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Software The Internet

Finding Freeware Listing Sites? 97

Posted by Cliff from the finding-the-nearest-mountaintop dept.
A not-so Anonymous Coward asks: "CNET's download.com has become a 'pay to list' service, so it doesn't make sense to list freeware there, anymore. What are the best alternatives? Also, you cannot post linux software there anymore for any price: 'Note: We are no longer accepting any new submissions for Linux, and we will be discontinuing all coverage of Linux on our download sites shortly.' What is the hard working but generous coder supposed to do?"
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Finding Freeware Listing Sites? More

Finding Freeware Listing Sites?

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  • The answer: (Score:4, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 18, 2003 @04:23PM (#6473917)
    What is the hard working but generous coder supposed to do?

    Start writing Windows shareware obviously.

    • Re:The answer: (Score:5, Funny)

      by leifm ( 641850 ) on Friday July 18, 2003 @04:36PM (#6474045)
      When I was taking VB6, which was unfortunately required for my degree, my teacher was sitting in class one day 'coding' something, and someone asks him what he's doing. And he says with a straight face "I'm writing a screensaver that will display pictures from a directory and after 5 pictures it locks up and they have to pay me $30 to continue using it"
    • Actually, that is the message from Microsoft.
      You *did* know that CNET is in Microsoft's back pocket didn't you?
      Just another attack on Linux from Microsoft.
    • File sharing (Kazaa, Morpheus etc) can be an excellent resource for such a program, the only problem would be filtering through all of the porn and warez.

  • What programs have you paid for ? (Score:3, Insightful)

    by RGRistroph ( 86936 ) <rgristroph@gmail.com> on Friday July 18, 2003 @04:26PM (#6473950) Homepage
    What trialware or shareware programs were good enough that you "registered" or paid for them ?

    Were you coerced into it by nag screens and lack of functionality, or was it primarily good will and the desire to do the right thing ?
    • I haven't found anything lately, but I still use the following:

      UltraEdit - a great lightweight text/hex/programmers editor. Even throw in the upgrade fee every couple years.

      WinZip - a looooong time ago, but my code still works in new version.

      GetRight - similar functionalty is now everywhere, but at the time was better than dropping a file 90% of the way to completion.

      SecondCopy - simple way to back files off of desktops onto a server share where they can then be put on tape.

      I have registered others, bu
    • The free demo of Prism [graphpad.com] from GraphPad Software just completely saved my ass, so I've put in a request to purchase it. Partly because the demo is time-limited and I want to make sure it's available when I need it again, but also just to thank them.

      But most shareware I buy after nag screens. They're probably your best bet for maximizing registrations.

    • WinRar - http://www.rarsoft.com

      Compare It! - http://www.grigsoft.com

      LimeWire - http://www.limewire.com

      Object Desktop / WindowBlinds - http://www.stardock.net

      For me, it was the fact that the above applications performed flawlessly, and fit my needs perfectly.
    • Codetek Virtual Desktop for OS X.

      It performed better than I had hoped, and the price was resonable.

    • Re:What programs have you paid for ? (Score:1, Funny)

      by Anonymous Coward
      Windows 3.1. After that I got an internet-connection. ;-)
    • 1. Textpad. It's a great little editor, though I use vi these days.

      2. BRE - back from my SysOp days. :) ...poor authors... I was too poor to buy anything when I needed to use shareware. Now there's so much libre and gratis software hanging around that I don't need to buy much...

      Though shareware has become much more subtle... if you think about it, Oracle is shareware now. Anyone can download it off Oracle's website...
    • EditPlus. A great little text editor with almost everything you'd need.
    • Powerstrip - but the nag screen is so unintrusive and the software is otherwise 100% functional, so whenever I reinstall, I never bother to even enter my registration code. It is a useful tool that I wanted to support, so I did.
    • Password Tracker - works like a champ. This was before Mozilla came out with password remembering and form filling. For that matter, it still does it better than Mozilla does.
    • Replacement for Windows Explorer. Here [astonshell.com] is their homepage if you are curious. I think I originally read about it in a slashdot comment.
    • " What trialware or shareware programs were good enough that you "registered" or paid for them ? Were you coerced into it by nag screens and lack of functionality, or was it primarily good will and the desire to do the right thing ?"

