Frugal can shop Internet for software freebies

USA TODAY, July, 2008 by Marc Saltzman

Tech junkies looking to pinch pennies in today's economy can scour the Web for a bounty of free software -- for word-processing and photo-editing, online storage and more.

Dozens of downloadable or online-only applications are available at no charge. While many are scaled-down versions of paid programs, you'd be surprised at how feature-rich these freebies can be.

The catch? Some of these applications may be ad-supported and won't offer extensive tech support, if any.

Companies that offer free software are motivated by a range of factors -- from building brand recognition to up-selling users to a paid version, says Michael Gartenberg, research director at JupiterResearch. Some tech companies use free products to experiment with different revenue...