Posted on 07/18/2006 2:53:00 PM PDT by dangus
Free Software? Perhaps you've heard of the Open-Source software movement, but thought maybe they were cheap, college-student-written, "Brand X" knock-offs. Maybe you presumed the only people who could use such programs wore pocket protectors and broken bifocals. Or maybe you had recent experience and found the installation too confusing, with "targzs," incomprehensible "readme files," etc.
The open-source movement has come of age, armed with self-extracting files, crossplaform capabilities, and extensive documentation. (That means you simply download the program, and it installs itself; it works on any operating system including, yes, Windows --not just UNIX -- and it teaches you how to use itself.)
The software is in many cases superior to the expensive commercial versions:
Programs use up far less memory, drive space, and processing power.
There are more features.
Documentation is simpler.
Error messages are meaningful.
They are less likely to cause problems interacting with other products.
Here are some of the best:
OFFICE SOFTWARE: OPEN OFFICE
REPLACES MICROSOFT OFFICE, including WORD, EXCEL, ACCESS, POWERPOINT and PUBLISHER.
Hands down, a superior product to Office. Take for instance image editing in Writer, the equivalence to Word: Simply click on the image, and you can set contrast, brightness, gamma effects (washout vs. overstain), tint/hue, etc.
The elements of OpenOffice work seemlessly together, and have many more features. MS Office allows conversion of its programs to HTML pages, but OpenOffice includes all sorts of HTML features, such as dialog boxes, drop-down boxes, etc. Because the programs are so much lighter, they initialize much faster than MS Office, take less drive space, and consume less memory and processor time; and you switch from one component to the other nearly instantly.
Truthfully, MS Office has loads of features many people don't know about, because it doesn't present them to the user. There are some weaknesses: the icons for the various components look too similar, so they aren't great for the Windows taskbar. The database program is fine for most Access users, but lacks Access' ability to create fully functioning executables.
Most impressively, you don't need to know how to learn OpenOffice from scratch. Its menus, dropdown boxes, and methods are the same as MS Office... except it has more features. (Hey, don't feel bad for Microsoft; they ripped off Lotus, Novell and Corel.) You can output to .doc, .xls, and .ppt formats, but also to additional formats, such as .pdf.
GRAPHIC DESIGN: GIMP
REPLACES: PAINT SHOT, PHOTO SHOP, DRAW, etc.
Quite simply the best. Better than Draw. Better than any of the Microsoft products. Better than PaintShop Pro. I've been totally frustrated by having to switch graphics design projects between programs, because each excels at a given task. At each task, however, GIMP is as good or better than any commercial program.
BROWSER: FIREFOX
REPLACES: INTERNET EXPLORER
The most famous freeware program of them all, Firefox is literally the heir to the Mozilla program, which once made Netscape dominant. Whereas Netscape has disappeared, Firefox is rapidly gaining market share against Internet Explorer. The only knock is that it has to be initialized, taking a few seconds; Microsoft initializes Explorer on startup, while you don't know why you're waiting. Internet Explorer 7 is desperately trying to catch up with Firefox, but it's clear who's leading the way.
E-MAIL MANAGEMENT: THUNDERBIRD
REPLACES: OUTLOOK
Thunderbird simply does what you tell it. Tell it to shut down, and it does, unlike Outlook which remains active, so trojan viruses can continue using your computer as a launchpad, infecting all your friends' computers, or simply 1000s of random strangers'. Plus, Outlook is simply a much larger target for virus developers (although Thunderbird is so similar, it doesn't make as huge as a difference as it might.) Junk mail processing is simpler, as is accessing files from outside of Thunderbird or Outlook. Apart from these issues, the Outlook and Thunderbird are remarkable similar.
WEB DEVELOPMENT: NVU
REPLACES: DREAMWEAVER, FRONT PAGE
Dreamweaver is still the best. NVU falls short of Dreamweaver 3.0, and the combined Adobe-Dreamweaver merger may present awesome synergy, if done correctly. But NVU is a professional Web-Development package which is easy enough for beginners. Like Dreamweaver, it allows for Templates, dynamic web sites, multiple graphic packages, code snippets, extended internet languages (i.e., XML, JavaScript), tabbing between coding and WYSIWIG (graphic interface) design, and style sheets. This IS the real deal.
