Handy Honorware

Honorware seems to be a newer term to describe freeware that asks for donations if you like the product.  It’s otherwise not limited in use, like most major companies’ “DOWNLODE FER FREEEE” or “PHREE TRYLE!” marketing gimmicks that permit them to slap the word “free” over everything as long as one small component of use is free.

(let’s be real, though.  This “free” really isn’t)

I’ve been using a few of them for quite a long time, and I finally got up the gumption to donate some funds to the developers.  Most of you probably know of at least one of these three.  The other two may not be as familiar.

Disclaimer: I am linking to these products because I like them.  I am not receiving any kind of stipend or kickback from these product developers.  Contrary to common blog themes of “MONETIZE UR CONTENT!!!!!” it actually is possible to like a product for its own sake and promote it as such.

  • AdBlock.  While we get that many (most) Web sites now depend on ad revenue as one of their income sources, some are just ridiculously intrusive.  I’m not an advertising or marketing major, so I have neither the background nor interest in researching the effectiveness of advertisements through history, but my anecdotal observation indicates that it’s a really lousy source to rely upon for income.  As a consumer, it’s irritating so I ignore them anyway.
  • Greenshot.  Possibly the best screen-capture software ever.  Lightweight, and allows you to edit a screen-cap in its own built-in image editor.  More features than I ever expected, and more than I can adequately describe on this post.
  • Social Fixer.  My goodness, this thing is a blessing.  It’s a plug-in to Facebook that lets you tweak so many aspects of your news feed.  Annoyed by politics?  Get rid of ’em!  Sick of the Trending Stories box on the side?  GET RID OF IT.  Don’t care about where your friends Check In?  GET RID OF THOSE CHECK-INS.  It’s much more robust than expected, so non-tech folks who aren’t accustomed to spending the time to tweak settings may feel a bit intimidated by all the check boxes and options, but if you spend the initial time investment, it’s so much cleaner and less stress-inducing.