Software, personal and commercial use can be expensive - and this is one of the first places where people are trying to trim or find alternatives. Unfortunately, the most commonly used method is also the most dangerous and can land you in a lot of problems, as well as destroy your computer and thousands of dollars in data recovery - if it costs you even possible in the first place.
But cheer up! In this article, I will show you how to have your cake and eat too much - and it will be better quality cake that you never buy. Does that sound too good to be true? Read on, and I will prove it.
Bad point
You know this one: you have to is ask your friend - one that is very good to find these "cracked" programs on the Internet - you burn a CD... MS Office, Word, whatsoever, will be happy to oblige. In fact, he has just found this great site in Eastern Europe who obtained everything you have dreamed!
As is often the case with this kind of "free" software, there is a hidden - costs and it could simply be more than you negotiated.
First of all, many so-called "cracked" software contains viruses - and today, those who are more than a farce. A large part of it is distributed by organized criminal groups who use these viruses to take over your computer and use it in their "botnet", a network of computers which only send spam to the safety of the cracking - all without your knowledge bank. Of course, what makes your computer run more slowly, takes up a lot of your bandwidth of the network and eventually fills your disk with incriminating material.
Even if the "warez" you got did not come with this kind of infection, a copy illegal or non-registered commercial software can usually be disabled, by Internet, by the people who wrote it (example: search for "Windows Genuine Advantage angers Chinese" in Google.) Imagine having your computer stop in the middle of a working day... Imagine all of the computers in your business doing so. Not a good risk to take, right?
You can support this point, but... really, you are legally and in the wrong morally when you do this. It is not a good position to be in, especially if you try to run a business.
The right-of-way
Welcome to the world of Open Source software, where the rules are completely different.
Downloading software? Sure - but you do not have to spend hours and hours to seek special sites "wareZ d00ds"; people who write the software make right on their site. Free. Yes, truly free. Free legal tangles and almost always at zero cost.
Security against viruses? Yep, got that. You see, part of the culture of Open Source is to make the code available with each program - and any programmer looking at the code would be able to detect a virus and eliminate. Problem solved.
You want to give copies? Do not hesitate. in fact, it is encouraged.
If you use personally or for business, you have nothing to worry about: you are not breaking laws. Of course, it is not much of a concern for most of the people... but it is better to be on the side right than that of the bad.
Therefore, this type of software is available?
There are tens of thousands of programs Open Source available for literally all applications that you can imagine. Here are my seven favorite software tools, classified by category.
Web browser: mozilla firefox - Chances are, you already use. He spent 500 million downloads in 2008 and has not slowed since. Most people simply call it "best browser in the world."
Mail reader: mozilla Thunderbird - Thunderbird provides a set of important features, supports all extensions and standard e-mail protocols. He also has an integrated drive and spell check, but also a reader of USENET news integrated, as well as a large number of "modules" - software freely downloadable plugins to extend its functionality.
Office suite: OpenOffice - includes a word processor (Writer), spreadsheet (Calc), presentation (Impress), software design and graphics tool (Draw), a tool to create equations and formulae (mathematics) and a database tool, reporting and form (Base). Read the Microsoft Office files, too.
Photo editor: Program of GNU Image Manipulation (The GIMP) - GIMP has been in continual development since 1995. It has powerful painting tools, support for layers, channels and filters, multiple undo/redo, editable text layers.
CD/DVD burner: InfraRecorder - supports virtually all different formats, including the rewritable disc, multi-session disc and DVD double layer; Audio CDs can be created with only a few simple drag and drops. Other important features include the copy disc audio CD ripping, generation of ISO and burning images. Available in more than 20 languages.
Media Player: VLC --it is a flexible media player available for virtually any operating system including portable computers / pocket. VLC plays all formats media common, videos and audio, as well as DVD and the popular DivX and MPEG4 movies of today. Streaming media the most benefits, including Windows Media (wmv) and QuickTime. Advanced features include a skinnable GUI and play media directly from ISO files. VLC is also available as a plug-in for Firefox and as a component ActiveX, making it simple to view any video format integrated through your browser.
Archive: 7-Zip --7 - Zip is an archiver excellent file that supports the following formats for packing/unpacking: 7z, ZIP, GZIP, BZIP2 and TAR - and what follows to unpack only: RAR, CAB, ARJ, LZH, CHM, Z, CPIO, RPM and DEB. It integrates well in shell Windows (right click menu). 7 Zip is also available in 60 languages.
In short, Open Source software is free, powerful, reliable and readily available. Try it - and enjoy your found freedom!
Zonker Ault has been called an "eclectic polymath" and like the description. He has climbed the mountains, raced cars, driven both fixed and wing aircraft - rotary, plunged diving in the Red Sea, served in the army and tasted natto and durian - and has managed to survive all of the above. Today, he is tinkering with computers while dreaming of travelling to distant places.