Originally posted by margriet I am using Luminance hdr, freeware program. For the PP I am currently using also freeware, Photofiltre. This is because I recently have a new computer which doesn't have photoshop installed yet.
Allow me to be a little bit of a purist here, I hope you'll indulge me.
LuminanceHDR is released under the GPL license which means it is open-source (also referred to as Free and Open Source Software or FOSS), Photofiltre is released under a 30-day trial download as shareware. Neither of these programs are "freeware".
Distinctions from other software licenses
The Free Software Foundation (FSF) has formally defined the term "Free software" in 1986 and requested that people avoid referring to "Free Software" as "freeware". Members of FOSS community believe that "freedom to use" implies that the end user is free to run, study, modify, and distribute the software with minimal restriction. Also the United States Department of Defense stated in an instruction for government employees and government contractors that the term "freeware" should not be used as a synonym for "open source software".
Freeware is also distinct from shareware; the latter obliges the user to pay after some trial period or to gain additional functionality.[2] Sometimes, the class of shareware produced without a time limit, but with intentionally limited functionality is erroneously referred to as freeware. This "freeware" is easily identified by an option to upgrade for a more enhanced version, e.g.: basic version upgrades to "Pro" version.
Many freeware products are developed by commercial developers alongside an expanded product with more features which is sold for profit. This type of freeware is released as a type of promotion for the other product, which is often based on the same code base with only a compiler flag required to produce the free version. The BBEdit, BBEdit Lite and TextWrangler text editors for the Macintosh are an example of this model of freeware.