Free Information Technology:

What is this Freedom?

K Venkatesh
Author, Marketing of Information Technology
ISBN 978-007-015-2939, 978-007-024-8724
kvenkatesh.mail@gmail.com
 Topics
• Classification of free software
• Understanding each type of free software
• Free hardware
• Free services
• How can IT wares be free?
• Support issues with free software
• Effects on vendors
• Effects on users
• Other issues
 Types of free software
• Time bound
• Unfinished products
• Time limited

• Independent of time
• Component based
• Variant based
• Architecture based
• Usage based
• User type based
• IP based
• Total freeware
 Unfinished free software
• Typically called Beta version in the software jargon
• The product may not have full functionality
• The product is usually buggy (not that the full product is any bug-
free!)
• The Beta product is usually time restricted - at least for giving a
feedback to the vendor
• The vendor usually incorporates the feedback based
improvements only in the full product and not earlier
• The cost and time of software testing is reduced exponentially,
provided the vendor is willing to manage with unstructured
feedback!
• Business goal is to reduce bugs before the product release and to
assess the acceptance of the target users, though other goals may
 Time limited
• Software that expires after a limited period of
usage (e.g., 30 days from the date of installation) -
clean up the OS registry and you may be able to
reinstall and use!
• Software that expires on a particular date - back
date the system and you may be able to use!
• Software that may continue to work even after the
specified licence period is over (e.g., Winzip) and
users continue to use (perpetual evaluation!)
 Component based free software
• Part of the software is given free
• Other part(s) of the software need to be
purchased
• Limited functionality supported by the free
part
• Business goal is to establish a standard / to set
a benchmark / make the product widely
available e.g., Adobe Acrobat Reader is free,
while Acrobat Professional is priced
 Variant based free software
• Product has multiple variants / editions
• The basic product variant is given free
• The basic product supports only limited features and
functionality
• Business goal is to promote the product through first hand
experience and tilting the usage learning curve towards the
promoted product (hook on!)
• Important features / functionality built in the advanced
variants
• E.g., Forte for Java Community Edition was free while
Enterprise Edition is priced product
• E.g., RealMedia player basic product is free while its
 Architecture based free software
• Freedom restricted by technology
• Usually in Enterprise Software, dedicated
client licence of the software is priced while
generic client is free
• Generic client may not support all the features
offered by dedicated clients (e.g., HTTP
browser does not support POP feature while
accessing e-mail server)
 Usage based free software
• Depends on the purpose of using the software
• Typically the purpose may either be application
development or application deployment
• Most software vendors make deployment
products / licences priced while a few offer
deployment licences free and price development
products, e.g., Microsoft BizSpark program
• Usage can also have numerical restrictions - say up
to a certain number of installations / underlying
hardware / number of concurrent users (may or
may not be limited by technology)
 User type based free software
• There are no / few product variants
• The restriction is based on the type of user -
commercial & non-commercial
• Usually individuals can get the software free
while businesses need to purchase
• Pricing for business users is usually based on
the number of users
 Intellectual Property based free
software
• Part or full of the software is given free (may
include source code too!)
• The freedom is restricted to usage only
• All the derivative IPRs rest with the vendor
• Violation of these IPRs can attract litigation
• Propagated by Sun Microsystems
 Total freeware
• Usually distributed under GNU Open licence agreement
• No one legal entity holds the IPRs or their derivatives on
the product
• Everything, including the source code is open
• Usually the creator is acknowledged
• Anyone is free to redistribute the product for free (may
charge a nominal amount for the recording media, product
documentation)
• Any derivative technology / advancement in turn has to be
made public
• Software for societal good! The classic example is Linux
 Free hardware
• Phones
• With pre-paid contracts (often SIM-locked)
• With post-paid contracts
• DTH
• Bundled with subscription
• Will Kindle become free?
 Free services
• Information search, E-mail, Chat
• Ad-supported
• VoIP, Video conferencing
• Ad-supported, free normal quality, priced HD
• Free 2-party conferencing, priced multi-party
conferencing
• Social networking
• Basic account free, priced upgrade, e.g., LinkedIn,
Game sites
 Free services
• Hosting
• Free for non-commercial users
• Priced for commercial users
• Limited period free usage, e.g.,
http://www.indiagetonline.in/ from Google
• Free-to-Air Radio and TV channels
• Ad-supported, public funded, government funded
 How can IT wares be free?
• Funded, government sponsored, charity
• Ad-supported
• Partnership supported
• Offering payloads during installation and uninstallation
• Passing user information and queries, e.g., Ubuntu with
Amazon, Mozilla with Google
• Partly paid by the user, for other bundled product /
service
• Cross-subsidized by vendor’s other services
• Total voluntary contribution for the core product /
service
 Support issues with freeware
• “Users beware” - the vendors carry no liability - user accepts
licence terms before usage!
• In this issue, are priced product vendors any different at all ?
• Users expect free support for free evaluation software and it is a
pain for the distributors!
• For free products from private vendors, even paid support may
not be available on demand e.g., support on www.openoffice.org
• For total freeware, support is a real delight - put the queries in
the user groups and get them clarified in global time - geeks are
awake around the globe!
• Feedback for Beta products may not get incorporated due to
product release expediency
• Issue resolution cycle time is generally lower for total freeware
than vendor provided freeware
 Effects of freeware on vendors
• Positive
• Product usage base increases
• Product usage carries no / minimal liability
• Product can set a standard
• Feedback can improve product quality to make it more robust (lower
cost of product engineering)
• End user evaluation can shorten the product development cycle
• Product can get free publicity
• Negative
• Vendors have to look for alternate sources of income!
• Beta evaluation can fetch bad publicity if the product is bad!
• Unfixed bugs (of beta) in the product may evoke bad publicity
• Absence of free support during evaluation / usage may affect the
product adversely
 Effects of freeware on users
• Positive
• Users need not pay, at least for a while!
• Users can get better software products by participating in the engineering
process
• IPRs may be free - gives freedom to improve the software
• If the basic product or the free usage period suffices the purpose, then the user
need not pay at all!
• Support may faster and satisfactory if the product is a total freeware - even
priced product vendors too are irresponsible at times
• Negative
• Users may get unwanted features (e.g., advertisement banners, tickers)
• More efforts required from the user’s side
• The “free” spirit may lose momentum!
• The product / technology roadmap may not be clear / predictable
• Long time for product maturity
• Paid support too may not be available
 And…
• Freedom may be a teaser – inviting to spend more later
• All free software are some form of promotions - some leading to monetary gains
and some for a mission!
• As a thumb rule, total freeware takes some time to gain popularity (learning
curve / product development limitation)
• If the product gains momentum, corporate vendors jump into action (e.g., IBM support for
Linux, Oracle support to Apache for OpenOffice)
• Vendors may use different combinations of restrictions for limiting the usage
licence
• Usually the infrastructure software becomes free first and then the applications
on them become free - e.g., Linux and then applications like StarOffice
• Hardware vendors may offer infrastructure software free to popularize their
hardware, while more and more software becomes infrastructure over time!
• Product development time definitely shortens
• Quality of software products, hopefully, will improve!
• Monopolistic vendors and bad products may get weeded out...