Not Everything Is Free

  Many programs are not really free. A good number are trials to try before you buy that can be good. Others are still in development, rogue, and may be incompatible on your system. There are many sites offering free programs to download and use with its copy rights.

While freeware sites offer free programs to download to use or try, there are sites that offer open source software. Open source is a development method for software that harnesses the power of distributed peer review and transparency of process. The promise of open source is better quality, higher reliability, more flexibility, lower cost or free, and an end to predatory vendor lock-in as part of the open source initiative.

There are now open source sites such as www.openoffice.org, www.sourceforge.net, www.filezilla.org, and more that offers excellent source for free and higher quality programs. In some cases, members are asked to share knowledge and provide feedback. While payments are not require in many cases, donations are asked to help keep the sites up, continue with their development, and share technical knowledge.

What we really have to be careful are Rogue programs. They are very common and they generally set you up to extort payment. There cases where programs will plant viruses or bad files then scan are report issues. Their report would prompt you to pay to resolve fake or planted issues. There are many sites that are infected and can download Trojans without your knowledge to install their rogue programs. The purposely infected your system then announce claim to  remove the malicious activities after paying for the program. This is extortion.