What do you think about my blog?

Sorry for not updating for sometime.

Today I will share you some stories about software. Note it is based on my opinions and experiences, and may or may not be reliable.

Did you know that most free software now includes adware bundles like Ask Toolbar and Opencandy? Well this is more of a warning than a story. Yep it is true. KMPlayer, Utorrent, and many more software now has Ask Toolbar. IZark and PZip now has Opencandy. So just be careful on installation, read every screens, not be too rush.

And the number of free software+bundles is increasing, while the number of truly free software without any bundle is on a decreasing trend. Things like KMPlayer or Utorrent may have a free version without bundles, but they’re very old and outdated.

The factor is, programmers used some kind of web host and needs to pay, let’s say, $6 a month. Since these programmers don’t really have a lot of money, and they can’t survive without making money, so they have to join up with adware companies and bundle the adware in order to earn some money. They know that donations didn’t work, because not many people click on the donation button. The truth is, these programmers are just a normal computer users. Their ISP probably did not allow web hosting, that’s why they have to rely on third-party web hosts.

Open source is also a great alternative to freeware, but most are outdated and development on these projects has stopped. CamStudio is one such example. The last full version dates back to 2003. But at least CamStudio has a new beta versions as of 2007 and 2010, thus making it some kind of in the border of inactive development and stalled development. 7Zip is also in the border of active development and inactive development. There are in fact, very few actively developing projects. Firefox, Openoffice.org, and KeePass are the ones I know of that are in active development.

Commercial/shareware seems to be the best option, but the prices are mostly too high, especially for poor people or people in developing countries. Even a $19 software will costs like a lot for them, me included.

I think these factors are ultimately a development issues. As you might know, development didn’t spread evenly throughout the world. Some parts are very poor and some are very rich. There is a huge gap between the 2 worlds. Since people in developing or poor countries did not have money to buy such commercial software like me, they have to resort to torrents. It can take up to days, but it is worth waiting.

This is also true for operating systems, especially Windows. Windows 7 is now extremely expensive and is out of reached. Most people can buy only Home Premium. Some can’t buy Windows 7 at all, they have to stick to Windows XP or whatever version they had; this could be as old as Windows 95. Even if they want Windows 7 they have to wait for a 2GB torrent to finish downloading, and they have to find a good activator and avoid the stupid KB971033 update.

Luckily in the world of antivirus this is more calm. Most free antivirus has enough features and protection for average users in developing or poor countries. Extra features, like intigrated firewall, spam protection, and identity protection is often not needed for these users.

To summarize, free software that is truly free is now dying, and being replaced with packages bundled with adware. So, if necessary, you may donate to your favorite free/open source project to keep its development. Commercial software will of course be the last thing you could depend on, but they’re often too expensive. These factors are the result of unequal distrobution of development throughout the world, and should of course be fix.