About if2a : history and the free software roots

The development of if2a started when Spooo decided to add intelligence to f2a, the original writing software for F2A written by Uli Recht. Later on in Sept 2004, Vince began reverse-engineering the newest generation of F2A (F2A Ultra) to add if2a support for them. Development was then revived, with Vince and Spooo now actively working on it (see the Developers section for if2a's progress and future).

if2a is free software. This means you are free to use it, copy it, modify it and redistribute your modifications to help make it better. To do that, you have access to source code, the "recipe" used to make the software.

Being a free software program has several advantages over Powerwriter, the original writing software :

• your freedom is guaranteed. Thanks to the GNU Public License, you can be sure the sotware will always remain free. You are not trapped into waiting for bug fixes and new features from the software provider. You don't have to surrender your freedom to use the software (ever read an EULA for a non-free/non-libre software?)
• because source code is available, we can fix bugs, add new features and support other platforms than Windows. At the moment, if2a runs on Linux, MacOSX and Windows. It was also reported to run under FreeBSD as well.
• support is active and kicking via the forums compared to the original software. As well, when the F2A carts will age, support will be guaranteed because of source code availability. On the opposite, look at what happened to the old F2AWriter software that has been abandoned since Powerwriter was released...

That's it for the rant ;), we hope you will enjoy if2a as much as we did writing it!