Where have all the free tools gone? - Freeware has become adware/trialware

  • 🐕 I am attempting to get the site runnning as fast as possible. If you are experiencing slow page load times, please report it.
Freeware is a relic of the past. There's still some out there but in 2025 downloading some random disk backup program from Tucows and running it has a pretty good chance of getting your system scanned for bitcoin wallets or browser password caches. And even if it doesn't, it opens you up to the threat of it happening every update to every third-party program. It's rarely worth it when power users can just open a bash terminal and use an open-source alternative. Realistically you're not going to read the code anyway so you're just as fucked but it feels more correct
 
  • Agree
  • Like
Reactions: King Vidiot, baws man jack, Pee Cola and 1 other person
I've been getting everything from rutracker for about two decades, almost never had a reason to look somewhere else. Games, movies, books, software - pretty much anything anyone ever might need is there, just add "eng" to make sure that you're not downloading something that's only in russian. I've seen english-speaking people using rutracker, even noticed several youtubers (maybe Null?) having it bookmarked and they're probably autotranslating its pages to know where to click.
skachat.webp
Also I've met people who are too dumb to use torrents and no matter how hard you try to teach them step-by-step, they still go back to just googling "download photoshop for free" and downloading every "photoshop_for_free.exe" until bricking their PC.
 
  • Winner
  • Like
Reactions: Pee Cola and herefortheactualthreads
ringtones said:
Realistically you're not going to read the code anyway so you're just as fucked but it feels more correct
Click to expand...
Think of it this way: you would rather have the source code and be able to read it than need to read it and not have it. It also increases the likelihood that whatever software you get accustomed to using will always remain free.
 
  • Like
  • Agree
Reactions: Lord Xenu, Geddy Lee's Fee and See, Pee Cola and 1 other person
Squishie PP said:
Think of it this way: you would rather have the source code and be able to read it than need to read it and not have it. It also increases the likelihood that whatever software you get accustomed to using will always remain free.
Click to expand...
Finding malicious entries in source code is also as easy as pressing ctrl+f if you know what keywords to look for. You don't even need to know much about coding to do it.
 
  • Like
Reactions: herefortheactualthreads
I don't think I've ever paid for any kind of software tools. Like ever. What do you want to do that you can't find a free tool for? Unless it's some kind of specialized professional software, there's probably a free tool available.
 
  • Like
Reactions: herefortheactualthreads
There is a heavy difference in how software is produced these days, and the difficult employment market probably contributes as well. Free software takes passionate developers who contribute their time, and I think that market is becoming increasingly focused. Desktop software is not the standard anymore. Consumer-facing software is mainly web-apps, they're much easier to maintain. Those web-apps have hosting costs, and thus are more inclined to have some monetization mechanism. The developers who develop for local platforms seem to heavily favor clis these days. Its easier to build and often is preferable for the people these devs interact with (other devs). Is there really any motivation to produce free desktop software for normies that won't even appreciate or use it? There is a greater segregation these days than there used to be.
 
  • Thunk-Provoking
  • Like
  • Feels
Reactions: Lord Xenu, herefortheactualthreads and Combustion Engine
Demonslayer1776 said:
Those web-apps have hosting costs, and thus are more inclined to have some monetization mechanism. The developers who develop for local platforms seem to heavily favor clis these days. Its easier to build and often is preferable for the people these devs interact with (other devs). Is there really any motivation to produce free desktop software for normies that won't even appreciate or use it? There is a greater segregation these days than there used to be.
Click to expand...
Correct. Sadly, the choices in the future will be:
1) Become a poweruser and learn to do stuff like use a terminal or even switch to Linux
2) Be good little niggercattle and pay subscription fees in order to do basic tasks on your own computer
 
  • Like
  • Agree
Reactions: Gender: Xenomorph, Elysian, Lord Xenu and 1 other person
We Are The Witches said:
A good example is Adobe stuff.

:waifu: I have my pirated version of Photoshop so I don't have to deal with this nonsense.
Click to expand...
I recommend Photopea for anyone who wants Photoshop. It has a (non-disruptive) ad but
  1. It's a great and high-effort tool that you're getting for the fair price of a janny's salary, so they deserve a pass.
  2. You can resize and reposition the browser window to block it out so that it's not distracting.
  3. Adblock gets rid of it and they only politely ask you to turn it off if you go this route.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Hellwalker, Lord Xenu and herefortheactualthreads
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back