There&#x27;s a lot of really cool tools out there, and I&#x27;ve noticed many of them for Windows are still closed source, even if the publisher seems to have no business, no advertising, or apparent monetization model in mind. I think for Windows programs, that&#x27;s mostly because open source isn&#x27;t often assumed to be a goal.<p>I use NirSoft&#x27;s tools from time to time, and I think a lot of people seem to agree they&#x27;re pretty reputable. But a lot of times when I see a post for a new tool that&#x27;s free, but not apparently open source, my instinct is to wonder if there&#x27;s a catch.<p>A networking or system management tool that isn&#x27;t open source could potentially be mining the network information I input and sending it elsewhere. I don&#x27;t know if there&#x27;s any significant number of common cases where that&#x27;s ever been found in previously assumed to be decent tools.<p>Should we assume free tools with no ads have a catch if they aren&#x27;t open source?
Ask HN: Should we assume “free” apps that are closed source have a catch?