Save money, be productive, with open source software

Lots of computer users are spending good money on commercial, brand-name, software when they could save a bundle and take advantage of a host of quality programs that are free. The alternative is open source software that is created and maintained in large part by communities of interested contributors.

If you have used personal computers for any length of time, you’re familiar with a wide variety of commercial software. Companies like IBM, Microsoft, HP, Oracle, Adobe and other have become household names through their production of commercial software. They make billions of dollars publishing programs for business and personal users. Consumers may purchase and install, or more likely they find that these products have already been installed in the computer before the time of purchase. Customers may consider these programs to be free. (Actually, the cost is hidden as part of the computer’s price.) The surprise comes when the software needs to be upgraded. In order to keep up with the times, the user has to shell out cash, perhaps a lot, to stay in step with technology. Or, when it is time to move up to a new computer, that does not have the pre-installed stuff, new, off-the-shelf software will have to be purchased if one is to keep the programs he's accustomed to, then the ‘sticker shock’ will hit.

If you are a typical user, and not accustomed to ‘getting under the hood’ you may not be aware that there are numerous software items that cost nothing -- nada, zero, zip -- to buy. These 'open source' programs represent an appealing option to those who don’t have hundreds, or thousands, of dollars to invest in commercially produced packages. For many, the cost saved by using open source software allows the purchase of a higher powered computer.

For many situations, open source products can make the difference in being able to accomplish productive things with your computer and not having that opportunity. As in anything, there are possible pitfalls for the unwary and there are always learning curves to be met. Read on for a description of a few of the many open source options available; followed by some hints and ideas to help you take advantage of them.

One caution, while I encourage the use of open source, take note of human nature: people get comfortable with what they know and are reluctant to try new things. If you had purchased, learned to use and become satisfied with a product, how anxious would you be to learn that there is a comparable free competitor that you neighbor is thrilled with? I really can’t fault anyone who has bought and worked with a commercial product, being reluctant to recommend a free competitor. The bottom line, don’t be discouraged from taking advantage of these great options just because of a naysayer.

First, since you are reading this on a web-browser, look to see what browser product you have. In past years, it was most likely to be Internet Explorer. Now, in 2012, it could be anyone of a number of names, possibly Firefox, or Mozilla Firefox, to be correct. Firefox and its siblings at Mozilla are open source applications that have achieved widespread acceptance, and the best part is that they are free! Comparisons have shown Firefox to out-perform I.E. in some tests. Another good point is that, Firefox can work side-by-side with the Microsoft browser, as well as Google’s Chrome and others (but that’s another story). Firefox and other open source competitors have challenged Microsoft’s dominance and the competition made headlines a few years ago.

Firefox is free for the downloading and can be souped-up with a variety of plug-ins and accessories to accomplish a variety of jobs.

Mozilla, which grew from the ashes of Netscape (anyone remember the 1990’s?) also produces Thunderbird, a popular free e-mail application, Lightning, a free calendar application and other tools

Another open source standout is called OpenOffice. This free-for-download office suite offers word processor, spreadsheet, drawing, database and presentation applications that can handle just about any need imaginable. It closely resembles the look and feel of MS Office and the two competitors can share various document types between them. I have found no conflicts in running both MS and OO on the same computer at the same time.

Financial record keeping is a forte’ of computers and there is a variety of business software for purchase. Competing with those products is the open source GnuCash. It handles bank accounts, stocks, income, expenses and double entry accounting.

One of my passions is photography, another is web design and development. These two endeavors open the doors to a host of software options including the open source Gimp. The commercial product Photoshop, from Adobe, is a powerful tool for image manipulation, with a price to match. My needs would not justify the purchase of the Adobe product. However, I still had the need to work with pictures and graphics for personal use and in web-building work. With Gimp, you have a powerful, dynamic and sophisticated graphics package that, at least in my case, has every tool I can think of for doing my work with images.

Web and blog designers can find open source choices including Wordpress and Drupal, among others. These projects are world-class and are used by a who’s who of well-known organizations as well as countless individuals and small businesses.

Investigate – while there are some excellent open source products, the ones you should have at the top of your list, as you get started, are those that have taken on a life of their own. That is, programs that have developed enough ‘inertia’ to have a community of users and maintainers; so that if the original developer leaves the scene, there will still be a support structure. Be on the lookout for users groups, forums, online discussions, perhaps e-books or, even, conventional paper books about the project. The best open source projects are like the best commercial products, they keep being revised and improved.

If you decide to try out one of these free programs, be sure to exercise the usual safe web habits. Do some window shopping, a few web-searches and reviews of blogs or other posts, should give you a taste for the current state of the software. Look in on users groups and take time to hunt down an introductory tutorial that should address your questions.

Of course you want to be sure that you are installing a version of the program that is compatible with your system. When you make the decision to download a package, Make sure you are on a reliable site. Installing the wrong software is never a good idea. While modern systems make downloads a breeze, be sure to keep track of what is going on.

This article has mentioned just a few of the countless open source options that are available. It is my wish that you will find one or more that will suit your needs, save you money and make your computer more productive for you.