[URL]http://www.econsultant.com/i-want-freeware-utilities/index.html[/URL]
Superb Julian. Just one question - why is it the generally accepted understanding that one software engineer or another will offer the product of their labour FOC? Wouldnt it be weird if, like, some lawyers or accountants or doctors or teachers or plasterers or mechanics just did it FOC? As a software developer I sometimes feel a tiny bit disenfranchised. But hey free stuff is cool so my mood lightens
i remember in my younger days i used to write stuff just for fun. i'd have given that stuff away for free (now i charge just to think about touching a keyboard). i reckon about 70% of 'free' software is 'taster' software that is supposed to convince you of it's usefulness so that you buy the full version (avg, zone alarm etc). some uses a base engine that is sold to other companies to re-market as their own - again antivirus, firewalls etc. the rest are seemingly small bits of software that probably took their creators a few months to write in their spare time - the fact that their code is running of thousands / millions of pc's around the world is probably reward enough. cheers julian.