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Net Gains (May 15, 96)
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Putting things up on the Internet brings up a whole host of grey areas - the foremost being the copyright problem. I put up each Net Gains column on the Internet, for anyone and everyone to see and read. Now if some Tom, Dick, or Dirty Harry somewhere in cyberia finds that a particular article fits his next assignment to a T, all he does is download the article and send it in to be graded. There's no way I can find out who's accessed my stuff and done what with it.
Software developers and companies into software development have an unbelievable reach if they put their products on the Internet. But then, the problem of payment comes up. How do they ensure that someone who downloaded thier software and is using it pays them for it ? They can't track who downloaded what, so the question of keeping track of who pays what doesn't even arise. So what these guys do instead is to resort to one of two approaches : They put their software up for free on the Net - for the love of mankind and mental satisfaction ... that kind of blah. Software of this kind is called "freeware". Here's what one software developer wrote about his freeware program : "This program is FreeWare which means that you do not have to pay for it, no matter how long you use it. �What a nice guy�, you must be thinking, �how can I show thanks to him?� Well, you can send me a postcard from your home town, a CD-ROM, or a Mercedes. Be creative but please, no dead rodents." That captures the essence of freeware. The other, and the more human approach is to put the stuff on the Internet, with some guards thrown in. Called "shareware", the software is freely available for downloading. The user can use the software for a trial period (typically a month) for free. If the user likes it and wants to continue to use it, he sends the amount stated, to the developer as payment. If the user doesn't do so, but still tries to use the software one of two things happen : the software just won't work (one of the guards), or a message keeps coming up, reminding the user to pay up. Some of these messages even resort to emotional blackmail, saying that if people don't support the shareware concept, there won't be shareware anymore. The shareware concept basically appeals to your conscience and your desire to support the concept.
One site that has an exhaustive list of both shareware and freeware software is Shareware.com . It is a new service from a foreign computer network -c/net that allows you to not only search for and browse, but also allows you to download the latest software from some of the best software archives and computer vendor sites on the Internet. Shareware.com offers you software ranging from browsers and games, to utilities, screensavers, anti-virus packages, patches and updates. The page has subdivided the software into different catagories depending on the type of Operating System (OS) you are using - DOS, Macintosh, OS2, or different operating environments and different versions of Bill Gates' Windows. Once you make your choice, a screen comes up showing you the weeks most popular downloads - rating them by the present ranking, the previous weeks ranking, the number of downloads, and the number of weeks it has spent on the charts - just like our Indian Top 25 or Times Sangeet Toppers !!
After browsing through the list, if you find something that catches your interest, you just have to click there to begin the download process. Shareware.com has taken the trouble of listing the different sites from where the software can be downloaded - so that you can choose the place closest to you to save Internet time. They also have a rating scheme to show you which are the most reliable sites (where your connection won't get cut - off in the middle of the download).
While browsing the other day, I got hold of a freeware package that displays the current phase of the moon in your time zone on your computer monitor, after a fixed period of inactivity on your screen. So see, it doesn't have to be all work - there's quite a lot of play involved too !