There’s probably an Open Source (OS) alternative for almost every kind of commercial software.
OS is a great way to save money on tools for business and leisure. It’s free. Created by communities rather than individuals, it’s the product of mass collaboration.
Because the code is freely available for people to improve and add to, the results are generally excellent, just as good if not better than the commercial alternative.
Why do people do it? For the general good of everyone online. Altruism, satisfaction, immortality, pleasure, just for the challenge… whatever the reason, Open Source alternatives save you a bomb on paid-for software.
Here are some of the most popular and useful OS programmes, all free to download and use with no strings attached:
Linux – a free alternative to the Windows operating system – save money on your next home PC by buying one without an Operating System pre-installed and install Linux yourself. Great for people who know their way around computers at operating system level or know someone else who can. You could just follow the instructions. It sounds scary, but it isn’t rocket science.
GIMP – a free alternative to Adobe Photoshop, the planet’s favourite digital image manipulation tool – easy to use, with loads of Photoshop-like functions and artistic effects.
WordPress – Probably the most popular blogging platform on earth, over the years WP has morphed into a beautifully simple tool for designing and building blogs, websites, ecommerce sites, communities, forums and more. If you know what you’re doing you can upload it to your url in five minutes. There is a multitude of free plug-ins including spam identification/protection, extra security, search engine optimisation and social media widgets. There are literally hundreds of thousands of free WordPress Themes for you to choose from. And the back-end Content Management System is really easy to use, even if you’re a beginner.
Free anti virus software – PC magazine recently ran a test to identify the best free anti virus software for 2012. Here’s what they recommend:
- Comodo Cleaning Essentials is a clear winner for cleanup-only free antivirus
- For full-powered free antivirus, try AVG Anti-Virus Free 2012 or Avira Free Antivirus 2012
What’s your favourite OS software?
Let us know and we’ll write a post about your recommendations.
