Finding free software
Dear PropellerHeads: A friend of mine has Linux installed at home and he's always gloating about how he never pays for software any more. I'm not ready to make that jump yet, so as a Windows user, what can I get for free?
A: You mean, besides viruses? Ha! Sorry, we couldn't resist... You're right, though, it does seem unfair. Why should long-haired, Linux-loving hippies be the only people who get their software for free?
By "free," I also mean "no strings attached." This rules out demoware (which expires), crippleware (which has features removed) and nagware (which constantly begs for money). Even by this definition, there's still a lot of free software available for Windows users.
For example, there are several free alternatives to expensive office suites. One of the best is OpenOffice.org, which can replace Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Access - all gratis. It can even read and write Microsoft Office files, so you can use it to open documents sent from your suddenly-less-hip, still-paying-for-software friends. Or, as you can now call them, "suckers!"
Office-dwelling cubicle monkeys aren't the only ones who can benefit from free software, though - it's got you covered at home, too. The GNU Image Manipulation Program (or GIMP, at gimp.org) is a costless stand-in for graphics tools like Adobe Photoshop, and holds its own when it comes to retouching photos or creating your next digital masterpiece.
If the GIMP is overkill for your particular project, Paint.Net (getpaint.net) is a scaled-down but easier-to-use alternative. Another good graphics tool is Inkscape (inkscape.org), which will be more familiar to users of Adobe Illustrator or CorelDraw. Their catchy motto is "Draw Freely" - get it?
If music is more your thing, CDex (cdexos.sourceforge.net) can convert your CD tracks to MP3 files. When you're done, Audacity (audacity.sourceforge.net) can help you remix or apply effects to them. You can then play back your audio files - plus DVDs and about 50 other types of media files - with VideoLan (videolan.org).
Once your image or music files grow too big, you'll want to compress them so you can e-mail them to your friends. File-zipping utilities aren't very expensive to begin with, but 7-Zip (7-zip.org) probably does everything you need for around $0.
You might decide not to even e-mail the files, since you can just transfer them to your website using FileZilla (filezilla.sourceforge.net) or WinSCP(winscp.net). Wanna guess how much they cost?
Of course, you'll want to protect all these files with an anti-virus program, like AVG Anti-Virus, available for free at free.grisoft.com or Ad-Aware from lavasoft.com.
Speaking of viruses, there are also free alternatives to Internet Explorer, the browser that comes with Windows. Check out our favorite browser, Opera, at opera.com, or our second-favorites, Firefox (getfirefox.com) and Chrome (google.com/chrome). Firefox also has a sister program called Thunderbird (mozilla.com/thunderbird) that can replace Outlook for e-mail and other tasks.
There are many other free programs out there for Windows users - from games and text editors to 3D modeling programs and planetarium software. For a more complete list, with descriptions, ratings and links, check out theopendisc.com or PC Magazine's collection of favorites at http://bit.ly/8ZbLK9.
So now you know: from office apps to art software, from multimedia tools to anti-virus programs, it's just about gotten to the point where the only people who still pay for software are just chumps. But that no longer includes you, right?!
When the PropellerHeads at Data Directions aren't busy with their IT projects, they love to answer questions on business or consumer technology. E-mail them to questions@askthepropellerheads.com or contact us at Data Directions Inc., 8510 Bell Creek Road, Mechanicsville, VA 23116. Visit our website at www.askthepropellerheads.com.