      Here is a list of the ones I have paid for:

      UltimateZIP - a winzip cline
      Trillian - a mult-IM program
      QueryWEB - automate the publishing of MS Access databases to the web
      VNC - lovely OSS remote desktop program
      Turbo Navigator - Norton Commander-esque dual paned file manager

    • I bought ViewCompanion - Converts HPGLII to just about anything.
  • I hope this is not off-topic, but I've wondered for some time if there is a repository for images which are not copyrighted or otherwise IP-controlled: material made available for sharing. This would include artwork, photos, and scanned historic documents and images.

    Does such a thing exist?
      • Quite the opposite in fact

        http://www.deviantart.com/help/faq/#5.2

        Q. 5.2. Am I allowed to redistribute the art downloaded from here on other websites?

        A. No. All art displayed here is copyrighted to the artist that submitted it and therefore if you desire to redistribute the art you will need to contact each individual artist that you are interested in distributing art from.

        http://www.deviantart.com/policy/agreement.php
        2. Ownership. Artist shall at all times retain all right, title and interest in an
    • Actually Deviant Art [deviantart.com] is really good. They are huge, and I think they are free.
    • other posters to this thread have suggested using deviant art, but you might do well to observe that deviant art by default licenses all those images free for non-commercial use. I'm not sure if this has changed at all though
    • gimp-savvy.com's public domain images: here [gimp-savvy.com]
    • Just came across this today: http://www.freeimages.co.uk/
      From their site:
      About Free Images
      Free images is a high quality resource of digital stock photographic images for use by all.
      All images are free to use on websites and printed materials, Terms Apply
      I mentioned that you should check Phillip Greenspun's creation http://www.photo.net a few days ago but was not logged in (like a newbie) so it posted anonymously.

  • It just occured to me (Score:3, Informative)

    by leifm ( 641850 ) on Friday July 18, 2003 @04:27PM (#6473955)
    yesterday that I have entirely stopped going to download.com for anything. I used to hit that site several times a day. Now I either search for what I am looking for (either app name or what I want it to do) on google or check versiontracker/sourceforge/apple. But I definately use google to find free apps more than anything else.

    • I haven't darkened cnets doorstep since they killed winfiles.com [archive.org], probably the greatest site ever created for win compatible shareware and drivers.

      Not only could you find anything on the site, but it actually had a decent automatic payment system for shareware registration.

      Tucows is probably the closest thing these days.

      • Windows95.com my friend... Windows95.com...

        And before that, Sunsite and just about every public FTP. I remember when wuarchive.wustl.edu used to carry a bunch of pictures as well. Anyone remember why?? None of them were royalty-free (if that was a concern back in those days).

        I use Google nowadays too. I used to frequent CNET for software/hardware reviews, but that was back when CNET had a show on Sci-Fi channel. Since then, software reviews have been stupid and irrelevent to say the least. :(
  • Will list your product, and even help you organize the support for it with mailing lists.
    • I'd recommend sourceforge, unless you are not releasing the source, in whioh case www.linussoftware.org might be a good place to list your software.
  • Well, for open source stuff there is always SourceForge [sourceforge.net] and Freshmeat [freshmeat.net].

  • A few for the newbie... (Score:5, Informative)

    by singularity ( 2031 ) * <nowalmartNO@SPAMgmail.com> on Friday July 18, 2003 @04:29PM (#6473977) Homepage Journal
    A few that some newbies may not have thought about:

    FreshMeat [freshmeat.net], which will do a lot for your Linux software needs.

    SourceForge [sourceforge.net] for GPL software hosting (CVS and bug tracking, even)

    For a more general software needs, VersionTracker [versiontracker.com], which started with Mac software, now lists Mac, OS X, Windows, and Palm software. For anything other than Macintosh listings, though, it tends to be somewhat limited.

    Tocows [tucows.com] also lists a lot of software. I have not looked through their Linux listings, but the Mac listings are pretty decent.
    • SourceForge is evil nowadays. Use Savannah instead at http://savannah.gnu.org/. Remeber SourceForge no longer is free software, so do not support their evil empire actions.