As for Front Page, NVU is infinitely easier to use.
VIRUS PROTECTION: CLAMWIN
REPLACES: McAFFEE
The first to market seems quite satisfactory. Lacks certain features, like anti-spam, but I hated the way anti-spam add-ons work; I much prefer to let my e-mail manager do the spam scan. There are certain other products which are free for personal use, such as AVG, and many ISPs offer built-in firewalls. (AVG is not free for commercial use.
MEDIA PLAYER: AUDACITY
REPLACES: REALPLAYER, WINDOWS MEDIA PLAYER
Realplayer is the world's most successful spyware/trojan virus, infecting tens of millions of users, who haven't realized its a highly trusted program which is grinding their operating system to a halt. Many might be horrified to learn what RealNetworks is learning about them. Windows Media Player simply is very limited in use. Neither allow for recording, like Audacity, which is a full-bodied sound-editing system that is as light as the useless MediaPlayer.
Firefox is great, when it's not consuming memory and taking 90% cpu time.
Bump for later
I've found that it usually doesn't take more than Internet Explorer. Unfortunately, you don't have a choice not to duplicate system resources; you're running IE whether you want to or not. If you're finding your CPU is being hogged, the problem is with the source, not the messenger. ESPN.com's automatic streaming media content, for instance kills my old laptop. Try adjusting your settings to have control over what is running.
Another issue I've seen is certain viruses get embedded so that they are reported like a function of your browser.
Did a little research: IE may be better at sharing resources, or "backing down" at competing for microprocessor time. If you are sure your computer is virus free, try this:
Hit Ctrl-Alt-Delete to open your task manager.
Click on the processes tab.
Right-click on the Firefox browser.
Click on the "priority" tab.
Set the priority to lower.
When you have multiple applications competing for processor time, this will make Firefox yield time to more applications.
I tend to have many tabs open. It regularly is using 250M and 80-90% CPU. Have to close it often, and then after closing, go to the TaskManager and kill it.
REPLACES: PAINT SHOT, PHOTO SHOP, DRAW, etc.
Quite simply the best. Better than Draw. Better than any of the Microsoft products. Better than PaintShop Pro. I've been totally frustrated by having to switch graphics design projects between programs, because each excels at a given task. At each task, however, GIMP is as good or better than any commercial program.
Total and complete BullS**T! GIMP's interface sucks hardcore period.
I'm virus free. So is my computer. I'm runing McAffee Security Center. Seems to work.
Perhaps rather than screaming obscenities, you might want to state what you didn't like about the interface. Was it the multiple windows? I got used to multiple windows when I started using Dreamweaver, but I recall that they did bug me a bit.
Making it's name apropos.
GIMP better than Photoshop?
ROTFLMAO
yes, multiple windows.. but thats not all, the menus are terrible and doesn't have the power of Photoshop
Check this out it was made by one guy and supports multiple platforms... you can download a trial version..
IF your using Windows give paint.net a try free
http://www.eecs.wsu.edu/paint.net/
If you want to try some Beta software try out Microsoft Acrylic(Expression Graphic Designer)
yea, i see people try to claim that Gimp is better than photoshop all the time.. drives me crazy..
I just bought WinXP Pro Sp1 OEM, 150 euros, for a new configuration. Asus p5p800 + pent d 3.2 + 250go hd. I like open source, but WinXpProSP1 is just to good, efficient, reliable, fast, everything. And at that price, why bother pirating it? Bravo, MS for bringing down the price.
why didn't you get SP2?
MEDIA PLAYER: AUDACITY
REPLACES: REALPLAYER, WINDOWS MEDIA PLAYER
Audacity is SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO much more than RP & WMP.
Not even close.
have you tried Windows Media Player 11?
I did, just a typo.
oh good. :)
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