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DESCRIPTION
Freedom is an application that disables wireless and ethernet networking on an Apple computer for up to three hours at a time. Freedom will free you from the distractions of the internet, allowing you time to code, write, or create. At the end of your selected offline period, Freedom re-enables your network, restoring everything as normal.
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WHAT'S NEW
Version 0.5.1:
  • Feature request: Save the time period as default
  • Feature request: Allow for freedom session restart at end of Freedom session
  • Unable to support feature request: Save default button choice. AS does not allow addressing of button by variable.
REQUIREMENTS
Mac OS X 10.4 or later.

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SCREENSHOT

Developer:Fred Stutzman
Downloads:2,060
  - Version d/l:914
Utilities:Network
License:Free
Date:02 May 2009
Platform:PPC/Intel
RATING
***½.
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Freedom User Reviews (6 posts)Write A Review
sort: smiles | time
Apr 28 2009
*****

ALEXIUSCA  Works as advertised. Anything more complicated and the procrastinators would spend an hour fiddling with it instead of working!  
(Version 0.5)

praisebury
+4
[ Reply ]
Apr 23 2009
**...

ODYSSEUS   This has the potential to be a very useful program, but its fundamental operational principles are not well-documented: when you specify the amount of time you want to be internet-free, you are not specifying a countdown, but rather the actual amount of time your computer will be used before networking is restored. In other words, if it is 2pm when you specify 2 hours, your computer will only have networking restored at 4pm if you've actually used your computer for 2 hours during that time. Since sleep does not count toward computer usage, you never know exactly when networking will return.

When I inquired about this, the developer replied that this was a design decision and would not be changed. The program should accommodate both the current approach and a simpler one, where the user specifies a time interval during which networking isn't available (say 2-4pm). Since the developer is not responsive to this need, I would not contribute money this project.  
(Version 0.4.1)

praisebury
-2
[ 1 Reply - Reply ]
Replies:
Apr 28 2009

ALEXIUSCA  "Since that man did not give me his sandwich, I shall not be his friend"  
(Version 0.5)

praisebury
+1

Nov 25 2008

JOHN LOCKE  I think this could be useful with kids..."No internet till homework is done!" Maybe it needs to go up to 8 or 9 hours so parents can say "No internet while I'm gone," since it's nice to be able to supervise internet use.  
(Version 0.3)

praisebury
+3
[ Reply ]
Jul 10 2008

ODYSSEUS  This only temporarily affects networking and doesn't permanently alter any files, does it?  
(Version 0.3)

praisebury
0
[ 1 Reply - Reply ]
Replies:
Jul 10 2008

MACUPDATE ADMIN  The description states:

"Freedom is an application that disables wireless and ethernet networking on an Apple computer for up to three hours at a time. Freedom will free you from the distractions of the internet, allowing you time to code, write, or create. At the end of your selected offline period, Freedom re-enables your network, restoring everything as normal." (emphasis added)  
(Version 0.3)

praisebury
+1

Jul 9 2008

LESSIG  Fantastic idea. A bit flakey in its implementation (better to have a count down till when the lock is removed). But lots of psych data supports the idea that tiny blocks can change behavior significantly.   
(Version 0.3)

praisebury
0
[ 1 Reply - Reply ]
Replies:
Apr 22 2009

ODYSSEUS  Exactly. Better to have a countdown. How does it work? I launched Freedom 0.4.1 at 2pm and told it stop all networking for 150 minutes (2 1/2 hours). Just before 4pm, I put my MacBook Pro (late 2008) to sleep. I woke it up at 5:45, expecting to have networking restored. It was not restored, and I had to restart.  
(Version 0.4.1)

praisebury
0

Jul 8 2008

RICH K.  hi great program but my 10.5.4 system is telling me: the ZIP is 1.3 MB. the unzipped DMG is 10 MB and the final program is 604kb plus 4kb for the read me. I dont understand the numbers but it feels odd.   
(Version 0.3)

praisebury
0
[ 1 Reply - Reply ]
Replies:
Mar 9 2009

KRIONI  Those file size are typical. A standard read-only disk image created by Disk Utility is about 10 MB, even when the application and README are less than a megabyte combined. However, the developer could make a Compressed Read-Only disk image, which would then make the disk image about the same size as zipping that 10 MB standard disk image, and, unless their web server cannot serve DMG files directly (doesn't know the MIME type so web browsers try to load it as text and see gobbledy-gook instead of downloading the file), make zipping the disk image unnecessary.

Strangely, many developers don't know about Compressed Read-Only disk images.  
(Version 0.4.1)

praisebury
0