Boni's Tech Tips: Episode 1: Open Source Software

[Boni]

Right now, their is at least a 40% chance that you are using open source software, if your running Firefox then you are indeed running open source software and even the engine used in Google Chrome is open source.

Open Source is basically software that has been created by a developer that also releases the source code to the public. Open source is free and bugs and flaws are found much faster than that of closed source software.

This week on Boni's Tech Tips I will give a list of popular Open Source software that can be used to replace current paid for software.

Mozilla Firefox
Mozilla Firefox is the second most popular browser on the marketplace and one of the best alternatives to Internet Explorer. There would have been a point in time last year when I would have urged you to switch from IE to Firefox but I must admit the IE8 is a pretty decent browser.

OpenOffice.Org
OpenOffice.Org is a great alternative to Microsoft Office. OpenOffice is developed by Sun and is closely integrated with Java. OpenOffice contains a word processor, spreadsheet, database, presentation application and a diagram application. The best thing about OpenOffice is that it is compatible with Office 2003 & Office 2007 formats.

Mozilla Thunderbird
The only thing that OpenOffice is missing is an E-mail client but thankfully the team that brought us Firefox also brought us Thunderbird. This is an E-mail client program that could replace Microsoft Outlook or Windows Mail. Mozilla Thunderbird is best if it is combined with the Lightening Add-on which integrates Sunbird Calender function. If you don't use POP3 & STMP you should give it a try. Google Mail has free POP3 functions as many others might too (Yahoo doesn't unless you pay for your account).

7-Zip
7-Zip is an application that is used to create archives and compress data. This would be a replacement for WinRAR or WinZip. It's a pretty good program as it can unpack .rar and .zip as well as many other types. It's primary packer is it's own .7z which can compress better than .rar at times but can be very ram hungry when set to Ultra setting.

SumatraPDF
PDF is a very popular format that is used on the internet for lots of things from manuals to application forms and the most popular PDF application is Adobe Acrobat Reader. I will admit that I used to like this program but it got to much of a resource hog and so I damned it to hell and moved to Foxit reader but later that became a fucking nightmare with all the ads and the update manager chaos. I then found SumatraPDF which does exactly what it says it does... read PDF files without stealing 100MB of my RAM. Good program, check it out.

GIMP
GIMP... GNU Image Manipulation Program... this is really a clone of Photoshop. It is a very good program and can basically do everything that photoshop can do more of less. Originally for Linux is was ported over to Windows.

Pidgin
Pidgin is a universal chat program and supports lots of different protocols including MSN. This is a good alternative to Windows Live Messenger. The user interface is different but it is really simple to use and a good little program. the portable version on PortableApps is pretty good to put on a flash drive and chat at work, college or school.

Audacity
Ah, now this is one of my favourite programs that I started using after switching from Adobe Audition. It's a multi-track recording application and can report from almost any port on your computer and then edit the track in several ways. I personally use this program to record my band's guitars. It's a great program, if you like recording stuff, give it a try.

InfraRecorder
I used to use Nero as my primary burning application but then it all change it became a home entertainment package and so took about half a gigabyte just for a burning application. I then decided to ditch nero for InfraRecorder. It's an excellent program that can read and write CDs & DVDs [Blu-Ray soon too]. It can write ISO from a disk and the reverse too. I suggest you give this a try at least, it's only a 11MB install and it doesn't hog your computer resources.

There are many more Open Source applications out and about but these are a few my favourites. Have a look at SourceForge, this is an open source application hosting site. Everything on this website is open source. Their is also a few games out their. If you have time give SuperTux a try. It's a Super Mario clone with Tux the penguin

[Dylan]

stickied.

[Shiv]

pidgin iz shit

digsby ftw. has fb chat

[V]

Would you believe me if I told you that Richard Stallman is giving a speech less than 20 blocks from my house and I will be out of the city when that happens?

[The Witness]

Would you believe me if I told you that Richard Stallman is giving a speech less than 20 blocks from my house and I will be out of the city when that happens?

yes i would

[Boni]

Would you believe me if I told you that Richard Stallman is giving a speech less than 20 blocks from my house and I will be out of the city when that happens?

Aww, I'm gutted likes, I would have loved to go to that