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Freeware is software distributed for free, but has legal requirements. Shareware is free temporarily, commercial software is purchased, and public domain software has waived copyright. Freeware can be used for personal or non-profit use, and can be copied for personal use. Derivative works can be created, but not sold as commercial software. Freeware can be decompiled and reverse engineered for educational purposes.
Everyone loves getting something for free, but it’s important to realize that freeware has certain legal requirements. When discussing copyright laws as they relate to software, you first need to understand the various classifications of software. A program can be freeware, shareware, commercial or public domain software.
Freeware is distributed free of charge to interested users for an unlimited time. The shareware is temporarily provided to you free of charge, but you must pay for the product to continue using it after the designated trial period. Commercial software is usually purchased from a computer store, software publisher, or some other type of reseller. A program becomes public domain software if the copyright holder has expressly waived his or her rights to the product.
Free software is available for download on a variety of websites. Some of the more popular programs are computer games, fonts, and screensavers, but you can also find freeware that is meant to help you organize your schedule, back up, or restore important files, edit digital images or add extra functionality to your word processor program.
Before you can download freeware, you will usually be asked if you agree to the program’s terms of use. If you give your approval and proceed with the software download, you are legally obligated to follow the software license agreement. Typically, the license agreement specifies that it is for personal use, individual use, non-commercial use, academic use, non-profit use, commercial use, or a combination of uses.
Once you download the free software, you can make copies of the program to use for your own archival purposes. You can also make copies for friends, family, classmates, or co-workers, as long as you won’t make a profit from the distribution.
One of the most common reasons programmers distribute their creations as freeware is to encourage the development of new ideas. Therefore, when you download a freeware program, you are allowed to create new programs based on the original code, as long as you don’t try to profit from your activities. For example, you can distribute your derivative works as freeware through your personal blog or website. However, you are not legally allowed to take a freeware program that you have modified and then sell it to others as commercial software.
Unlike commercially distributed software, the license for a freeware program allows the program to be decompiled and reverse engineered without the express written permission of the copyright holder. This makes the freeware a useful educational tool for computer science students interested in learning how to create their own programs.
