 Looking for some new snazzy software? Consider an open source alternative. If you're unfamiliar, free/open source software (FOSS) is a designation for software that is built from source code (the stuff that programmers write) that is publically available so anyone can copy, modify, and share it with others. (Of course I'm leaving out important details, but for the moment I'll spare you those. Read the Free Software Foundation's Free Software Definition for more).
Why should you use free software? Most people will be quick to point out that you can usually get free software at no cost. It's developed by people in their spare time or as a part of different business models that don't rely on selling software (e.g., Canonical). Of course, no cost is a nice benefit. However, don't overlook that most actively developed FOSS projects are updated more frequently than their proprietary counterparts, they typically leverage more open standards for sharing data and communicating, and their bugs can be fixed more rapidly because technically savvy users are able to provide more detailed bug reporting directly to the programmers.
Of course, using FOSS applications is not always a walk in the park. Many are a little underdeveloped (i.e., don't have as many important features as their proprietary counterparts) and don't have the greatest accompanying documentation. Fortunately, that isn't the case for many of the most successful projects.
To give you a starting point, I leave you with a list of free alternatives to popular proprietary software systems. Enjoy!
- Operating System: Ubuntu GNU/Linux (Microsoft Windows, Apple Mac OS X)
- Web Browser: Mozilla Firefox (Microsoft Internet Explorer)
- Web Browser (for Mac OS X): Camino (Apple Safari)
- Email Client: Mozilla Thunderbird, GNOME Evolution (Microsoft Outlook)
- Instant Messaging: Pidgin (AIM, Google Chat, Skype, etc.)
- Office Suite: OpenOffice.org, Abiword (Microsoft Office)
- Image Manipulation: GIMP (Adobe Photoshop)
- Vector-Based Drawing: InkScape (Adobe Illustrator)
- Desktop Publishing: Scribus (Microsoft Publisher, Adobe InDesign)
- Integrated Development Environment: Eclipse (Microsoft Visual Studio)
See the Open Source Alternative site for more. |
