What are software archives?
Software archives are anonymous FTP servers which can normally be used by anyone with Internet access. The software on these archives falls into three main types. Freeware or public domain software is software which you can obtain and install free of charge. Shareware is software which you can download and use for an initial period of evaluation. If you find the software useful then a small fee is payable to register the package and make yourself eligible for upgraded versions. The third category is updates to software you already use – generally bug fixes or enhancements to packages. Companies such as Microsoft and Apple use anonymous FTP to make this kind of software available to registered users of their software. Actually, another type of archive exists – these are collections of documents, such as literary texts or public records.