Technology Corner: Why You Should Love OpenSource and Freeware

First let me define some terms: freeware means software that is free to use and is it not simply a trial version of paid software. Open Source also refers to free software but it allows it's source code to be open to the public. A source code is basically the blueprint or recipe for making a program.

If you haven't figured out already why you should love free stuff, you should stop reading right now.

For a college student there are some pieces of software, essential or unessential, that you will find yourself wanting or needing to buy. What I am here to tell you may be shocking: any software worth buying has a free alternative that is just as good or even better.

Let's review important software *most* students need and their free alternatives:

Microsoft Office
Essential for students is mainly Office Word, because no matter what your major is, the college experience includes mountains of papers to write. It also includes PowerPoint for creating presentations.


Free Alternative:

No, I am not going to suggest you suck it up and use some crap program like Notepad. What you need is...
OpenOffice
OpenOffice is basically a collection of program designed to emulate the look and feel of Microsoft Office, especially the 2003 edition. It has it's own version of every Microsoft application, all of them working just as well if not better. In fact I prefer OpenOffice Writer to Word, especially since they emulate the user-friendly design of 2003 Office and not the moronic "ribbons" layout of Office 2007.

Savings:

Microsoft Office - $150(standard) to $680(ultimate)
OpenOffice - FREE!

Protection

One of the most important things to set up on a new computer is anti-virus/spyware programs to prevent slow downs, identity theft, and complete system failure. Some might say that this is something that's worth spending the extra dollar on because it's very important to protect your files. I would say you can protect your files by backing them up online or on disks, thus possibly risking having to reformat your whole computer if a virus got through.

Also I would say the average student can protect himself a lot just through basic common sense.

Therefore let's look at excellent Open Source alternatives to Spyware and Anti-Virus protection.

AVG: One of the best reviewed and most widely used open source applications, this is definitely the leader in free virus protection.

Download

The savings here are anywhere from $30-55. Some programs are two in one virus and spy ware protection, but I usually use two programs for each.


Spyware Doctor: This is a great program that comes free with Google Pack.
Very highly rated and one of the most popular free alternatives out there.


Ad-Aware: I used this program years ago and found it to be really crappy. It would always detect spyware but not be able to remove 90% of it. It's gone through many versions since then and a lot of people I trust say it works great.

Download

Savings: Once again, anywhere from $25-40.

Fun and Play

These are free ways to keep yourself amused so your boredom doesn't cause you to spend on entertainment you don't need. Not all of these are programs, some are just websites that offer free entertainment, free and legal:

Image Manipulation(Photoshop Replacement)

Blender
InkScape
Gimp

Saves: $650-1,000

Games

Newgrounds
Crazy Monkey
RomBomb
(Note: I do not condone illegally using roms and emulators to steal video games)
Miniclip

Videos

Free movies(legal)
OpenFlix
Archive
Public Domain Torrents

Free TV( legal)

South Park
LocateTV
NBC
ABC

Free Music(legal)

The Hype Machine
Free MP3's
Muxtape


Trust me, thousands more alternatives exist than just these, but it's a good place to start and a good philosophy to start looking for free alternatives before just pulling out the credit card.