Shareware is a trial version of a program, posted by a vendor on the Internet. The version may not possess all the capabilities of the final version. Users who approve of the trial version may be induced to send payment once the final version is available. Freeware is software that is available for free on the Internet. In recent times, the most well-known example of freeware has been the Linux operating system.
In the 1970s, when the computer user community was small, user-written programs were routinely circulated among users. Following the introduction of the International Business Machine personal computer in 1981, the number of users skyrocketed, making such communal sharing of programs not feasible. The following year, two programmers, Andrew Fluegleman and Jim Knopf wrote a communications program and a database program, respectively, for use on the IBM PC. They decided to distribute these programs over existing computer distribution networks. Although they intended to be remunerated for their programs, Fluegleman coined the term (and trademarked the name) "Freeware" to designate the programs. Because the source code (which specifies the operation of a program) was also distributed, however, the control over the freeware programs by the two programmers was lost.
Other programming entrepreneurs followed in Fluegleman's and Knopf's footsteps, and within a few years, freeware had developed a reputation for quality. In 1984, a computer magazine sponsored a contest to find a name for this burgeoning class of freely available programs. The most popular choice for a name was "shareware." Eventually, the term freeware became public property, and both terms worked their way into the computer lexicon.
The terms shareware and freeware are somewhat misleading, because such programs are not truly public property. Because a copyright automatically accrues to any software that is distributed, even over networks, for a program to be in the public domain, the programmer has to specifically label it as such. So, while freeware does indeed include some public domain software (Linux, for example), most freeware is software that can be freely used without payment to the programmer, but for which the programmer retains the copyright.
As the popularity of shareware and freeware grew, organizations formed to review the software and provide catalogues of emerging programs. This tact proved popular. For example, one group, the Houston Area League of PC Users, which began in 1982 with a handful of members, currently has over 10,000 members world-wide.
Presently, there are thousands of shareware programs for every conceivable application. The advent of the Internet, and particularly the increasing popularity of inexpensive high speed modems, which enable the rapid transmission of large amounts of data, has fueled an explosion in shareware and freeware popularity.
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