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17 February 2008 ~ View Comments

Living for Free

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If you’re one of those people who get sick of heavy programs that load slowly, grow tired of the unnecessary bulkness of the files, looking for alternatives or simply can’t find a “back up copy” of the program you’re looking for, then this is the post for you.

Open-source programs are basically free-for-all alternatives that are made for the people, by the people. Of course, there are risks and benefits – some open-source programs are plain ridiculous for instance or crash a lot. However, there is a solid amount of great stuff out there if you’re looking for a free alternative to pricy – or bulky – programs.

WEB/EMAIL

Firefox: If you still haven’t switched, then do so now. There are a lot of useful plugins and extensions to make your life easier on the web.

Thunderbird: MS Outlook is a great program (version 2003 that is), but most of its functions are only needed for corporates so you’re better off with Thunderbird – which you can add lots of plugins to as well. While you’re at it, get the Lightning extension with the Google Calendar addon so you can access your Google Calendar directly from TB.

GRAPHICS

Gimp and Paint.Net are great alternatives to Photoshop. Admittedly, Photoshop is an indispensable program ONLY IF you truly know how to use it and get the most out of your money. If you’re looking for something only to touch up photos, then get Picasa instead. If you’re looking for an Illustrator alternative, then Inkscape is the way to go.

MEDIA

If you love iTunes for podcasts, then you’d love Miro for video podcasts. With thousands of channels available, you’re guaranteed non-stop entertainment. And hey, you can search YouTube through it and download the files as well.

Media Player Classic is the best player in my opinion to use for viewing all your video files. it is simple with a gazillion of options. It works great with the K-Lite codec pack.

Media Coder is a great application I use myself that will convert video files from many different formats to other formats. It is easy to use and you can finally convert those pesky flv (Flash Video) files into whatever format you want.

Now, to burn all that stuff on your DVDs, use ImgBurn, which is single handedly the best alternative out there. It is incredibly light and kicks Nero’s ass. You can make ISO files and write from them, set the book type (for you geeks) as well as specify geek-only settings like layer breaks and the file system.

DOCUMENTS

I admit I am a big fan of MS Office 2003 (screw 2007). Still, if you want something simpler and compatible, you can use Open Office or AbiWord. If you use MAC OSX, you can use NeoOffice

With that over, you’d probably make do without the 230 MB installation of Adobe Reader with its gazillion files it installs. Foxit is the most complete and best solution out there. Yes, you still need to pay something for its advanced features, but as a PDF reader for 2 MB installation and less than 1 second to run, you’d never go to Adobe Reader again.

CHAT

There are many chat client alternatives out there which I have tried, but nothing beats Pidgin. It can support and connect to different chat services (Yahoo, IRC, MSN, GTalk, AIM, SameTalk, among others) with an intuitive easy to use interface. It is also office-friendly, especially if you disable smiley graphics (you get the text fromat).

GEEK ZONE

I personally orgasm every time I use Notepad++, a truly grand text editior and Notepad replacement. Combined with Amaya or Kompozer, you will never need Dreamweaver again.

The list I gave is only a SAMPLE of the great open-source programs out there. For a more complete and better organized list, head over to Open Source Living – one of the greatest and most complete open source resource sites out there.




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  • Hamza
    coming to think of it..I think you've done a better job than anti-microsoft ppl we had back at university in converting me open source. All except: OPEN-OFFICE.


    I used it and let me tell you it sucks big time. It drains alooot of RAM. for no reason.
  • KJ
    Ms Loala -
    I went over to the site now again and maybe you clicked on their offer package. You need to go to the download page here and download the executable ( you can click here to download directly)
  • KJ
    Qu -
    Yup, it means running IE inside FF, I don't deny that. It's transparent to the end user, so as long as we don't actually open IE (although the process does run) we are happy :P



    Abu Fares -

    I assure you that Moogle cannot comprehend a single word of this ;)



    saint -

    Umm... I thought Windows voice recognition can do that!



