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The Freeware Hall Of Fame

[Updated history from BBS days]

WHAT IS IT?
We are a GUIDE TO FREEWARE, a sorted index to FREE programs and databases commonly found on the Internet and on public access Bulletin Boards around the world. The programs on this list have been tested and found to work as described, and to be worth downloading.

The list includes Freeware, $0 Shareware and Public Domain software. These are programs and databases for which no fee is required for use by you as an individual. Freeware, Shareware and Public Domain are terms often misused. Since they matter to us, correct definitions are given below.

Most of the programs we listed in our published GUIDE were found on our BBS. We encouraged sysops everywhere to download them. Our Guide also encouraged readers to call their local Boards, not us. We still make available packets of Freeware so users and Sysops can grab a pile in one gulp. Those can be downloaded by FTP from here.

We also have available for download from this site two DOS versions of one of the best Bulletin Board platforms ever written, PCBoard. Everything is there to start your own BBS, everything except support for the program. Publisher Clark Development Company has been out of business for years. But there are plenty of former PCB sysops around to help the newcomer.

You can see and download that from our current FTP list.

WHAT'S NEW
We add new entries when we find them. Some are uploaded to us at the Hall by their authors and some we bring down from other Boards around the world.

WHO'S IN THE HALL OF FAME?
Among the most prominent people in the computer world, past and present, are those programmers who allow us to use their programs at no cost. Writing software and distributing it via Bulletin Boards with no request for payment, they enable everyone to share the fruit of their knowledge, the benefit of their discoveries, and the spirit of generosity that defines a person's character.

NAMES
In the circle of Great Freeware Writers for their output and quality are names such as Douglas Boling, Bruce Guthrie, Raymond Kaya, Ward Christensen, Robert Vostreys, Frederick Volking, Michael Mefford, Keith Graham, Keith Ledbetter, John McNamara, David Daniel Anderson, and the writer who gave us CED and so much more, Chris Dunford.

GRATITUDE
The Freeware Hall of Fame was founded in 1989 to honor these people and to encourage other programmers to follow in their footsteps. The list of files is never complete. It will grow every week as we attempt to catch up with the hundreds of fine people who represent the hobby side of the PC world, and the generous side of human nature.

AMONG THEM
are some of the best programmers in the profession, software writers sought after and employed by the most advanced governments and industries in the world. The Freeware they write on their own time [cough] commonly reflects the highest level of concept and execution.

DO YOU OWN A GUIDE?
Our Hall of Fame GUIDE is the only published guide devoted exclusively to Freeware. It has the only list of freeware writers ever compiled. For two years after publication in 1995 we sold it at computer shows and by mail order for $20. If your name is in it we'll send you a copy for free. Just email your name and address. Anyone else in the world can buy a copy for $5 or the equivalent. We'll even share with you the great book reviews the Guide picked up.

WHERE YOU FIND THEM
Our files are indexed to make these programs easier to find, but locating the current version in a file index can require a search. A program's archive package containing all the components is commonly named with an abbreviation of a program's actual name, often adding a version number to that.

For example, the excellent free version of Mustang Software's off-line reader Offline Express is named OLX-TD21.ZIP. A file -name- search for "Offline" even using wildcards won't find it. You have to hunt and peek through the Board's file index or ask the sysop what the latest version is named.

SEARCH
Some file searching programs make the search easier by allowing us to search for keywords in the file description. On a PCBoard, for example, entering

Z KEYWORD A
should reveal every instance of KEYWORD in the Board's file descriptions. The full generic file name always appears in a file description if the filelist is created properly.

For example, you will not find Raymond Kaya's DIRX (a file manager for compressed files) listed in a file index. The index name for the archive packet is DRXxxx where xxx is the version number, and that changes with every update. But the Z command will find the program's name, DIRX, in the file description.

FREEWARE DEFINED
Freeware as used at the Freeware Hall of Fame refers to programs or databases for an individual to use without payment of money to the author. Commonly the author will copyright his work as a way of legally insisting no one change it prior to getting his approval. Commonly he will issue a License defining the terms under which his program may be used. With Freeware there is no charge for the license. In the 90s the term Copyleft arose to describe this.

Copyright does not equate to a user fee, but it gives the owner a legal right to charge one. Freeware authors don't exercise that right, or they exercise it selectively. In some cases a program will be free for personal use but require a paid license if used in any other context. The FHOF includes these.

PUBLIC DOMAIN
Other Freeware is in the Public Domain, which means the author donated his work to the public and retains no ownership rights. No fee can be required for the use of PD programs, though a humorous request for author support might drift into his documentation.

It is a curiosity of our copyright law that things placed in the Public Domain can later be taken back by the author and copyrighted. Bizarre but true. Intellectual property right law gets pretty strange.

