[Info-vax] Freeware (was: Re: Editors, was: Re: VT keyboard replacement)

[Stephen Hoffman]

On 2021-11-12 01:53:38 +0000, Craig A. Berry said:

> ...it's the place where stuff like that has always been found since the 
> time when there was only one kind of stuff.  There has not been a new 
> freeware CD in quite a few years and no one calls open source freeware 
> anymore or releases software on CDs. But the old releases have some 
> good software under a variety of licenses, which were always carefully 
> included when available.  So stop trying to pick a fight with people 
> who were volunteering their time to help other people give away 
> software under whatever terms were considered appropriate at the time.


OpenVMS Freeware History, Errata:

First Freeware distro was around 1995; roughly a quarter-century ago.
Most recent (and possibly the last?) Freeware distro was V8, shipped 
with OpenVMS V8.3.
Mix of GPL, BSD, MIT, and various other licenses, generally with the 
source code included, and with binaries for various DEC closed-source 
and/or proprietary apps and tools.
It was also used as an archive for some older DEC documentation 
including for DECnet, and some other materials.
The pricing (free) was the goal for all eight of the Freeware distributions.
I don't know who came up with the Freeware name, nor how DEC management 
was convinced to spend the money on the media and distribution costs.
Unrelated app packages from other nearby parts of DEC included the Open 
Source Tools and the Internet Products Suite.
Among the more memorable mastering moments: a text editor included on 
the Freeware was flagged around concerns around export controls 
compliance for munitions, though was found to be in compliance.
Whoever might ship a Freeware V10.0 gets to figure out how to rework 
some of the names and labels. See the [Freeware] directory, etc.



VSI Freeware website: https://vmssoftware.com/community/freeware/



As for the Freeware name, this from the local 2021-era dictionary:

Freeware
noun
Software that is available free of charge.





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