question on.

http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?t=17917

http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?t=18113

[jdhurst]

There is no good single answer to the question of free software.

1. WinZip used to provide free upgrades to any previous purchase. I went from Version 4 to Version 9 on one fee. Now WinZip won't respond to any email for an upgrade to Version 10. Greed has gotten the better of them.
2. Ad Aware Pro works better than the free and is worth the price. It runs silently and automatically as a service.
3. Free QuickTime pesters you until you buy it. Once you buy it, there is no upgrade path to the next version. Greed again.
4. Ultra Edit was always best and always paid. I see now they are providing a one time payment for permanent upgrades. Nice touch.
5. WS_FTP Pro is nice, but WS_FTP LE (the old free version) still works great if you can get it.
6. Real Player is not worth it (to me) at any price.

The list goes on, but generally, I have purchased a wide variety of inexpenisve software and have been happier with the results than with the free counterparts. ... JD Hurst

[davidspalding]

The WS_ tools were always really good as shareware, and the paid version just added dessert to an already good meal. Back in the day, shareware offered you good apps, and if you deigned to pay and register, you got support, upgrades, etc. Now ... annoyware, crippleware, and adware (I think Quicktime sits on the fence, gives you value, but repeatedly, endlessly crooning "Buy me! Buy me!" when you use it).

There are times when I think shareware is dead. You either get freeware that works simply, or you "use" software that rides like a gibbering monkey on your back in exchange for it's furry presence.

FWIW, I think Winzip 9.0 is missing very little that 10.0 offers. At some point in most programs evolution, each successive release has incrementally LESS improvements.

[BruisedQuasar]

I am running AVG Free, Zone Alarm Free, and Ad-Aware Free. Why do these companies give these away for free??

What you are talking about is software known as Shareware, Freeware, Crippleware & Public Domain. Such software and utilities have been around since BEFORE desktop PCs existed. Before IBM entered the desktop PC business in 1981, there were many kinds of desktop computers. Tandy (Radio Shack) was a major player with its basic O/S & color computer line and its own quasi operating system which was better, by the way, than Windows until version '95. For several years I used a Commodore PET computer (which dominated the public education world. Commodore's terrible marketing department let Apple take the school market away from Commodore)

IBM wanted to go with CPM, not Bill Gates & MS-DOS and for good reason. CPM was a mini-version of a mainframe O/S and there were hundreds of free games, utilities and programs for CPM. Unfortunately, the author lacked business sense and was outraged that IBM would only pay him $25 or so a copy. 20 year-old Gates heard about it and did the math, realizing IBM would soon sell millions of PCs a year and the O/S owner would be a millionaire overnight. (By the way, I miss my unusual Commodore C-128D, which was 3 computers in one. It ran C-64, C-128 & CPM programs. You switched from one O/S to the other (all very fast because on ROM chips) by pressing a button!

Many of the free CPM programs were written by government programmers while they were at work. Many were just thrilled anyone would be interested in a program they wrote.

There are many reasons for freeware, Public Domain and shareware (you are supposed to pay for shareware, after a short time). Many major publishing companies like Peter Norton began as a lone programmer. Rookies want people to try their novice work and provide feedback.

Ten years ago it was still common for newbie software authors to routinely ask users for suggestions, opinions. Many today have websites and welcome comments.

Some of the best software ever written began as shareware or public domain. Linux, the actual operating system, is still public domain, which means it is free but the author retains the rights.

If you obtain and install a free version of a major Linux distribution such as Mandriva or SuSe, Ubuntu or Xandros, you will be amazed at the hundreds of excellent free programs you get on the CDs with it. A reason for "free" here is that many Linux authors believe software should be free. To these Open Source movement members "free" has two meanings. "Free" as in cost free and "free" as in open code. You can get an uncompiled version of the program and you are free to modify the program all you wish and you are free to make copies to share with friends. Usually, these programs are Public Domain meaning the Author retains rights and forbids you to SELL your version of his program.

Many Open Source members believe that free software is important to maintaining a free society. All of them agree that open source results in highly innovative and excellent programs, since talented people globally can and do add improvements.

The specific programs you mentioned are part of a legacy of free programs for the home user. For instance, the former big name in file compression, P.K. Katz and McAfee gave away their PKZIP & Arch compression programs to home users but charged businesses. It was a brilliant marketing strategy. How else to get companies to buy and use your file compressor than to provide a free version to consumers? Companies pay to compress files and users will accept them because they can freely download and freely unzip the files. Hard Disk and Phone modem makers strategy was to give BBS owner-operators free to very inexpensive hard drives and phone modems to support BBSes. Why? To give desktop owners a reason to buy expensive hard drives and phone modems. BBS hobbyists- and not Al Gore or the national lab swells- created about everything now on the Internet. Lab scientists got their ideals from us BBS operators. We invented the idea of globally linking PCs, making the system free to users, email, user groups, file and software downloads. Our Echo Net and Fido Net systems were the ancestors of email and web pages. They also invented user groups and newsgroups. AOL destroyed the BBS Networks by making Internet accessible for a rather hefty fee. AOL was about money, not quality, so AOL made internet use available to everyone and online quality fell dramatically. BBS operators had rules and standards. We did not build or allow chat free-for-alls where time is simply wasted, little constructive ever done. Chat Rooms, Public Groups, & online use must have rules for the same reasons societies must have ciminal law, traffic law, and police.

The Internet still has not approached the quality we had in the BBS world.