    • Currently lists over 2300 packages, located right over here [gnu.org], and thankfully has a good search engine, because the "categories" aren't that helpful to me. (YMMV)

      The article author didn't say anything about which OSes were being used, so *shrug*.

    • How the heck do I find the Windows and Linux sections of versiontracker.com? I can't find any links to these sections.

    • ans: FREENET! (Score:1, Insightful)

      by Anonymous Coward
      The answer is to upload your file into freenet!

      What does it offer in this situation?

      Automatic load balancing.
      You are guaranteed integrity and validity of origin.

      Freshmeat should add to the meta info for each file, an optional link to the file through your cookie configurable freenet proxy.

      Think of freenet as a distributed application like SETI, where the output is freedom of speech without risk of oppression for everyone running the program.
  • That is still around isn't it? I never really liked Tucows much, but I believe that whole deal continues to exist, although they might charge for all I know.

  • No Linux? What the...... (Score:4, Interesting)

    by Asprin ( 545477 ) <(moc.oohay) (ta) (dlonrasg)> on Friday July 18, 2003 @04:31PM (#6473991) Homepage Journal

    Discontinuing all Linux support? Did I miss something or did sombody BUY Cnet this week?

    Oh, I see the problem now. Take a look at this snippet from the new upload.com web page:

    Welcome to the new Upload.com! Submitting your software product through Upload.com gets you listed in CNET Networks' download library, which delivers 2.5 million downloads per day. The basic processing fee is $79 to list your product in Download.com, ZDNet Downloads, and MSN Downloads.

    Does anyone know who owns Cnet?



    (Yeah, probably a troll, but not really. I'm genuine about the "who owns them" question because it just seems like an odd choice to make, you know, like Netscape announcing they're laying off 50 Netscape developers a couple of weeks after signing the MS agreement that gives them IE for seven years. It's just odd, you know?)

    • the company is CNET Networks, "CNET" on the NASDAQ. The own a bunch of other services. [cnet.com]
    • like Netscape announcing they're laying off 50 Netscape developers a couple of weeks after signing the MS agreement that gives them IE for seven years.

      That's not a coincidence at all. It's like a farmer deciding to grow corn, instead of tomatoes, so he lays off the tomato pickers.

      Why do you pose it like it's some big mystery?
      • Why do you pose it like it's some big mystery?

        Probably because he's been confused by all those court findings against Microsoft using it's monopoly status to forge backroom deals to crush competitors.

        You know, competitors like Netscape?
        • So you're saying that AOL should be required to fund development of a Web technology that they're not even using? Clearly if they opted to go with a Microsoft turnkey browser, they don't need to fund Mozilla. I use Mozilla. I like Mozilla. I have no illusion that AOL is going to provide Mozilla to me for free.
          • So you're saying that AOL should be required to fund development of a Web technology that they're not even using?

            Yeah - Sort of like the way you pay to have a life raft serviced and maintained, even though the ship's not going anywhere this week. ...Or do you really think that Microsoft is going to provide IE to them for free FOREVER?

  • how hard can it be? (Score:3, Offtopic)

    by reaper20 ( 23396 ) on Friday July 18, 2003 @04:31PM (#6473993) Homepage
    apt-cache search foo :)

  • Versiontracker (Score:3, Informative)

    by pv2b ( 231846 ) on Friday July 18, 2003 @04:34PM (#6474021)
    There is Versiontracker [versiontracker.com], which is very popular in the Macintosh community.

    I'm not sure if it's free to list there, but with the amount of low-quality software on there I can image it is.

    Oh, and there's Freshmeat [freshmeat.net] too.

  • Tinyapps (Score:3, Informative)

    by zhiwenchong ( 155773 ) on Friday July 18, 2003 @04:35PM (#6474039)
    Tinyapps [tinyapps.org] has some nice gems for Win32. The collection is not very big though.
  • Who the heck uses CNET for finding free linux software? Who still calls open source software "freeware"?

    Someone just fell off the turnip truck, I expect.

    HINT: The answer you are looking for is a lot easier to find on slashdot than the "submit a story" link.

