A Note about Freeware
— Copyright © 2003, P. Lutus
Introduction
The Internet was originally a forum for computer professionals and academics who understood the nature of the medium, many of whom played a part in building it, and who largely accepted their responsibilities. These intelligent and creative people understood that the other people on the Internet were peers, people like themselves who understood creative cooperation.The old Internet had one level, that of human beings, and they posted what interested them. Contemporary Internet users may find this hard to believe, but most of the content was free, and everyone had something to offer (there were no pure consumers).
Today's Internet bears little resemblance to the old one. The modern Internet has become a corporate playground, a commercial free-fire zone, and is about to become one interminable advertisement, an ideal only dreamt of by television producers. The number of users has exploded as well, and the old Internet of cooperation and equality has been pretty much buried in the rubble.
The new Internet, unlike the old, is hierarchical — there are vendors and there are consumers. The vendors are perpetually in your face, and the consumers, like consumers everywhere, behave like narcissistic children — whatever it is, it isn't good enough, give me more.
The new Internet is designed to look as much as possible like television — you watch, then you consume, both passively. This means people only exposed to television's picture of reality don't have to adjust their perceptions or behavior when they log on.
Since the corporate hijacking of the Internet, and after the explosion in users, it seems you can still find pieces of the old Internet, scattered here and there among the hustlers and con men. This site, http://arachnoid.com/ is part of the old Internet — everything here is free, including some very well-known programs. This is a purely non-commercial site — there are no advertisements and nothing is for sale. And, because free Internet sites are now so rare, the status and purpose of this site is causing some confusion among visitors.
Freeware rights and responsibilities...when you download a freeware program, you have some rights, some responsibilities, and you have just one remedy...Click Here... for the full story and learn more about your Rights and Responsibilities in this matter....
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