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Question from Gordon: I have a very simple question for you, Rick: Is it legal to sell free software?
I’m asking because I just bought a DVD off of eBay that’s packed with tons of software programs for troubleshooting and maintaining a PC, but I have just found out that ALL of it is freeware that’s distributed under the GNU GPL License. [Read more…]
Regular readers of this blog know I’m a huge fan of free software because I routinely recommend the use of freeware whenever possible to accomplish whatever the task at hand may be.
But as you probably also know there can be hidden dangers lurking behind the scenes every time you install a piece of free software.
The dangers range all the way from the installation of unwanted add-on software to installing viruses and other forms of malware right along with the programs themselves.
For many years SourceForge was my favorite site for downloading free software because they didn’t bundle third-party add-on programs (aka sneakware) with their installation files.
Well, that all changed in July 2013 when the folks at SourceForge decided to follow in the footsteps of their competitors by joining the widely-despised DevShare program.
In a nutshell, the DevShare program allows download sites to earn extra cash by bundling additional software with the programs that users download from the site.
The problem is the “extra” (and almost always unwanted) software will usually be installed by default along with the downloaded program unless the user unchecks one or boxes to “unbundle” the add-on programs. And those check boxes are typically pretty hard to notice, or even find. [Read more…]