Sunday, April 18, 2004

Freeware, at what cost?

I just had an interesting experience at http://www.toniarts.com, A site that provides a "free" system cleaning utility which came highly recommended on a newsgroup that I frequent. Easyclean, the software in question, is listed on that site has being freeware but before you can download it, supposedly for free, you have to pay a 19.95 membership fee.

Now don't get me wrong, I have no objection to somebody making money through their web site. Indeed, I make my living through my web site, but this particular tactic seems to me to be just a little bit silly. I buy a lot of software online and when a piece of useful software has a fair price tag I'm more than happy to pay if I believe it's going to be worth the money. Sometimes, I pay just because I think the person or product needs the support.

I certainly won't be buying this particular piece of "freeware"

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