    Hani -

    Yup, especially if you got Greasemonkey installed!



    Ms Loala -

    Foxit is only 2 MB, which is nothing compared to Adobe Reader (230 MB). Adobe Reader is way too heavy to open a PDF file. I am amazed that the people who created the format cannot make an efficient program to run it!
  • Ms Loala
    Pretty interesting.


    I'm actually amazed by the Adobe reader alternative, the size is just too much for one function (PDF) only! :\
  • Hani Obaid
    Qwaider, imagine firefox users that are so tired of IE, even when they have to user sites that demand IE (for me banking and windows update) they prefer to run them inside firefox.


    For me the differences between FF 2.0 and IE7 aren't that great, but FF 2.0 with my extensions installed tramples IE7 20 to 1.
  • saint
    Informative post, I have a question for you. I have this great radio station which does great interviews and I like to find free software which can translate the audio files with different extensions into a text document. Any suggestion?
  • abufares
    Thanks KJ
    I'm already a devoted Firefox user. I like the Pidgin thingy and have been looking for something similar for a while. So I'm downloading it as I'm writing this comment.

    You're sure it wasn't Moogle who suggested or possibly wrote this post?
  • Qwaider قويدر
    You do know that IE tab is just a fancy word that means, RUNNING IE inside a firefox tab :) LOL! Which is basically still running IE!


    Anyway, yes, I very happy this competition is going. We (users) are benefiting! It was about time the lazy dudes in Redmond -a throw stone away from where I live- actually got off their asses and did something! Fx was the best thing that ever happened to IE!
  • KJ
    Qu - ugh, ActiveX! Yes indeed... get IETab for firefox then, you can switch the rendering engine from within FF :P


    I converted most of my company's employees to FF. If we have non-FF-friendly sites we switch to IETab.



    All is well though, as long as you're happy with IE, then good! This is why it is great there is no monopoly, everyone uses applications that caters to them!
  • Qwaider قويدر
    One deal killer for me
    ActiveX!

    It's not in Firefox. And just about every router manufacturer out there requires it. As well as my IP Camera, IE is the only supported browser and the only one that actually works right.

    For localization, accessibility and a bunch of other very important things. Especially if you're on a corporate network.

    As I said, firefox is good, I still trust IE way more. There's one very important reason. Accountability! If something goes wrong, there is someone to blame!

    Lets see what IE8 has

    I'd never be M$sified! I neutral. My job MANDATES that!
  • KJ
    Qu,
    LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL, oh man I knew you and Hani will be all over me hahaha! Yeah they're different, but aside from a program or two from the list, they're all open-source.



    I know why you use Windows Live email :P Infidel, you have been M$ed. I tried it and it was very good. Thing is I had problems with its connectivity to Gmail, plus I could do without the ads. I contacted M$ $upport but as usual they were "unable to replicate my problem and can no longer provide me with assistance".



    As for Firefox, you gotta weigh in the benefits. It definitely is better than IE in my opinion. I really do wish they solve the memory leaks.
  • Qwaider قويدر
    There's a huge difference between Open source and Free! Lets not make that mistake here! 3aib, you're a computer dude!


    Firefox is good, it's not the best. It's as bad as IE in so many ways.

    As for free Email, I love, no I ADORE windows Live email. It's Fast, slick, can access just about anything and it's ... yes .. free!



    Paint.Net is fantastic! Knowing that it's built with managed code is something. I even know the dudes place in downtown Seattle :)
  • KJ
    Kaileena,
    I think it is a matter of personal preference whether you want to use Opera or Firefox. I personally find Firefox better, in terms of user-friendliness and add-ons. Both, however, are better than Internet Explorer.



    Kinano,

    w00t!!!
  • Kinano
    GO OPEN SOURCE :D
  • Kaileena
    Picasa is nice..I think I have Picasa2!


    As for the Web I'm using Opera, Firefox is better?
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