subject: How Does Freeware And Shareware Help Computer Operation? [print this page] Freeware is copyright software which is given free by the author. The copyright remains with the author, that restricts you to do anything, which is not set by him. These are free but not for sale. It can be downloaded from the net and are usually intended to be applied for personal use and not for commercial purpose. The software notifies its restrictions. There is also several risk involved as the code of the origin is available in the internet, it can be modified, edited and updated by other programmers than the author.
The disadvantage of using freeware software is that the software may not be upgraded by the author. There may not be any updates and modifications as will be required from time to time. Therefore it becomes useless after a period. What Is More the author may not provide you the technical support.
On the other hand shareware is software, which is available in the internet and is offered to the users on a trial basis for a specific period. The period may vary from 15 days to two months. Money is to be paid to retain the software. These downloads are normally available from the authors website and also from software download sites. Once you have decided to retain the software and after paying the charges as required you can register yourself with the author and receive periodical updates and also technical support, if required.
The trial edition can be copied and circulated, but the trial period is stipulated. The recipient of the trial version will have to pay for registration and use the software permanently. Many authors stipulate period for the use of the software and many permit only number of usage. You have different types of trial versions provided by different authors. Most of the authors permit you to use the complete version of the software, and many authors hand you only a part of the software for your rating.
The shareware and trial software are the same except for the terms. In the trial software the biggest advantage is you can try the software for a assigned period and appraise its functioning before buying it. This method can be used in many other software; to analyze and conclude which software best suits your requirement. The major profit which you get from shareware is that it costs less than the software available in stores. This method of marketing is being adopted by many vendors.
