Freeware, Shareware and Open Source Software

If someone offers you some software for free – especially some *useful* software – your response might just be a brief "Yay!" before hitting the download button. But distinguishing between open source software, freeware and shareware is important, because the differences are legal as well as practical.

Open Source Software
Open source software is as "free" as it gets. There are four sorts of freedom involved with open source software:

- You don't have to pay to download, install or use it, and it is issued under a licence which means you will always be able to use it free-of-charge.

- You are allowed to modify and add to the source code of the software at will.

- You are also allowed to redistribute the software either in its original or modified forms. You are allowed to charge for the software if you so desire.

- You are allowed to use the software for any legal purpose, including commercial enterprises.

"Open source software" and "free software" (which is sometimes known, for clarity, as free-libre software) are distinguished from one another by some, but the difference is in philosophy rather than legality. Free software advocates tend to highlight the licence freedom of this sort of software, while open source proponents instead tend to highlight the user's ability to modify the software at will. For a discussion of the differences, see "Open Source and Free Software". Together, free software and open source software are sometimes known as public domain titles.

Freeware
Freeware must not be mixed up with free software. The only kind of freedom that is necessarily involved with freeware is the fact that you don't have to pay for it.

- You don't have to pay for it.

- You are usually unable to view the source code and will usually have to ask for permission if you wish to modify it in any way.

- You are usually not allowed to charge for redistribution of the software, modified or otherwise.

- There may be restrictions on the purposes for which you can use the software.

All of this is because freeware is copyrighted. Examples of freeware include Microsoft Internet Explorer and iTunes. You can use these products for free, and you will never have to pay anything, but you are using proprietary software – software which is owned and copyrighted by someone else.

Shareware
Shareware is only sort-of-free. That is, you can enjoy a free trial of it, after which you are required to pay for a licence. Sometimes this is enforced by the software owner (as in, for example, free trials of Adobe Photoshop); other times, you are simply asked to honour the shareware nature of the software by a pop-up message reminding you to pay for a proper licence. Shareware licences are usually cheaper than buying other commercial software.