The following pages will hopefully provide some useful info about the different types of software available, some is even free.

Whilst you may be a little sceptical about free software, I can assure you that some of these products are of equal quality as software that you buy, only to have to pay again a year later to upgrade to the latest version.

There are 3 main types of software.

FREE

As you would expect there is usually no fee involved. It is fair to point out that some organisations that offer free software also add-in or bundle additional software such as MALWARE or SPYWARE(see SECURITY). This is not always the case and a lot of free software is created by enthusiasts who are keen to show that they can create software comparable to companies like Microsoft.

Click Here for Free Serif Software.

PAY

Pay software is exactly what you think it is. Almost. Almost all software that you buy is constantly being improved. The drawback is that every year or so they push out a newer version of the software, often limiting support for previous versions. Some offer discounts to upgrade to the newer version. In my opinion it is not wise to upgrade straight away. Some companies will offer further discounts only a few months after the new version is published. Also because there is a little bit of pressure to publish newer software, not all the bugs and errors are always fixed. This too can take a few months. Therefore if you must have the latest software I would recommend waiting for a few months to take full advantage of discounts and quality.

SHAREWARE

Essentially, Shareware software is free. Developers of it however usually request that you make a donation to cover the costs of improvements to it. It too can come bundled with Spyware or Malware. Just take care when installing it that you aren’t forced into installing additional programs.