Yes, it is perfectly legal to download software from the Internet.

But this legality is bounded by the location of the user who is downloading the software.

If the user is in a home network which is not bound by corporate laws and security policies of companies, then yes as long as the user is aware of the consequences of downloading and using the software, he/she may download it.

But, if the user is bound by corporate laws and security policy of a company, it might not be always legal to download software from the Internet based on the company laws and policies.

There might be acceptable usage policies present in the company that governs the user of information system of the company and there might be restrictions on downloading non-permitted software from the Internet.

There are different types of software that are available:

- Freeware: Users are free to download them and use them as long as they wish to do so.

- Shareware: Users are free to download them but are only allowed to use them for a specific number of days or hours. Once the allowed time period is over, the users need to pay a fee to continue to use them.

- Licensed (Commercial): Most probably users wouldn’t be able to download them as they would need to buy the licensed copy of the software. If in case they are able to download the software, they are not allowed to use them until they are in a possession of a valid license to use the software.