Shareware and freeware are only a phone call away. (alternative sources of software offer inexpensive access to thousands of programs)(EDN-Technology Update)

EDN, March, 1992 by Small, Charles H.

Unlike business and recreational software, you hardly ever get something for nothing when it comes to electrical engineering software. The lack of engineering shareware and freeware is surprising when you consider the altruistic torrent of free programs that flowed among engineers upon the advent of programmable scientific calculators in 1974.

Inexplicably, as electrical engineers do more and more of their work on computers, they don't seem to be sharing software. Instead, engineers must pay high prices for commercial versions of the specialized software they need to do their ...