How do I tell whether programs are commercial, shareware, free, etc..?
This is another very common request I got, and one I’ve been more or less able to implement. You may have noticed the dollar sign ($) in some of the circles to the left of the program listings. (Depending on your video resolution they may just look like squiggly white things, but you get the idea). These designate programs that will cost you money. The criteria for assigning a $ to a program is a little subjective, but hopefully consistent. If the current, fully functional, Linux version of a program, for personal use, requires a monetary payment of some kind, the circle gets a $. This sounds simpler than it is. With shareware licenses, commercial licenses, evaluation versions, beta versions, split licenses, freeware, GNU, and public domain licenses, things can get pretty convoluted in a hurry. A couple examples may help clarify things: A program, let’s call it “N”, has fully featured, untimed versions available for download. For a number of operating systems the publishers of “N” expe
