Freeware is proprietary software that is available for use at no monetary cost. In other words, freeware may be used without payment but may usually not be modified, re-distributed or reverse-engineered without the author's permission. Two historic examples of freeware include Skype and Adobe Acrobat Reader. Freeware, although itself free of charge, may be intended to benefit its owner, e.g. by encouraging sales of a more capable version ("Freemium" or Shareware business model). The source code of freeware is typically not available, unlike free software and open source software which are often distributed free of charge.

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