Your Web Tip of the Month - August 2007 - from:

Want to Stick it to the Man?

We're going to depart from our usual web-related topics to something of more general – and hopefully useful – interest.

Isn't it fun to bring home a brand-new computer - or have it delivered to your front door – with your eyes glazing over from the massive RAM, huge monitor and disk space you're about to experience? You unpack the box, read the instructions, or maybe you don't, and then set it up. You turn it on, and it lights up! Wow! Now What?

All of a sudden, you remember that your all your files, your email, your address lists, your applications, are still – uselessly – on your old computer. You might be looking at a major investment to replace all that software. But maybe not.

Have you heard of open source software? Believe it or not, people actually create great software and give it away. Open source is a loose group of individuals and companies that believe in software democracy – that people shouldn't be locked into commercial software where functionality is driven more by profit and loss statements than end-user needs. Open source software can free you from the chains of the big companies. You don't have to buy expensive software, and worry about paying for upgrades.

Here's an example.

I recently bought my first new computer in five years, and had to load it with everything. How much did I spend on software? Nothing. Not one red cent.

First, my computer came with a trial version of that anti-virus software named after Ralph Cramden's sidekick. It was a 30 day trial, and after that, they'd want money. So I downloaded the free version of AVG. It's simple, effective, and it doesn't take over your computer. (http://free.grisoft.com/)

As a web designer, I don't like the bugs and security issues of Internet Explorer, so I downloaded Mozilla FireFox, again, for free. www.mozilla.com/firefox/

I needed a free FTP program (File Transfer Protocol) which is used to upload files to a web site. Here, SmartFTP filled the bill. Free. www.smartftp.com/

What about Email? I downloaded Eudora 7, again, for free. Qualcomm developed this software, but no longer sells it, but you can still download it from their site. Mozilla is taking over marketing Eudora as open source. www.qualcomm.com/

My biggest worry was how to replace my essential MS Office. Our business, and probably yours too, relies on MS Office for word processing, spreadsheet, and other applications. Well, there's an alternative. If you want to save some money check out OpenOffice.org www.openoffice.org/. You can download a suite, consisting of a fully functional word processor, spreadsheet, “PowerPoint,” a data base, and a math application. This OpenOffice suit will read and write files in the MS format as well as the new open international standard. This suite installs easily and runs on Vista. You can even access the source code and modify it any way you want, assuming you have the programming skills. With OpenOffice, you can even put it on a CD and sell it!

Let's say you own a small business and have to equip ten workstations with “office” applications. That gets expensive. Not with OpenOffice. Yes, you can use it commercially for free.

In fact, I'm now writing this in OpenOffice Writer. And I can't tell its not “Word.”

I also had some stuff on the old computer I had paid for and downloaded (no CDs). I simply copied the application's serial number from the “About xxx” on the Help menu, downloaded another version on the new computer and entered the registration number. Now, my paid applications are running on the new machine – all for free.

I can't guarantee that what I've done will work for you, or even run on your computer. That's up to you to try.

I don't have anything against Bill Gates personally. He's a technical and managerial genius. But he has enough money. He won't get any more of mine. Sorry, Bill, it's just my way of “sticking it to the man.”

This Web Tip is provided by Web Design Partners.com. We hope you will also take time to visit our online stores:

Please contact us if you need changes or updates made to your current web site. Your visitors want to see fresh new material and offers each time they visit. This is another, very important way to achieve your Internet Success.

Janet and Phil

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Janet and Phil Winter
Web Design Partners
"Your Business Never Looked So Good"
Phone: 770-664-0848
Fax: 770-664-0895
Web Design Partners.com
janwinter@mindspring.com
philwinter@mindspring.com
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