I was just looking over a press release for a new affiliate tracking software, AffPlanet.com, and the claim in the headline of their announcement caught my eye.

Their press release proclaims that they are the "World's First Free Professional Affiliate Tracking Software". Interesting. Provocative. False.

Back in 2000, a guy named JB McKee started up an affiliate tracking software called FreeFiliate, which was later branded as Fusion Quest.

I mentioned FreeFiliate in "Successful Affiliate Marketing for Merchants" (p. 194):

FreeFiliate is a free affiliate tracking service that is Web based - no downloading required - and is full featured, fully functional, and easy to use. This service is supported by sponsor advertisements, and there is an option to pay a setup and monthly fee if you want to not have the advertising on your pages.

It looks like the AffPlanet.com business model is pretty similar to the since abandoned model of Freefiliate. As George Santayana once said, "Those who cannot learn from history are doomed to repeat it."