Shareware, Public Domain, & Freeware Software By Bill Quinn Pinellas IBM PCUG - Bits & Bytes Clearwater, FL Freely distributed software has been available since the first days of the personal computer. In the last five years this concept has evolved into an alternate to commercial software. My definitions of the software distribution market may help the novice computer users to have an understanding of the terms that are in use today. PUBLIC DOMAIN Public domain software has been released completely to the public, and the author retains no legal rights to it. The programmer may not want to market the program, or he may feel that the effort was not sufficient to justify any price. Whatever the reason; however, the key is that the author has given up all rights, and anyone may use the software and may pass it on to others. The way to tell if you have public domain software is to look for a copyright notice. If there is no such notice, you have public domain software. SHAREWARE Shareware authors, unlike public domain authors, hold copyrights on their programs. The Shareware programmer's software is protected by U. S. and international copyright laws, as is commercial software. Shareware, however, unlike its commercial counterpart, may be copied freely and passed on to others. Like commercial software Shareware is a "FOR-SALE" product. Shareware authors request that people who try their software and decide to use it send a registration fee to the author. This registration fee is the equivalent to purchasing the software. For this registration fee authors may offer a wide variety of services - including printed manuals, disks, advance versions, and telephone support. Some companies also offer free updates. The most important benefit of registration is that you receive a legal license to continue using the software. I should like to think that Shareware is a method of distribution of commercial software. In short - try it; and if you continue to use it, send the requested fee to the program's author. FREEWARE Freeware holds a place between public domain software and Shareware. The author has retained the rights by exercising the copyright law, but he does not require any fee for continued use of the software. Some authors may request a small contribution if you use the program, but these contributions are not required. With Freeware you may find restrictions on the distribution of the program. While some authors will not allow you to charge for their program when it is distributed, other authors will place a dollar limit for copying and distributing their programs. STANDARDS Are there any standards? For public domain and Freeware, not really. Many Shareware authors, on the other hand, have become part of the Association of Shareware Professionals, ASP, which is dedicated to the establishment of recognized standards for Shareware programs and for their companies. Not all authors belong to ASP; but as more authors join, Shareware standards have become more universally followed. DISTRIBUTION METHODS There are four common methods of obtaining freely distributed software: from a friend, from a user group, from a disk vendor, and from a bulletin board. Friends The rules associated with freely distributed software generally allow users to make copies for others. If you have a friend with this type of software, you may make a copy the software. Because it is easy to copy software, please make certain that the program you are copying belongs to one of the freely distributed software classes, and that it is not commercial software. It is illegal to copy commercial software. One of the benefits of freely distributed software is that you can try it before buying it to decide if the program meets your needs. With commercial software you have to buy it before trying it. This means your decision must be based on what others have said about the program rather than on your own experiences with it. Users Groups This is one of the most popular ways of getting freely distributed software, because a wide variety of programs can be obtained, and in some cases you can associate with other members who are able to teach you how to use them. If the user group charges a fee for disk copying, you must remember that the fee is a copying fee. It is not part of the author's registration fee. Our complete disk copying library is on the club's Bulletin Board Service (BBS). Disk Vendor A disk vendor operates a business of copying disks for a specified charge per disk. Almost all disk vendors issue some type of disk catalog from which you select those program disk which you want to buy. Remember that the fees you pay to the disk vendor are fees for the copying and for the mailing of the disks you have ordered. Here again, the author of the program does not receive the money you paid to the disk vendor. There is one disk vendor who has made arrangements with several Shareware authors to accept registration fees for the author's program. The name of this disk vendor is: The Public (Software) Library PO Box 35705 Houston, TX 77235-5705 Orders: (800) 242-4775 (On a personal note, I have found the PSL to be the best disk vendor in the country.) Bulletin Board Ssystem (BBS) BBSs require the user to have a device known as a modem. A modem allows one computer to talk to another computer over standard phone lines. There are literally thousands of BBS's around the world where you can download freely distributed programs. Our club has a 4 node (4 telephone lines) BBS which contains over 6,000 files. Our club's BBS is rather small compared to other BBS's in the country. Please remember that it is illegal to download any commercial software from a BBS. As an alternate to a local BBS, there are a number of Information On-line Services. These are a form of national bulletin board where users are able to access services like those found on local boards. Many of these On-line Services offer hundreds of thousands of freely distributed software programs. In summary, the world of freely-distributed software can be anything you want it to be. If you want to get a modem and plunge into the many bulletin board systems around the country, that is certainly one option. If, on the other hand, you want to sit back, browse through a nicely printed catalog and pick and choose, that option is also available. The very best part of these options is that all of this software is on a Try-Before-You-Buy basis, totally unlike any software you might obtain through a store or from mail order. One last item: there are computer viruses everywhere. In most cases every effort is made so that software is provided from the source virus free. Our BBS checks all files placed on the BBS for viruses before they can be downloaded to you. That is not always the case when you are provided a copy from an unknown or unintending source. So, please practice safe computer procedures when you are introducing new disks to your computer. Be Prepared. Enjoy