    • Re:Are you f*ing serious? (Score:1, Informative)

      by Anonymous Coward
      Maybe the person really doesn't mean Free Software, but means no-cost software without the source code. It's still out there, you know.
    • I get the impression the submitter is asking about windows, because as you have pointed out anyone who's used Linux for more than 10 min has figured out download.com isn't good for anything.
  • There are a few nice sites out there for mac software. VersionTracker [versiontracker.com] is the king, but MacUpdate [macupdate.com] is good too.

    Then there is MacGamefiles [macgamefiles.com] if you only want games.

  • Apparently.... (Score:3, Funny)

    by Ummagumma ( 137757 ) on Friday July 18, 2003 @04:39PM (#6474080) Journal
    What is the hard working but generous coder supposed to do?

    Apparently, sell your software.

    *rimshot*
  • FSF/UNESCO Free Software Directory at http://www.gnu.org/directory/
  • Nothing like rolling up your sleeves and doing it yourself. You wouldn't neccessarily have to host the downloads themselves, just link to where you CAN download them.

    The internet used to be brimming with freeware sites. They haven't completely gone away, but they're dissapearing fast. I mean true freeware sites, not shareware sites, or sites with crippleware.

    Maybe it's just me, but I think it's another sign the Net's "free ride" days are over.
  • I've been using Nonags.com [nonags.com] for years.

  • www.nonags.com (Score:5, Informative)

    by michaelredux ( 627547 ) on Friday July 18, 2003 @04:46PM (#6474151)
    www.nonags.com identifies "free" (as in beer) software that has "no nags" (no nag screens or crippled features). they have a good selection of open source software as well as "freely-distributable" (binary only) software.
  • I think the linux community desperately needs a software listing site that focuses on listing quality desktop applications. I am new to linux-on-the-desktop, and the most frustrating thing for me so far is finding quality desktop applications. I want to burn a CD -- how do I know what application to use? What are the top 5 best applications out there? Freshmeat's laundry list approach is useless unless you like wading through hundreds of half finished and abandoned projects.

    Does anything like this exis
    • Well, since you're already using Debian, check out the package listings on the debian site : HERE [debian.org]. Of course, you could also use the dselect utility provided, but I do have to admit, it's klunky when searching for things.

      For those of you not using Debian, this would be a good point of reference as well. Once you find the package you want, you can always do a google for it and find a package/source/tgz for your distro of choice.

      Yes I realize this is not an all inclusive list, but it's better than noth
  • S-A-VE [s-a-ve.de] has a list of software archives [s-a-ve.com]. It's in German, but also has a section of internation sites. Anyway, here is the Google translation [google.com].
  • Has anyone mentioned Tucows [slashdot.org] already? If not it's where I generally look for freeware/shareware. Their listings and mirrors tend to be pretty good, but it was based closed to where I live so not everyone might have as good of luck with the mirrors, I don't really know.
  • was the Stroud's Consumate Winsock Apps page, which later became stroud.com [stroud.com], though I note that it's moved to yet another site. I was using this at least ten years ago. Using Linux these days, I don't go there unless I need to see what's current in Windows freeware for a friend/family/client.

    That site brings back memories... using Trumpet Winsock (then later "twinsock") to get access to the 'net via my college's dialup terminal service. Browsing USENET (pre-SPAM era) with News Express. Using Web Wolf

  • I use this site a lot. Originally it had web related apps, but they have broadened their offerings over the last two years.
    Apps come with ratings, file size, link to the developer home page, and also let you know if the free apps are Adware.
    They have a Shareware section and a Freeware section.

    Submitting info [webattack.com]
    Freeware [webattack.com]
    Shareware [webattack.com]
  • Another O'Reilly service thing that looks pretty cool:

    http://www.osdir.com [osdir.com]

    Just found it myself today while looking around for a good CMS. :)
  • If you have a package in mind, there are few better places to look than RPMfind, use your "local" mirror:
    East Coast [rpmfind.net] (MIT)
    West Coast [rpmfind.net] (Speakeasy)
    France #1 [rpmfind.net] (INRIA)
    France #2 [rpmfind.net] (INSA)

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