COPYLEFT
Partly for that reason something called "Copyleft" arose to provide free software that must remain free. Not only is the program free, but so is the source code so others can debug, change, improve, and customize it. Improvements must also be Copyleft and free for others. The Free Software Foundation is the leader in that movement.

WHAT'S NOT FREE?
Shareware is not free. Shareware is fee ware, commercial software sold on the "try before you buy" plan. It's like testing a car for a few weeks to see if you like it. If you keep it you're expected to pay for it.

Shareware began when two authors of freeware discovered that users would register with them in order to be advised of updates. The cost of that led to registration fees, and that grew into fees imposed if you continued to use a free program after trying it out. Most Shareware released today requires a fee for use.

The term Shareware is not a programming term. It is a marketing term. Using Shareware marketing, many superb programs are made available at far lower cost than software marketed in competing ways such through retail stores, on-line sales, or mail-order.

$0 SHAREWARE
There is one form of Shareware that is free for individual use. Authors usually call it $0 Shareware. It meets our definition of Freeware for individuals and is included in our collection.

DEMOS
Something free but not Shareware or Freeware is software demos circulated to file providers. A demo is a program that will stop working or cause problems on a PC if used beyond a trial period. They are the product of commercial software authors asking the Shareware community to market their products for free.

Demos guarantee a user must pay for the program if he wants to use it, which some authors find attractive. Every demo represents a product that might have been Shareware, but isn't. Demos are a threat to the Shareware concept and for that reason most Bulletin Board sysops refuse to carry them. Demos are commercial; there's no sharing involved. They should be (but aren't) a source of income to sysops who ought to be paid a marketing fee to carry them.

Aside from demos The Freeware Hall of Fame endorses ALL forms of Shareware because it makes good sense for software users and for software authors trying to earn a living. Here's why.

SHAREWARE ECONOMICS
Retail marketing means higher price than Shareware for the same functionality. The higher price comes from the mark-up to cover packaging, distribution, marketing, and a profit at each step of the way. Buyers pay for those but they add not one line of code to what the author wrote.

Production, flashy packaging so it can be seen on the shelves, advertising so we will hear of it, and direct mail marketing to get it included in the store inventory - those are major chunks of the sales price of commercial software even if the software is sold at deep discount. Everyone who adds something also adds to the cost of what the author produced. The end buyer pays for all of it.

No economies of scale, no mass production, can alter that. They cause bloated prices which only competition keeps in check. Since the competition also has those built-in costs it's not much of a check from the buyer side. No matter how deep the discount, merely the cost to sell through retail channels means they can never approach the value pricing of Shareware. Absolutely impossible.

With Shareware the only one paid is the author. There is no advertising, no packaging, no marketing. Distribution is donated free by file providers, by surfers passing uploads around, and by Shareware disk distributors through their catalogs. The savings translates to rock-bottom price for software that is commonly as good as or better than what's found in retail or on-line stores at higher cost.

Beyond that, retail and Internet stores today often do not offer equivalents to Shareware and Freeware programs because there aren't any commercial equivalents. The success on the Internet of Shareware and Freeware forced commercial publishers to retrench and stick to large, extensively promoted packages. And even for those programs there is Shareware and Freeware. Not uncommonly Shareware and Freeware is better than the most heavily promoted retail product but that's something you have to prove for yourself, as others did.

There are other advantages to distribution by Shareware. For example, the software can be updated and improved at any time, and distributed on short notice - overnight - and at no cost. This means shareware authors are usually the first to be in step with advances in new hardware, first to take advantage of new Windows updates, first to close security loopholes.

Software at retail and on-line stores with security issues is commonly sold at close-out prices for months after the security leak was publicized. The retailer bought it. He can't return it. He's not going to throw it away. He's going to discount it and sell it. That can never happen with Shareware.

WHERE ARE THESE FOUND
Both Shareware and Freeware are available all over the Internet and on the few dial-up Bulletin Boards left. Each has its own system of indexing. The Freeware Hall Of Fame BBS maintained two sets of Directories. Odd-numbered Directories are Freeware, even-numbered ones are Shareware. It's a novel Directory structure.

PIRACY
Programs sold through retail stores are never available on Bulletin Boards or Internet sites, but that's like saying lawyers and politicians are never dishonest. The statement is true only if you overlook the bad apples. The FHOF BBS wants no programs that aren't supposed to be here, and screens programs carefully. Should something slip through that shouldn't be here, we expect callers to tell us. All callers including first-timers can see and access ALL our download directories.

SHAREWARE DOWNSIDE
Shareware always asks for a fee for continued use of the program and the author says so, usually in a professional way. A few authors aren't professional and show that when discussing payment. They lose sight of the users who pay and fixate on those who don't. In their docs they insult you, look pathetic, and damage the Shareware industry.

