Free at Last, Free Forever?
In the early 1980s, PC World’s founding editor, the late Andrew Fluegelman, developed PC-Talk. It wasn’t just the best computer communications package of its day; it was also the first important freeware, distributed via user groups and online bulletin boards. Next came shareware, which worked on the honor system. Developers offered a free tryout but expected a small payment if you used it. At the time, these movements appeared so powerful that I predicted a disk of software should eventually cost no more than a phonograph record–about $5 back then. I even declared, half-jokingly, that software might one day be subsidized by advertising. Lucky call. Not only has software moved down the price curve toward zero in the ensuing years, but so have hardware and services–in what has to be the greatest giveaway in history. What a wonderful world for cheapskates! Even Microsoft has followed this trend, since Bill Gates would rather give stuff away than have it sold by competitors. So Windows
