[SEL] Spyware & Freeware

[bill at antique-engines.com]

Yes, Arnie - you hit the nail...........
I failed to recall the gnu and public domain stuff.
I guess I should say "beware, not all is free that appears to be free".

It will take some time, but I can get some examples........
There are warnings out there in several anti-spyware forums.

As far as "other" software that says it's free but is underhanded about it
- bearshare used to install some really nasty stuff, and allowed you to
uncheck the boxes, but it installed ANYWAY.

Adobe gets you by saying "we'll set the standards and give you a FREE
reader, but the software to create such files is really crazy expensive.
There is also a solution there as well, a truly free gnu PDF creating
tool. It's hairy complex to use, but free and creates really nice small
PDF files.

Thanks for the correctoins - points taken.

Bill

> Hi Bill,
>
> On Tue, 11 Jan 2005 bill at antique-engines.com wrote:
>
>> Watch out - some "anti-spyware" out there is actually spyware in itself
>> -
>> it installs some of the very stuff you get it to remove!
>> How in the world do people think that someone can release FREE software?
>> Uh-huh - it's supported by marketing and advertising - "spyware" that it
>> installs.
>> EVEN spyware removers in some cases install adware and spyware!
>
> Interesting comment.  Can you provide some specific examples?
>
>> There is pretty much no such thing as REAL free software.
>
> I beg to differ.  http://www.tucows.com and http://www.gnu.net
>
> These are a couple of the oldest and most widely used resources on the
> net.  Gnu software is nearly universal in the Unix and Linux worlds.
>
> Do any of these ring a bell?  Adobe Reader, Irfan View, Spybot,
> Ad-Aware, Linux, etc.  There's even a widely used term to describe it;
> "Freeware".
>
> I think in a fit of Messianic zeal, you may have over-generalized.
> Despite the popularity of the expression TANSTAAFL, _sometimes_ there is.
>
> See ya,  Arnie
>
> Arnie Fero
> Pittsburgh, PA
> fero_ah at city-net.com
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