It seems like everything you find related to computers has to be payed for now. Its getting to be ridiculous. Free good software has become almost a foreign concept it seems. I remember not too long ago (please dont make me feel old) that programmers gave out most of their software for free and the only programs that you had to pay for were from the major software corporations, and people stuck to earning money with their JOBS. But now if Joe Schmoe takes 5 minutes to write a PoS tic-tac-toe knock off in Visual DEFY (do everything for you) you have to download a 10 day tryout of it where you can only use /'s and half Os until you buy the retail for 99cent? I guess theres nothing we can really do about it but I just felt like ranting after my recent search for some extra fonts.
I went looking for a good pack of fonts to add to my collection since I reinstalled windows and had very few. I initially searched for "download fonts" only to discover that now you had to pay for 90% of the fonts online. Ok. So I had to change my search to "download free fonts" only to find that most of the "free" sites just linked to other sites where you had to pay! There were even some site charging almost $200 for their font packs. I mean come on its just a font. I remember doing the same search about 5 years ago and not only were all of them free but people were practically begging for you to download their free software or fonts. I had the same problem when I searched for some free online strategy or multiplayer games. Haha. With the exception of the highly rare open beta, suffice it to say, not gonna happen. I've also noticed lately that alot of the software that used to be free, are no longer this way with the exception of their trail versions, try versions, and the oh so popular adware versions. Some good examples of this: Winzip, Winamp, CPUCool, AIM (yup it has adware), DeadAIM, WeatherBug (haha), 3dMark, FilePlanet, etc etc etc.
I definitly understand people wanting to profit from their talents (I sure wouldnt mind a penny or two for my artistic exploits). But doesnt it seem like its going a bit far?

Excellent point... I've kept installers for Winamp 2.91, a 2-year-old version of AIM and DeadAIM of around that vintage simply because they're better than the latest version. Don't even get me started on how bad Winamp 3 was... Thankfully there are still some useful free things, such as AdAware and Firefox.

Concerning fonts: good fonts are actually very difficult to do correctly, so the author of an original font should be given due compensation for the work. It's nothing like slapping together a small VB app. I once purchased a single font family which cost over $230.

Concerning free software: I've found this to be true of Windows applications for some time now. There is a different community "creed" among Windows programmers than among those for other OS's (Linux and Unix for instance). All the software that I have installed on my (regularly used) computers is free. =D In fact it's difficult to find stuff that isn't.

very true, linux programmers are still giving away not only binaries but code for free, but it looks to me as tho they are similar to early windows programmers. I think if linux really took off, which it is, they will convert to the same ideals, no? Alot of college students use linux and these are the same ones promoting free and open source software. As for the fonts, I guess to make a large collection like adobes with +2000 fonts it would be difficult, but I wasnt looking for anything that large. And the same fonts I was looking to download, I got for free in the past. It wouldnt be a problem, but I am a poor college student. I cant afford a +$200 camera, let alone +$200 typography.

BTW: I think the free version of Adaware still hides some functions. But I think they are uneccessary

concerning time and effort for fonts
the authors of all of the images on caedes put alot of time effort (and even money) into building these wallpapers, probably alot more so than the creators of the size of font packages that I am looking for. If they can give their work for free, so can these font authors, no?

You can try here for some free fonts :)

its all good, I got what I needed, just felt like ranting, and happened to be browsing the boards ;)

lol..Ok, glad you feel better :)

SourceForge and GNU softwares. For GNU it's most Linux stuff but the fact remains is that there are plenty of free open source softwares out there...it's just they are free and so they don't advertise, therefore you never see them. That's why if you find something awesome in freeware it's important to spread it. :)

That's an interesting idea (that currently Linux programmers are the same as the early Windows programers). That might be depressing if you thought that it implied that the Linux (OSS) community was destined for the commercialization that Windows has seen, however I don't think that will be the case. The early Windows programmers didn't have something as powerful as the GPL behind their "free" software. Also it's quite possible that many of the old windows programmers have just moved to Linux. Granted, there will be more commercial applications for Linux as the platform becomes more popular. Just think, I know of many great OSS applications that started on Linux and are now also offered for Windows (Gaim, Gimp, apache, mozilla, openoffice,etc.)

good point
I'm sure liscencing makes a big difference. In early windows the best programmers would do is add a readme.1rst files that said Hi I am Joe Schmoe I wrote this and please donate to me if you like it alot.

Honestly, you can pretty much thank Microsoft for the use of proprietary software. Because of them and their rediculous prices, tons of companies can pretty much do the same.

If you want free fonts, I defy you to do better than this site that Frelu put me on to: http://www.dafont.com/en/

aww.. sam i was just about to post that address.. thats my favorite place to find fonts..
that and the companies 4k+ fonts to choose from :P

does anyone know of a free website design program?

text editors seem to work well with alot of people here :-p

No guarantees but I bet this tops the site Sam put up...

http://www.1001freefonts.com/

sams site had +4500 fonts, all free
your site also links to other places where u have to pay
get out there and try harder!!! hehe

bah, no line breaks allowed in signature

lol,
i'll keep looking...
haven't hit the end of the internet yet