Little remains free
Free software is wonderful. Imagine finding the perfect tool for your task, and not having to leave money on the table for license fees. Go GNU, etc. Except that for those who have to live in a world with Windows, there’s a dirty little secret. More and more companies are monetizing their gift to the world, by signing deals with the dark side.
If your preferred web browser has started to look like the above freak of freeness, you’ve learned the hard way that your eyes are for sale, even if you don’t actually hang a sign on the front lawn. I’ve been “setting up” new computers at work, and that involves my own version of value added. Some amazing software is out there for those with budget rules; you just have to install with due care and attention.
On my fav list, I include Winzip and Ad-Aware and Irfanview. Somewhere along the interroute, these packages started to adopt toolbars that offer an opt-out box if you keep alert during installation. Fair enough. But why would a firm as large as Adobe need to follow this same pattern of entrapment. The “free” Flash and Shockwave players also come with toobars from Google and Yahoo. Today, I almost let an offer from Symantec slip through when a phone distracted me from the game of beat the installer.
Yes, you can install most of these after the fact, but more and more spyware uses the same “infection vector”. Beware, friends; the definition of free has been distorted.
