david meissner

Free Software

Date: []
Categories: [Software]

I’m suspicious of free apps and services as a general principle. I prefer to pay a reasonable price to a reputable developer or company for the things that I use and rely on. A free service often has to make money through advertising, and I really dislike advertising, especially the scam-infested nightmare that is the Internet advertising ecosystem.

But there are free services and apps that I have found valuable and have come to trust, to a point. It’s always possible for a supply chain attack to compromise an app, as has happened in the past with Handbrake and others. Or an app can be taken over by a commercial entity with different priorities, as happened with Audacity. It’s important to be vigilant about the apps you use, and pay attention to changes of ownership or policies, and to security alerts affecting a service or app.

It’s also important to support good free apps financially if possible with one-time or occasional donations.

These are the free apps and services that I use.

Web

Desktop Apps

Tablet Apps