For the last several months, I’ve been using a PC that does not have any commercial off-the-shelf applications. Other than the Windows XP operating system, everything else loaded on the PC is freeware.
I didn’t originally intend to do this, but after I loaded the OpenOffice suite, I thought what the heck, lets see how far I can take it.
I ended up with the following free applications:
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OpenOffice.org 3 – Word Processing, Spreadsheet, Presentation, Database, Drawing
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Smooth Draw 3 – Image editing
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PhotoScape – Photo Retouching
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IrfanView – Image viewing and batch processor
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Notepad+ – Text Editor
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Thunderbird 2 – Email Client
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Avast – Antivirus
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PDF Creator – Creates .PDF files
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Nvu 1 – HTML Editor
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BlogDesk – Desktop Blogging Client
Combine this with all the online Web 2.0 applications, and I’ve got everything I need to take care of business.
How much did this save? Considering comparable off-the-shelf (OTS) applicaitions, you’re looking at a minimum savings of $1000 (USD) with no loss in productivity.
Check out Gizmo’s Freeware at www.techsupportalert.com for listings and reviews of the best freeware offerings. For example, here is a comparison of free paint programs:
So, before you head out to purchase any OTS retail applications, check to see if there are any comparable freeware versions. Download and try them, you may be quite pleased.
/doc
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