< legal > Software , often written by enthusiasts and distributed at no charge by users' groups, or via the World-Wide Web , electronic mail , bulletin boards , Usenet , or other electronic media.
At one time, "freeware" was a trademark of Andrew Fluegelman . It wasn't enforced after his death.
"Freeware" should not be confused with " free software " (roughly, software with unrestricted redistribution) or " shareware " (software distributed without charge for which users can pay voluntarily).
Jim Knopf's story .
[ Jargon File ]
(2003-07-26)