Replacing Expensive Windows Applications with their Open Source Alternatives
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Background
Everyone has heard the hype about Open Source software and how it can help your home and office. Well now I'm here to back up some of that hype. I am going to attempt to detail my process of replacing all the Expensive Windows Licenses with alternative programs that has been developed around open standards. If the reasoning for this isn't obvious yet I think it will become apparent as you get through this article.
Goals
At the end of this discussion I hope you will have enough information to decide if open source software could help you in your particular situation. I imagine with all the users of the internet quite a few particular situations must arise. The reasoning for me was simple. I was at the point in my life where using pirated software was not an option, then again neither was being able to afford to buy the software I required. Lucky for me I'm not the first person to run into this problem.
Licenses I couldn't afford
Adobe Photoshop
My work requires that I have the ability to professionally edit and manipulate layer based images according to industry standards. For this everyone in the industry turns to Adobe's Photoshop. I wondered if there was anything better out there?
Adobe Professional PDF
When presenting or emailing documents to colleges I needed to be able to send stuff in a universal format. Whenever a document has finished its editing stages and becomes permanent I prefer to ship it around the web via pdf. This is a very universal format that allows everyone to view the document how I intend it to be seen. If only webpages were as universal!.
Microsoft Office
In order to make documents according to industry standards this calls for Microsoft Office. This suite of applications includes a word processor, spreadsheet, database creator, e-mail application, and a professional publishing sweet. All very useful tools in the typical office environment.
Anti-Virus Software
Gotta keep your computer safe from all those baddies. For this your going to need a corporate anti-virus suite to protect all your users from the malware that infests our interweb. Well thats the theory anyways. Symantec and their competitors have been making the big bucks scaring us all into thinking these things.
Burning Software
How else are you going to make backups if not for that trusty cd/dvd burner of yours. Of course you can't just buy a piece of hardware and expect it to work with your computer. You have to also buy the software so you better head over to ahead's site and grab the latest and greatest copy of Nero. Cause well surely no free program could burn something to a cd properly.
Website Publishing Software
Once I'm done processing images with photoshop I need to put them onto the web. Doing some quick searches will probably reveal that Dreamweaver is the defacto standard for getting this task done. This program allows the user an interface for interact with a webserver in many different ways. He can use it to build his website from scratch or to simply edit a couple files and change some content. It also supports logging into his websites ftp account and uploading his changes upon completion.
Photo Cataloging
Now that I have a complete library of edited photos I'm going to want organize them so I can find them all later. Most people use the built in program that comes with their camera to get pictures off and onto their hard-drive. After that step all they can probably tell you is that they are on the computer somewhere.
Instant Messaging
For instant messaging on the windows platform you need a plethura of IM clients. Most people probably could raddle of an email address at the following providers: yahoo, microsoft, google, aol, and i'm sure I'm missed a couple. So you have to go out and download each of those individual clients so that you can connect to each of the networks and manage your contacts. What a great user experience?!?! I realize these programs don't cost you anything but I put them in this list because its such a cumbersome experience they mine as well cost money.
Open Source Alternatives
Gimp
GIMP is the GNU Image Manipulation Program. It is a freely distributed piece of software for such tasks as photo retouching, image composition and image authoring. It works on many operating systems, in many languages.
Open Office
This Open Source office suite is sponsored by Sun as well as many other contributors. It started out with many different roots but continues to grow into a product that I have no trouble offering to the public as a valid alternative. Granted it does almost all the things you need to do with your office applications there will be some differences in how you get the tasks accomplished. If this is something you can live with or would like to try out before buying an expensive commercial alternative then your quest for an alternative can stop here.
AVG Free Advisor
AVG Free is the most popular free solution available at no cost to home users and provides the high level of detection capability that millions of users around the world trust to protect their computers.
InfraRecorder
InfraRecorder is a free CD/DVD burning solution for Microsoft Windows. It offers a wide range of powerful features; all through an easy to use application interface and Windows Explorer integration. InfraRecorder is released under GPL version 2.
Aptana Studio Community Edition
Aptana Studio Community Edition is the free, open source Ajax and PHP development environment with over a million downloads that makes developing web pages fun again. This edition comes with optional packages to support Adobe AIR, iPhone, and Ruby on Rails development to integrate Ajax applications with emerging technologies. My only beef with Aptana to date is with their recent release of Studio edition it doesn't support sftp. For me this is almost a deal breaker. I don't think that I should have to pay for their premium package just to get the best security when communicating with my servers. This only stands to hurt their users. So for this I give them a spank and a minus 1.
Picasa
Picasa is a free software download from Google that helps you locate and organise all the photos on your computer. It can also help you edit and add effects to your photos with a few simple clicks.
Pidgin
Pidgin is a multi-protocol Instant Messaging client that allows you to use all of your IM accounts at once. Pidgin can work with: AIM, Bonjour, Gadu-Gadu, Google Talk, Groupwise, ICQ, IRC, MSN, MySpaceIM, QQ, SILC, SIMPLE, Sametime, XMPP, Yahoo! and Zephyr.
The process for installing Expensive Applications
I think the most annoying part about buying expensive applications for most average computer users is having to deal with all the hassle getting passed the security measures put in place to stop people from stealing the software. Things like 52 digits cd keys and autheticity codes just confuse most normal users. Most attempts at installation end in frustration and a call to their local computer tech which in turn costs them more money. Now I can hear you all rolling you eyes and sighing for me making the comment that an average computer user can't install a piece of software requiring a cd key but remember you guys reading this aren't average computer users.
The process for installing Open Source Applications
Usually I begin at http://www.google.ca and start with a search for the application I'm looking for. This will almost always give you the Open Source Projects home page. From their venture to the download link and download the installer to get started. There are almost no Open Source apps that require you to go through the fumbling around of the commercial products. I say almost no because I'm sure there is some douche bag out there who can think up one (already thought of vmware server moron... anything else?). Anyways.
HEY IM STILL WORKING ON THIS ONE!!! STOP LOOKING AT IT!!! YEAH YOU!!! .... HAHA JUST KIDDING!
