freeware

freeware
    n 1: software that is provided without charge
    

freeware
 n.

   [common] Freely-redistributable software, often written by enthusiasts
   and distributed by users' groups, or via electronic mail, local
   bulletin boards, {Usenet}, or other electronic media. As the culture
   of the Internet has displaced the older BBS world, this term has lost
   ground to both {open source} and {free software}; it has increasingly
   tended to be restricted to software distributed in binary rather than
   source-code form. At one time, freeware was a trademark of Andrew
   Fluegelman, the author of the well-known MS-DOS comm program PC-TALK
   III. It wasn't enforced after his mysterious disappearance and
   presumed death in 1984. See {shareware}, {FRS}.
    

freeware

   <legal> {Software}, often written by enthusiasts and
   distributed at no charge by users' groups, or via the
   {World-Wide Web}, {electronic mail}, {bulletin boards},
   {Usenet}, or other electronic media.

   At one time, "freeware" was a trademark of {Andrew
   Fluegelman}.  It wasn't enforced after his death.

   "Freeware" should not be confused with "{free software}"
   (roughly, software with unrestricted redistribution) or
   "{shareware}" (software distributed without charge for which
   users can pay voluntarily).

   Jim Knopf's story (http://freewarehof.org/sstory.html).

   [{Jargon File}]

   (2003-07-26)