If you examine the ZoneAlarm and Avast (great free anti-virus scanner) sites, you will discover each have services and versions that you must buy. The same is true for SpyBot Search and Destroy. I tried Spybot for several months before I subscribed to their automatic update service, which you can get 2 years for the price of one, if you buy the service through Kim Komando's site, komando.com

Since Microsoft became a huge monopoly, a new reason arose. The great Sun Microsystems wrote Java and Open Office and released them as Public Domain free programs. A bright 14 year-old boy wrote Firefox and an older friend supervises firefox free releases, while the now 19 year-old Forefox innovator attends college. Netscape helped by allowing firefox to be built on a Netscape browser core, as part of Netscape's counter attack against Microsoft dirty tricks strategy for destroying competition.

[damorg]

Technically speaking, GPL software and other Open Source and F/free software is not Public Domain. It is usually copyrighted and the copyright holders often defend their rights virgorously to ensure that their software is used and distributed in compliance with whatever license they release it under.

Public Domain is a legally recognized category of works that are not copyrighted...either b/c they were intentionally released this way or because their copyright has lapsed. The author retains no special rights to the work beyond what anybody making use of it has. Most things are not actually Public Domain b/c they have implied copyright automatically when they are written. Either that copyright lapses after an author's death (like with old literature) and it passes into Public Domain or the author makes a point of ceding her or his rights and specifically put a work in the Public Domain.

There are many Open Source and other licenses that allow people to use software at no cost. There are also various levels of political commitment and philosophy behind the different OS licenses.

Some, like the GPL (under which Linux is released), require that source code be released as well and might restrict if and how the software can be sold for money. They tend to hold that software should be free and that, ideally, money made off the software should be for service, support, and other skills and expertise over time rather than charging again and again for the initial (and ongoing) effort to develop the software as happens in the traditional commercial software license model going back decades to old-school software power houses of the elder days like IBM and AT&T (Ma Bell).

Others, such as the BSD license, release the source completely and allow for it to be used in any way seen fit even if bundled and sold for profit by a 3rd party as long as certain conditions are met (such as including the BSD copyright notice). These licenses tend to hold that as long as there's a use for the software and somebody can benefit, they are completely free to take it and use it as they see fit as long as they give proper credit where due to the writers.

Sun wrote Java and it's free for use but it's not completely free as in Open Source or Public Domain b/c Sun owns it lock stock and barrel. Sun didn't write Open Office; they bought Star Office and they sold (and still sell, I believe) a version of Star Office which is a licensed product. Sun did however open the core source of Star Office which ended up being what is now OpenOffice.org and I do think Sun contributes to that project as well as keeping the Star Office code synced against the OpenOffice.org tree and incorporating OpenOffice.org code into new versions in Star Office.

Both Open Source and Public Domain software are kind of a different beast than the free versions of commercial software the original poster was asking about where a company gives away a free-to-use version of their proprietary software in the hopes that people will like it and buy a more featureful version or set of useful services from them.

The more free, the better of course and not only because it means there's more good stuff to use and play with.

[BruisedQuasar]

Any of you use "open office?"

Yes. I use Open Office and have for a few years. First, only in its original Linux version and when it became available, in the Windows version. I like it better than Microsoft's overpriced MS Office, especially since Open Office is free and you can install it on as many home PCs as you wish.

[Kyocera]

AVG is no longer FREE

All the links I used to use to get to it say SHAREWARE, the gravy train is over.

[dsvochak]

The links to AVG I use are still showing it as free
http://free.grisoft.com/doc/1 and http://free.grisoft.com/doc/Get+AVG+FREE/lng/us/tpl/v5 as is the web copy of the license ( http://free.grisoft.com/doc/98/lng/us/tpl/v5 )

[smugiri]

@jdhurst

Real Player is not worth it (to me) at any price

I agree 2000000%. Try K-Lite Mega Codec found here that give you the capability to play .ram files, quicktime movies and many many other formats including a free DVD decoder for free.

[Kyocera]

dsvochak, thanks a lot I used to get there from the pcworld link now it says shareware, and the grisoft site seems a little difficult to maneuver to it.

[BruisedQuasar]

AVG IS STILL FREE.

I just downloaded and installed it on four PCs. Users still get free updates almost daily. There may be some confusion about that because AVG requires registration now. The registration is free. Of course, the Pro version has always cost money. AVG follows the tradition of breaking a new product into the market by offering an outstanding free version. Peter Norton did this for several years.

RealPlayer has never been a hassle free program. It is full of adware and installs what I consider to be spyware. I have always considered RealPlayer a dishonest "free" program, just not worth installing. Rhapsody is a better deal and it plays RealPlayer format. Another scam is crippleware, software presented as shareware but it is crippled in significant ways, which goes against the rules of the Association of Shareware Professionals (ASP).

So long as corrupt government allows huge software companies like Microsoft to regulary violate US anti-monopoly laws, there will be excellent shareware and free ware available to us.

In a real sense, Linux Core, Sun Microsystems, Google as Operating System and other free projects will continue so long as Microsoft plays unfair. The ONLY thing holding back the major Linux distros from bringing down Windows is Microsoft's ability to bully Wi-Fi gear makers into refusing to cooperate with Linux groups, which leaves Linux a wi-fi nightmare for most people.

Walmart & Dell were giving buyers a choice between pre-loaded Linux and Windows. That option disappeared last year and up went a screen announcement "Dell Recommends Windows XP" and "Walmart Recommends Windows XP"

MS bankrupted the king of business wordprocessors WordPerfect and then jacked up the price of MS Word & MS Office. Well, Sun Microsystems' free OpenOffice is at least as good as $800 MS Office.