Hunting for Free Programs

Hunting Free Software - a typical day.

I set out looking for a program, a php script most likely would do the job for me, to produce my own webstats instead of using an ouside source as I have been doing for the past year or more.  So I started the day with this as my project and ended up with what I wanted but along the way I downloaded about six promising looking contenders only to have to let each one go and move on to the next.

There comes a point, I have found, when trying out a new program (and I include things like scripts when I use that word) when you realize it's taking too long to make it work so do you continue or do you drop it and move on.  

By yesterday's experience, and, actually quite a few others over the years,  I would advise others to do the same as me, try for a while, to see if you can get it going and do a few very basic common and obvious things along the way but then, face facts, it's not going to work without considerably more time and effort and ditch it.  

Read the ReadMes. Read how to install and setup.

If that doesn't do it then head for the support part of the web site.

It's surprising how many people jump to emailing for answers before actually working their way through those basic means of help first.

One of the things that turned me right off was a reply, in a support forum, where the actual programmer replied to someone who was having the same problem as me telling them to read the something or other file and I thought okay where is it, I don't remember seeing that, and giving the file name (in the message) a click and a hover just in case there was a link there.  And I thought, this guy is having a go at a novice who's asking for help and is ticking him off but can't be bothered to make it clear where this file is that we should be reading. Click, window, gone. Next item...

That is not untypical.  

It's not about who is the stupidest; it's about enabling people to get things done, that's all.  If programmers, like that one who shall be nameless, want to adopt an out of date 'customer service' attitude then give their software a distinct miss - as I shall do in future.

That's a huge shame.  For any individual programmer not to take time and work at 'customer skills' a little.  Being offhand doesn't get anyone anywhere and it is very frustrating. Avoid.

Here's a screenshot of my day's downloads; each one just the beginning of a hair-pulling session.  But, in the end it paid off.  The last download does actually work and very nicely thank you.

 Then there's the posing as free but not really.

"Demo", "Trial", "Shareware", are not freeware and not free - sometimes shareware is okay though, but you're better off giving it a miss and not getting distracted by it.  

Now that is a cruel blow, I know, and I can see head hunters just coming over the hill from that neighbouring tribe but shareware is not free and not freeware so don't put it under that heading.

Another that I have found to give poor results are the products that are being put out by quite big companies that previously charged and now are losing out because of free alternatives.

If their pay-for product was so good then people wouldn't come flocking away in herds to turn to free alternatives instead (as we wisely do here, I think).

So they put out a free version, supposedly.

To be fair, I have limited personal experience. Microsoft with it's Explorer that takes ages to open a folder for goodness sake.  It's worth getting a free alternative just to get over that 'feature'.  Then there's the little clever tricks they pull.  Like having to go online to be able to register to be able to use the ""free"" software.

That stuff is not free.  Okay you didn't part with money but you'll pay for it alright, one way or another, and chances are that you'll end up wishing you handed over some money for something better than keep being played around with like a bird with a juicy worm.

But the search is worth it because there are really great people, developers, programmers, coders, call them what you will (without an F or worse an MF) who actually produce excellent results and give it away genuinely free.

So I am pleased to plug MetStats (www.mecstats.com) the fine work of one Matt Toigo and in case you suspect there is some link, no, I had never heard of him, his site, his program or anything else about him until that seventh download.  

It was plain sailing, I had a couple of little tweaks, but that's fine, I'm happy to do that, as I explained earlier.  And it paid off handsomely.

So if you want WebStats, traffic, visitor details, for your web site then I recommend you use his excellent program.  

Having finally got what I was looking for it gives me great pleasue to share with you the enormous sense of satisfaction I got when I clicked "Yes oh yes, yes, yes".....

By the way,  for those who aren't totally baffled by my choice and what it means, I wanted something that didn't use a database, no MySQL, not that I have anything against the idea but just that I wanted to be able to work with a log file instead for reasons that don't matter here.

The point of this article isn't about my particular software need, that's just my example, as it applies to hundreds and thousands of other pieces of wonderful software that are just sitting there on the web just waiting for whoever needs them to discover and make free use of them.

I think this is my reason for wanting to write this article in the first place, the fact that there is this amazing, wonderful, free resource of generous, creative people putting out their work for anyone to use and with no aim or intention of scamming  or ripping people off and doing it without making people feel bad about themselves just because they ask a basic question.

These are some of the greatest internet, and pre-internet heroes, to me and I applaud them and urge all freeware hunters not to settle for less.

Don't make the mistake of thinking that because it's small and non-glossy and has no bells or whistles that it's not worth using.  Bells and whistles are all very well, options, features and miscellaneous extras may be useful, mostly they're just confusing.

Remember when digital calculators first appeared?  Do you know someone who insisted on having the 'scientific' model?  All the extras including the kitchen sink and bathroom bidet - what's the point if you're not even sure how to use the basic functions anyway and are never likely to try using any of them either; wouldn't the basic model have been a better choice.  Same thing here.  Do you really like launching something like Word for example?  Maybe that's unfair to pick MS again but it's rich enough, they can take it and, well, it's true anyway. Even their web site is bloated and doesn't work very well (I often find). My point is not about poking fun at this but to re direct your interest towards the 'small' programmer, the individual developer especially.

When you make a new find, like I did with MetStats and Matt Togio's work, it makes you feel good about people.  When I try out all the crud and garbage - that proliferates and gets the intelligent attention it doesn't deserve, I feel less good about people.

This is my first article contribution to this web site and I am pleased to add something because this idea, this web site, is really much the same kind of thing as I have been describing, the creative work of someone being made available free.  It's a web site I would have liked to have built myself so it is a pleasure if I have added something that's useful or interesting for anyone here.

Paul E. Coughlin