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The Freeware Hall of Fame Enters Its 20th Year (freewarehof.org)

Posted by EditorDavid on from the two-decades-of-DOS-(and-Windows) dept.

After our story about the ongoing development of FreeDOS, long-time Slashdot reader reybo shares another valuable resource that's been "All free, all the time since 1984": Younger FreeDOS users may not know of the Freeware Hall of Fame, a source of old DOS freeware some of which is on-line 24/7 at www.freewarehof.org . This file base of free programs was begun in 1984 to help small businesses enter the world of computers. It became an international file base distributed to BBSs around the world via floppy disc until Bobbie Sumrada in Memphis gave it a home on CHEERS, her premier BBS.

The entire history is on the FreeHOF web site. Also there are downloadable copies of PCBoard, one of the great BBS platforms of all time. Anyone can create a dial-up BBS with this to see what they were like, so long as they have a DOS partition for it. I think MS DOS is also there to download, version 5.n or 6.n. Something you won't find at this site is games. FHOF never distributed games.
"No Flash, no Java, no goddam rollovers..." reads one page, which notes that in the mid-'90s they were picked as one of the world's 25 best BBSs by Boardwatch magazine.

18 of 41 comments (clear)

  1. Not really supported by Billly+Gates · · Score: 2

    I ran it in a VM and was disappointed with it's lack of vmware driver support. I won't bother running it on hyper-V as a type1 hypervisor uses more native hardware drivers.

    Dosbox is a little more modern

    --
    http://saveie6.com/
  2. Nice website by 110010001000 · · Score: 1

    The website is so retro. It looks like my Geocities page.

    1. Re:Nice website by lucm · · Score: 1

      the person who wrote that huge block of text and picked those fonts, colors and graphics lives in an enchanted land.

      --
      lucm, indeed.
    2. Re:Nice website by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      I was expecting it to be part of a webring...

    3. Re:Nice website by WalrusSlayer · · Score: 2

      Not to mention the retro attitude towards Shareware, which was novel back in the day but is now more-or-less how most commercial software is distributed. As a former Shareware author myself, which morphed into a more commercial version, the vitriol is puzzling, especially in this day and age.

      People back then were used to buying software as if it were a physical good: you got a book, media such as floppies or a CD, and perhaps a box to put it all in. But by golly if that same software was something you could download alongside items that were free, then it damned well better not cost anything either! How dare an author try to recoup development costs, at the same time they give a potential customer the ability to actually try out the software before committing to buying it?! The nerve of those guys!

      This seems to have evolved into folks who think that all software should be available at no cost, economics be damned, and those who appreciate that there is a FOSS option alongside a more traditional business model (with a much improved distribution system)

      But I digress. It was just striking to see the old school hate posted on the site. I guess it is a blast from the past in more ways than one...

    4. Re:Nice website by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      It will be, but right now, it's under construction.

    5. Re:Nice website by LWATCDR · · Score: 1

      Today it seems like the only software people are willing to pay for are games, super expensive high end tools, and Microsoft Office. Everything else people expect for free.

      --
      See my blog http://ilovecookes.blogspot.com/ for light hearted technical information.
    6. Re:Nice website by tlhIngan · · Score: 1

      Not to mention the retro attitude towards Shareware, which was novel back in the day but is now more-or-less how most commercial software is distributed. As a former Shareware author myself, which morphed into a more commercial version, the vitriol is puzzling, especially in this day and age.

      People back then were used to buying software as if it were a physical good: you got a book, media such as floppies or a CD, and perhaps a box to put it all in. But by golly if that same software was something you could download alongside items that were free, then it damned well better not cost anything either! How dare an author try to recoup development costs, at the same time they give a potential customer the ability to actually try out the software before committing to buying it?! The nerve of those guys!

      This seems to have evolved into folks who think that all software should be available at no cost, economics be damned, and those who appreciate that there is a FOSS option alongside a more traditional business model (with a much improved distribution system)

      But I digress. It was just striking to see the old school hate posted on the site. I guess it is a blast from the past in more ways than one...

      Funny enough, I remember those days. I also remember Mac users were probably the biggest enthusiasts of shareware - so much so that it remained a viable business model well beyond the demoware/crippleware era on PCs.

      It seemed Mac users embraced it heavily that the honor system remained viable (i.e., you had the full thing...). I don't know the reason behind it - did Mac users have very little software so anytime someone released anything, they opened their wallets?

      Of course, I also remember it on the PC side where if it said shareware, you looked for cracks and keygens to activate. Of course, the PC BBSes I dialed into were treasure troves of copyright infringement with the latest games and applications often posted within days of release. Shareware releases were always interesting on those - for the shareware version would get posted, then immediately below it, the full version. And even the serial numbers and such. Perhaps the rarest of all was the BBS that DIDN'T have pirated software on it - it was just...expected.

      There were two that had Mac stuff. One was run by the Mac user's group, the other was a primarily PC BBS but allowed Mac uploads in a separate file area

      Still, the attitudes was quite distinct.

    7. Re:Nice website by WallyL · · Score: 1

      That site hurt my eyes! Oh my word.

      Also, does he remind you of the timecube guy? http://www.freewarehof.org/myt...

  3. 20th Anniversary by SeriousTube · · Score: 1

    DOS must have strange years, 20 years since 1984.

    1. Re:20th Anniversary by fustakrakich · · Score: 1

      Y2K thing. Or it's Intel's fault...

      --
      “He’s not deformed, he’s just drunk!”
  4. Dialup was real P2P by fustakrakich · · Score: 1

    I wish we could do the same with DSL

    --
    “He’s not deformed, he’s just drunk!”
  5. Oh My God, Really? by Frosty+Piss · · Score: 1

    That web site... 1990's GeoCities... Really? You know what's missing? Headlines with the FLASH tag...

    --
    If you want news from today, you have to come back tomorrow.
    1. Re:Oh My God, Really? by Tetch · · Score: 1

      get it right

      Pfh! .... The kids these days ... everything's gotta happen so fast for them ... they speak before they've finished thinking, and before they've finished speaking they've moved on to the next thing because apps.

      Back when we were on dialup everything was so slow we really made sure that 120 byte file was right before starting the zmodem upload cos it all took so long and phone bills were so high^G5S2%^^^&%NO CARRIER

      --
      If you don't pray in my school, I won't think in your church.
    2. Re:Oh My God, Really? by cdrudge · · Score: 1

      You know what's missing? Headlines with the FLASH tag...

      Well, the homepage explicitly states 'No Flash, no Java, no goddam rollovers."

  6. Free, but no source by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Since source distribution was never part of the DOS culture, most of these programs are just garbage, poorly documented and impossible to fix bugs or make to work on a more usable OS.

  7. No Jazz Jackrabbit? by ausekilis · · Score: 1

    No deal.

  8. Re:What a shame... by Jawnn · · Score: 1

    ... To think it will all have to end next year, when TTIP and TPP outlaw freeware forever.

    [citation needed]
    Mind you, I'm not defending TTIP or TPP, but please...