Shareware works on an honor system in a world where there is more Shareware than honor. Not every author can handle that, and some respond by displaying their own personal failings.

CRIPPLED
They will cripple the Shareware. You get only a limited version of the program until you buy it. They put delays and more than one payment request in the program which only go away when you purchase a registration number. Some simply quits working if you don't buy it soon enough.

Some Shareware gives you bonus features when you register which some people resent. They extend the term crippled to include Shareware that doesn't have all the author's bells and whistles. That's an extremist position. We think true bonuses that come with registration, such as adding extra functions as QWKMail creator Mark Herring of SparkWare did, are a legitimate business gimmick. Shareware IS business. Getting people to pay is no easy task.

Some Shareware authors have no head for business. We found one in Roanoke, VA, who offered a $100 reward for the name of anyone using his $10 program who didn't register it. We wonder how many people called to turn themselves in and claim the reward.

Perhaps the most damaging thing in Shareware's history were the few authors who were unreliable or dishonest. We've seen examples of each. You sent your registration money and they never responded, or responded months later.

Two well-known Shareware writers were legendary for not following through on registrations. Buyers threw good money after bad phoning their "support Boards" asking for a registration key and never hearing a thing. That's gone now. They were destroyed.

In fairness to their callers, BBSs carried cracking programs for that software to allow paid-up but unsupported buyers to crack registration codes and get the fully working program they paid for. Of course non-payers also used these crackers and the income of those two authors dropped to nothing, for which they can blame themselves.

FREEWARE
isn't like that. The author might suggest as one did that you take him to dinner (he named this Dinnerware), and another suggests you take your spouse out to atone for the time you spend at the computer. One German author asked for a picture postcard if you like his program. Now several authors do that.

Freeware authors often show a sense of humor. They also frequently provide the source code so other programmers can customize the program and build on it.

VIRUSES & TROJANS
A file containing code put there by a sociopath to cause damage to others can't harm anything until the program is run. For this reason, Bulletin Boards like FreeHOF run the latest State-of-the-Art search and destroy virus/trojan checkers over every new file before making it available.

Many viruses and trojans can't be spread by a BBS. For example the Michelangelo virus once so prominent in the press is only spread by booting an infected diskette, and BBSs don't use diskettes. As insiders know, Michelangelo tended to spread through brand new shrink-wrapped retail store software.

Some viruses are introduced when disks go through mass duplication during manufacture. Open the shrink-wrap, run the program, infect the computer. Brand new pre-formatted disks can be infected that way, since even a "blank" formatted floppy contains hidden room for malicious code any programmer can learn all about. Disks sent out by businesses such as advertising agencies should always be virus checked before running them. These companies have no intent to harm. They don't know the master disk is infected. They don't check.

Because Bulletin Boards are nearly the ONLY industry to check everything for viruses and trojans they became the single safest source for software. We can protect callers from getting damaging downloads. Only the caller can guard himself against infected diskettes.

We recommend running a virus check on every floppy placed in a drive no matter where it came from. Anti-virus programs can do this automatically. Failing to can be a disaster.

It was a popular networking consultant who spread a virus in our town a few years ago, doing great harm to his clients. They turned on their computers March 6 when Michelangelo activates and promptly lost everything on their harddrives. Among his clients was the community's free medical clinic which lost its patient records. Afterwards, he STILL refused to scan his diskettes. This was revealed to his clients, his successful business evaporated overnight, and he left town.

There are thousands of recognized virus strains and new ones appear every week. Fighting them and the sociopaths who write and intentionally distribute them has created an international industry of virus fighters. The best anti-virus programs are equipped with retrovirus code to combat viruses designed to disable anti-virus programs. Some virus checkers have a heuristic mode which allows searching for code strings which act like virus code. These programs can find a new virus making an appearance for the first time.

It's all a massive waste of resources, as only mental defectives and war can waste resources. Fortunately, there are excellent Freeware anti-virus programs.

BACK TO US
To gain entry to the Freeware Hall of Fame a program can be discovered by us or nominated by someone. Anyone may nominate a program and we encourage Freeware authors to send us their programs.

The only requirement is that the software or database be free for personal use and run on DOS or Windows (any version.) Program Demos and crippled programs are not eligible.

NOMINATIONS

are made to the compiler of this list.
We need to know 4 things:

1. Author name
2. Software name
3. Brief description of what the program does
4. Where we can download it

CALL THE HALL
We can be contacted by email at the URL at the bottom of this page

 

To return to the FreeHOF Home Page click here.

The name Freeware Hall of Fame is Service Marked by Rey Barry (rey at cstone.net)
All rights reserved
Page last updated May 25, 2009