freeware

legal Software, often written by enthusiasts and

distributed at no charge by users' groups, or via the

World-Wide Web, electronic mail, bulletin boards,

Usenet, or other electronic media.

At one time, "freeware" was a trademark of AndrewFluegelman. It wasn't enforced after his death.

"Freeware" should not be confused with "free software"

(roughly, software with unrestricted redistribution) or

"shareware" (software distributed without charge for which

users can pay voluntarily).

Jim Knopf's story .

[Jargon File]

(2003-07-26)