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Freeware/Shareware Organizations These organizations are the primary spokespersons for the free software and shareware software communities.
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The Free Software Foundation is a non-profit organization founded in
1985 by Richard Stallman to support the free software movement (free as
in freedom), and in particular the GNU project. FSF initially funded
authors to write free software but now employees and volunteers mostly
work on legal and structural issues for the free software community.
The well-known GNU GPL license is also a product of the FSF.
OSI is a non-profit corporation dedicated to managing and promoting the
Open Source Definition for the good of the global community of software users.
OSI exists to promote the idea that allowing programmers to read, modify,
and redistribute source code will create software faster, and of better quality,
than the traditional closed model. OSI also creates generates licenses
for use in certifying software as "Open Source".
SIAF is a non-profit corporation, founded in 1991. It plans and implements
the annual Shareware Industry Conference for the purpose of an exchange of information
between software developers. It also administers the annual peer-recognition Shareware Industry Awards
and the public-recogniation People's Choice Awards.
Since 1987, the ASP has been dedicated to the advancement of shareware, also known
as try-before-you-buy software, as an alternative to conventional retail software.
ASP members work together to improve their businesses while also making it easier
for computer users to find quality software at reasonable prices.
This is not so much an organization as the home for the results of an annual people's
choice awards for freeware. In this case, the participants of the "alt.comp.freeware" newsgroup
vote for "the best of the best in Freeware". The software in the list is referred to as
"Pricelessware", a term given with great respect and thanks to the authors of these programs.