Number 273 - February 2006

Is Freeware/Shareware Worth While?
by Brian K. Lewis, Ph.D.*, Sarasota Personal Computer Users Group, Inc.
People sometimes question whether or not freeware or shareware applications are safe or even reliable. So I thought I'd take an inventory of the freeware-shareware software that I have on my computer. It's not a long list, but much of it is software that I use every day and it is important to the operation of my system. For example, my list includes OpenOffice (office software suite), Firefox (Internet browser), Thunderbird (e-mail software), Avast! (anti-virus), Sygate Personal Firewall, Spybot Search & Destroy, Spyware Blaster, CD Burner XP Pro (burns CD's and DVD's) and Picasa (photo software from Google). All of these are freeware, although some do ask for donations. You don't have to pay if you don't want to do so. Have I made donations? Yes, but only after I have used the software and found it useful. I also make extensive use of Google & Froogle, both of which are free search engines. How about mapping services such as Google Maps, Yahoo and Mapquest? These are also free services.    So is this software safe and reliable? Let's take OpenOffice as an example. It reads and writes all the file formats found in Microsoft Office. So documents can be interchanged with anyone using MS Office with no problem. This article for instance, was written with OpenOffice and saved in its new international open document format. After it is completed, I will save it in MS Office format and transmit it to the editor for publication.    OpenOffice also does spreadsheets, presentations, drawings, databases and HTML documents. All of these can be converted to MS Office format. OpenOffice also reads MS Office formats and can edit them directly without conversion. OpenOffice is freeware, so why should I pay the very high price for Microsoft Office? There may be some functions of MS Office that I don't have, but so far I haven't missed any and I've been using OpenOffice for over a year. I've just downloaded and installed the latest version (2.0).    Have I had problems with OpenOffice? That answer to that is a definite NO. It works so well that I have it as the primary word processor, etc. on both my desktop and laptop. I use the spreadsheet format for a number of purposes. And, I just recently prepared and gave a slide presentation from my laptop. The flexibility of the presentation software enabled me to do everything I wanted. It also had the capability of adding animation and sound to the slides. However, that was more than I needed. The OpenOffice software also allowed me to print handouts of all the charts included in the presentation. That gave the audience something to take home and study.    As for my Avast! anti-virus software, it is among the highest rated A-V applications. It updates itself in seconds in the background. It does pop up a notice after an update has been installed. It also notifies me when there is an update to the application, not the virus database, so I can download and install it at a convenient time. On my broadband connection any updates take only seconds. The longest update and install was for a program update and it took less than a minute. O.K., but does it protect me from viruses? In the three years I have been using it, I haven't had any virus infections. I've also downloaded it and installed it on many other computers as well as recommending it to many people. It is free for personal use and no donations are needed. It is indeed a gem in the freeware field.    Why would I use Firefox as a browser when Internet Explorer is free? Mainly because it is a better browser. It uses less memory, loads more quickly, and has a tabbed window interface that I really like. IE won't have tabs until the next major upgrade. Some people have made much of the fact the Firefox has holes which could allow hacker exploits just as IE does. My answer to that is that all large applications have errors, but at least Firefox provides patches much more quickly than does Microsoft.    I could go on and on talking about the software I'm using. Suffice it to say I have been using them all through several updates and for at least a year. It's really nice to be able to try out an application before thinking about having to make any payment. If you want to find more shareware, you should sign up for Fred Langa's free newsletter. He always has information on reliable freeware-shareware applications. His newsletter is useful for any computer user.    Another question is why do people make their software available as freeware or shareware?	In some cases, usually for shareware, it is a trial run to see if is commercially viable software. In other cases, it is a way of having a large group of people testing your software at little or no cost to the programmer. Also, some people write programs for their own use and then find that others find them useful as well. So the software ends up on the freeware list.    Then we have the major players like OpenOffice and Firefox. OpenOffice has a mission statement: to create, as a community, the leading international office suite that will run on all major platforms and provide access to all functionality and data through open-component based API's and an XML-based file format. In other words, it is designed to work with Windows, Linux, Solaris, FreeBSD and Apple Macintosh operating systems. It also makes its programming code freely available under an open-source license.    The Mozilla Foundation was established by AOL's Netscape division and provides support for the Mozilla open-source software, Firefox and Thunderbird. The Foundation is a California not-for-profit organization. It is exempt from federal taxation under IRC 501(c)3. Any donations made to it are tax-deductible.    In both cases, these organizations are part of an international group that believes software should be free or at least very inexpensive.    Google is somewhat different from these other companies. They primarily make their money from ads associated with searches made by users. If you go to their Picasa web site, you will find a link to other software they produce. Some of it has a price, but there is also usually a version that is free. So they are not an open-source software company. But their freeware generally does what you expect.    Some major software companies that produce anti-virus software, firewalls and malware removers make their software free for personal use. Why? Because they believe it is better to give software away so more people will be protected than to have unprotected computers connected to the Internet. There are far too many computers that have been turned into zombies by trojans or other malware. We would all be better off if every computer was cleaned of malware and protected from further infection. So these companies are doing themselves a service at the same time they are doing a service for the public.    So how do you find products like this? For most of the software applications I've listed you can go directly to a web site associated with their name. As an alternative you can go to download.com. This is a web site operated by CNET. You can search for any of these products by name on the CNET web site. The listings also identify those applications that are freeware or shareware. Even shareware usually has a trial period where you can use the software to see if it does what you want before you make any payment.    Another site devoted to only freeware is: http://www.freewarearena.org. It has a wide range of freeware listed, and it provides user ratings of the software. It also has links to other freeware sites.    The Sarasota SPCUG Monitor is another good source for shareware-freeware. Our editor, Dr. Herb Goldstein, spends hours researching software for you. He always has many interesting applications listed in his column entitled Computer Buffet. So you can find useful and reliable shareware-freeware if you look for it. This is another try it, you might like it situation.    *Dr. Lewis is a former university & medical school professor. He has been working with personal computers for more than thirty years. He can be reached via e-mail at bwsail@yahoo.com.    Copyright 2005. This article is from the January 2006 issue of the Sarasota PC Monitor, the official monthly publication of the Sarasota Personal Computer Users Group, Inc., P.O. Box 15889, Sarasota, FL 34277-1889. Permission to reprint is granted only to other non-profit computer user groups, provided proper credit is given to the author and our publication.
Number 273 - February 2006