an obviously newbie question

[maryannemoll]

hi. what's the difference between freeware and shareware? :blush:

[Arel]

Hi MARYANNEMOLL!:

Good question!

Freeware is defined as copyrighted software given away for free by the author. Although it is available for free, the author retains the copyright, which means that you cannot do anything with it that is not expressly allowed by the author. Usually, the author allows people to use the software, but not sell it.

While Shareware is software distributed on the basis of an honor system. Most shareware is delivered free of charge, but the author usually requests that you pay a small fee if you like the program and use it regularly. By sending the small fee, you become registered with the producer so that you can receive service assistance and updates. You can copy shareware and pass it along to friends and colleagues, but they too are expected to pay a fee if they use the product.

Shareware is inexpensive because it is usually produced by a single programmer and is offered directly to customers. Thus, there are practically no packaging or advertising expenses.

Note that shareware differs from public-domain software in that shareware is copyrighted. This means that you cannot sell a shareware product as your own.

Sourced these definitions from Webopedia.

Originally posted by maryannemoll
hi. what's the difference between freeware and shareware? :blush:

[Adel]

An addition to the shareware definition: while some operated fully and unhampered even if you have no 'honor' and don't send in a contribution or requested fee, these kinds come few and far between nowadays.

Now a majority of them, while fully working versions, come time-limited (stops working after a while or after a preset number of uses) - also known as trialware, or have irritating delays or pop-up windows that interrupt your use - also known as nagware (it nags you to pay).

Some shareware are also known as hobbleware (a variant of trialware), which means that some critical features are disabled, most usually the save or export functions; you can create things with them, but cannot save them - so these programs have been 'hobbled'.

[maryannemoll]

ok. thanks! that was very enlightening. i appreciate it, guys.