Free Software Downloads: Pros and Cons

The Internet was always meant to be free – the operative word in this sentence being meant.

A few years ago, the Internet was the best place to find information about almost anything they wanted, for example, software. There were a number of sites that were actually dedicated to giving the average geek their daily staple diet of information on software, ranging from software reviews to even shareware versions of the said software.

Of course, with e-commerce slowly raising its global head, there were specific sites through which one could order the software and find it shipped to a predetermined destination after a specific time period.

This was all during a time when the majority of people were on dial-up, and half the globe still thought that communicating through continents at a click of a mouse (I know, that term has been flogged to death, but I seriously cannot help it) was something right out of a science fiction movie.

A few years later, along came the bandwidth boom, when no amount of bandwidth was good enough. This was also the time when you could not say that you were on a ‘download limit’ Internet plan for fear of getting that occasional sneer.

More bandwidth also meant more communication, and more communication meant more downloads. Long long ago, when the Internet was mostly accessed through dialup, a 10 MB file would mean nights of chair sleeping, and ensuring that the Internet connection does not go bust in the middle of the night.

Today, a 1GB download file means being forced to listen to streaming video or music for some hours.

This scenario has given birth to websites from where you can directly download whatever software you need, provided you pay for it online via the number of payment methods available today. Basically, there are two types of such direct-download websites:

Company Websites:

All companies providing end-user software have their own website. Their products are listed on these websites and you can directly download them. However, you will get the products only of the company on the company websites. For example, abcPDFreader will not be available on XYZpdfreader.com.

Franchise Websites:

These websites are basically a database of all the software that one is looking for. They either have a mirror site for the software in question, or link to the website in particular. The business plan for these websites differs from Website to Website.

This brings us to free software downloads, which basically mean just that, software downloads that are completely free. No subscription charges and no charges for the software itself. So, all we have to do is to find (he he he) a website offering free downloads of software.

Easier said than done.

Everyone who has been on the Internet today knows that nothing on the Internet is free. Or, in other words, even if the websites do not charge you upfront charges for the software you have downloaded, there will be other ‘terms and conditions’ you will have to agree too, like maybe downloading some toolbar or the other.

Open source software is a biggie in the free software downloads market. Almost all open source is free to use. Today, Open Source Software is available for:

This of course does not mean that there is no free software available on the Internet. Some dotcom companies do offer free software (they do not charge for it), for various purposes like branding. Free software is one of the best ways to advertise. Here is a list of the most popular free software downloads:

Free Photo Editing Software:

There are quite some photo editing software that one can download and use for free. Not only are these software nifty tools to quickly touch up your photos, they also act as a pretty good database of the photos on the computer. Simply put, some photo editing software acts like iTunes for your music collection. They make a list of all photos on the pc, and also offer options to bifurcate and separate these photos. Some advanced photo editing software also allows the user to create their own photo album.

However, for the advanced graphic program users, free photo editing software may not be interesting, unless they wish to look for open source photo editing software. There is some open source photo editing software that is equal to, if not better than the commercial software available in the market today.

Free Anti-Virus Software:

Whenever I come across ‘free antivirus software’ advertisements, I remember that quaint rhyme about the spider calling the fly to its parlor. A majority of free anti-virus software is a scam and a hoax. Here is their modus operandi:

Have the user download the software for free. (they sometimes call it the basic/trial version).

Allow the user to scan their hard drive for any virus, Trojan, malware (this is also the time when some unscrupulous anti-virus can install virus on the computer, yes, this is not a typo).

Come up with a blaring list about exactly how many virus have been settled in the computer, and also inform the user that these virus will now be cleared out.

User clicks. What happens after this is that the user gets a large advertisement which coaxes them into buying the premium version and upgrade from the basic version of the said software.

This is not to say that there is no free anti-virus downloads available. There is some open source anti-virus that is actually better than the much-touted commercial software available today. Then, there are some anti-virus companies that have two versions of their anti-virus software, the home version and the enterprise or premium version. The home version of these anti-virus software is good enough for personal use and is available as free and legal software downloads.

Free Spyware Software:

If hoax anti-virus software was not enough, we have hoax free spyware software. The modus operandi of these software is similar to free anti-virus spyware. And once again, even they have home and premium version of the anti-spyware software.

Free Home Design Software:

Though many people would be questioning whether 3D home design software can actually deliver whatever it promises, all they have to do is to visit their nearest 3D chat or virtual world.

Buying a house is not an everyday affair (I do not know people who buy houses everyday, so pardon me), and people would like to have an exact idea about how their house would look once they have milked all their savings for their dream home.

A few years ago, all that these people could and would get is an artists version of their house, or at the most, a toy imitation of their house. All this has changed with free home design software available on the Internet. This software gives a 3D version of the home. Usability is available from basic computer literacy to advanced animator.

Pros and Cons of Free Software Downloads:

Free software downloads come with their own set of advantages and disadvantages. Here is a quick list of the various benefits and losses of free software downloads:

No Post Download Support: Rarely do companies offer support for free software downloaded from their website. Actually speaking, most free software that is downloaded will be normally beta version, so even if free downloaded software actually erases your entire BIOS, it is something a hardened computer professional will cluck about and move away.

Toolbars, Advertising Software and Other Assorted Mayhem: There was a time when one free software download would result in at least five ‘sponsor’ software. And to make things more humorous one wasn’t even informed that these software, malware, Trojans and virus were being installed on their computer, all for that uber cute screensaver or desktop theme.

Things have changed in the past couple of years though. It is not as much as a risk to search for, install and use free software downloads as compared to say two years ago. Why, a few years ago even going to a website offering free software downloads would download some or the other virus on the computer.

And with the advent of open source, genuinely free software downloads are actually a reality in today’s virtual world.