Quote:
Originally Posted by Sailor Steve
Should that also be true of game mods? The modders have to get their money from somewhere.
Most free software is created by programmers who do work for somebody, but also hate the "extras" that come with a lot of commercial programs, so they create a better version on their own time. After fighting with Adobe for the longest time I'm glad to find a PDF reader that doesn't infect my computer with all kinds of extra junk. The only problem I'm having now is that Adobe Reader won't let itself be uninstalled, and I can't figure out how to make it go away.
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This is pretty much exactly how I see it. My initial rant was probably a little OTT (And I am biased against Apple thoroughly for my own reasons) but in terms of free versus commercial, what is bundled with your PC should either be included in the cost or freeware. Windows is 'free' in a sense because if you buy a new comp it will come pre-installed already paid for. Imagine if after 30 days windows refused to boot telling you your trial period had expired and you needed to wire £100+ to Microsoft. For me it is the same with internet security/Office suite software. Better the machine came with nothing than a 'trial version' that will expire unless you pay... It is little more than advertising and as such I treat it as junk and remove immediately. If a free piece of software turns out to be crap, so what? If it turns out to be good and you can afford to, then donate. I may at some point in the future decide I would like to 'trial' McAfee Internet security suite, or MS Office 2020, etc... and at that time I will download their trial versions. Until then, leave me alone.
I am not against paid for software, just against pushy marketting which revolves around the fact that a lot of people are unaware that sending a pile of cash to Norton or whoever is unneccessary. There are good freeware alternatives for all mundane computing needs. Specialist stuff it can be advantageous to pay for I.e. Image editing if you are a photographer, Music software for a musician etc... although only because the freeware versions may not quite be up to your specialist needs.
Sorry to hear you're having problems removing Adobe Reader, It is gone from my system now. Foxit works lovely.