Free Software, Part 2

OK, so I'm finally getting back to this topic. In part 1 of the story, I briefly talked about the wonders of OpenOffice.org -- a great office productivity suite which, while not perfect, is more than sufficient for 90% of us. So, what other treasures are out there?

Tell me to what use you put your computer and I'll likely be able to find a free software package that would cover your need. Web browsing? Firefox is arguably the best browser available. It has more features and is more secure than Internet Explorer. Sending and receiving email? Firefox's little brother, Thunderbird, compares quite favorably with Outlook Express. Also, both of these applications are available for Windows, MacOS and Linux. The same cannot be said for the MS apps.

I know, I know, you're just getting warmed up. What about image manipulation? You want to go through the pictures of your family reunion and touch up some of the details. Google's Picasa is a great, easy-to-use photo editing package. If you need something a little more advanced, the GIMP image editor should meet most of your needs. What about sound recording and manipulation? Audacity does quite a nice job. Anti-virus software? AVG Free has been rated quite highly.

If you think of something that I haven't covered, click over to freshmeat.net or SourceForge and do a search. You will be amazed at the number of enthusiastic, even passionate people who are building or have built exactly what you need. And they are offering it to anyone who wants to use it often without even asking for acknowledgement. Check it out. If you do download something, though, and it works better than you had hoped, be sure to send the creator a quick thank you. That's the fuel that spurs them to greater and greater heights.

Do you use any free software? If so, which package(s)?

Recording Life

I do promise to get back to the topic of free software eventually. After running Linux as my main operating system for the last ten years, you can believe that I've pondered the topic now and again. Today, though, my thoughts turn to the area of recording ones life and the various mechanisms toward that end.

The main reason that this is on my mind right now is that I just finished one of my journal books, a beautiful cloth-bound one from India, and have started on my newest, a leather-bound one from Florence, Italy. In the seven years since I started keeping a journal, I've used several spiral notebooks, a beautiful leather-bound book that I received from my wife, and the two aforementioned ones. I've used writing implements from cheap Bic and Papermate pens to pencils to my current favorite, a Cross pen that I've had to refill several times. Each has its impact on what I write. The spirals are easy to write in, but get tattered quickly. The words that flow into them often seem to have the routine of the everyday about them. The nicer journals, on the other hand, are physically more difficult to write in (the pages don't lie flat and they usually don't have lines). They also seem to demand that I record something a bit more profound which can lead to the worst kind of writer's block.

What do I write about? Sometimes it's just about the happenings of the day and my thoughts thereon. On better days, I'll record my goals and my plans for the future, or sometimes the next step I want to take in development of my business. I've jotted down my dreams I've had while sleeping and those I have while I'm awake. I write about my feelings, whether sad, angry, or happy. I write about the challenges I encounter and, quite, often in the process, I discover the solutions to problems that at first seemed insurmountable.

My Karate teacher (for eight years) and business coach, Professor Keith Hafner of Keith Hafner's Karate, has advised us to record our lives in everything we do. If we don't know from where we are coming, we don't have much of a chance to get to where we want to be. He should know. He's been recording his life since he was sixteen years old! Philip Humbert, another inspiring coach, who's weekly newsletter I reed religiously, also touts the many benefits of journaling. Writing down what you want and how you are going to go about getting it are the first, surest steps to a World Class Life.

Of course, taking pen to paper isn't the only way to capture your experience. Each of us must find our own best techniques. Some people prefer the keyboard and mouse. Others make audio or video logs (think about Star Trek's "Captain's Logs"). One young woman I know has a calendar on which she jots down just a few words to represent her day. She claims she can go back to any day and recover the meaning of that time with only those few words.

How are you recording your life? Pen? Pencil? That giant 64-pack of Crayola crayons? Let me know!

What's in Your Toolbox?

I'm going to take a small break from exploring the wonderful world of free software in order to address a related topic.

In my previous post, I talked about OpenOffice.org, one of the many pieces of free software available out on the Web. Since then I came across a discussion on Digg about the relative benefits of OpenOffice.org (OOo) vs MS Office. The general consensus was that OOo was a pretty good productivity suite, but that it lagged behind MS Office. The latter had features as yet unimplemented by OOo and if you needed those features then MS Office was the way to go. Despite being a strong believer in the Open Source Software movement, I have to say that I definitely agree with the last part of that statement. I've believed for a long time that you should get the best tool for the job. If you need the features that only MS offers, then by all means get it.

I'm a computer programmer. The computer on my desk is one that I built myself. I wanted to have the tools specifically designed for my needs. My friend Billy Wilson is an electrician. He was out doing some work for me recently and I saw his tool set. He has specialized tools that I would never have thought existed, let alone needed, and those were only the ones he brought into the house. My mom's husband, Steve Cotner, is the President of Corporate Intelligence Consultants. He's shown me some of the high tech gear that he has to sweep a room for bugs. I'm a technologist and this stuff intimidated me!

I guess what I'm trying to say is that if you are going to excel in whatever your craft is, it is worth getting the best tools available. Oh, sure, I could get by with a lesser computer (and did for many years), but I'm much more efficient with my current machine. Billy could get by with cheaper tools, but he gets his work done a lot faster with the ones he has. Steve got by for years without his advanced bug detector, but you can bet he enjoys having it available when he needs it. Who wants to just "get by"?

So, what tools do you use and which ones could use an upgrade?

Why Line Bill Gates' Pockets? Part 1

I spent a portion of my day on Friday setting up an installation of OpenGroupware for my wife and I to use to coordinate our schedules. Yes, I know, as my wife has pointed out, we could just get a large calendar and put it on the fridge, but where would the fun be in that? In the process of setting it up though, I began to reflect on all the free software that is available out there on the 'Net.

A few years ago, a friend of mine, Murray Zetterholm, who runs a bookstore in Ann Arbor, Crossroads Bibles, Books, and Gifts, was telling me that he would really love to be able to install Microsoft Excel on every computer in his office. I think he had about four computers at the time. The problem was, he said, that it would cost too much to buy a copy of the software for each computer. I pointed him to OpenOffice.org, a complete office suite, including word processor, spreadsheet, presentation software, and even a database program. All of these can open the equivalent files from their Microsoft Office counterpart.

Are they exact copies? No. Are they close enough for most peoples needs? You bet. In fact, the only real problem I have is that, like their counterparts, the OpenOffice.org applications have so many features, that I can get a little lost sometimes just trying to do something simple. If you are in need of an up-to-date office suite and don't feel like shelling out for the most recent version of MS Office, you just might want to check it out.

More tomorrow on this topic. In the meantime, do you have any favorite freebies on the Web?