Open Source And Cheaper Software
I wrote about getting free stuff to save some money a few days ago. Here is more tips where you can save money. If you happen to own your own business or in charge of your office’s computers, here are some ways you can save money. Computer hardware is cheap nowadays. It is the software that cost you (sometimes an arm and a leg). If you upgrade several computers at your office this year, free software can save you several thousand ringgit.
While I think that software is expensive in Malaysia, no thanks to the exchange rate, and I believe that you should not use pirated software. Besides the risk of getting raided, charged in court and embarrassed, it is morally not right. And there are free open source alternatives to many software.
You still need to used Microsoft Operating system be it XP or Vista unless you go Linux (which I don’t suggest due to the huge learning curve). For the commonly used software MS Office, you can use OpenOffice as an alternative. It used to be an unstable software but the software have improved by leaps and bounds. Many people are using it.
I’ve used it since my last laptop and been using since. It might take a bit of adjustment since the buttons are not where they are but you get used to it after a little while. You can download it for free here or you might even want to donate some money.
One thing to take note of is that OpenOffice saves file in a different format. You have to choose to save it the the usual MS Office format so that you can share the files with others.
While OpenOffice already has a built in PDF file maker (to create .pdf files), if you use other programs, you don’t have to buy or use illegal copies of Adobe Acrobat. I use a free software called CutePDFWriter. You can use it all the way from Win 98 all to way to Vista. It installs as a printer and just print any document like you do on a normal printer. Your document comes out as a .pdf file. Download it here.
Instead of paid antivirus software like Kapersky and Norton Antivirus, you can use free alternatives like AVG. Off course the features are limited but it should be sufficient unless you are visiting websites you shouldn’t be. AVG is available here.
This next software is not free and neither is it OpenSource. But I include it here because I use it and I think you should know about it. If you have a lower end Vista i.e. the home edition or home premium edition, you know that you can’t fax with it. MS have deliberately removed it so that you need to upgrade to a higher version in order to send faxes.
Instead of spending a few hundred to upgrade to a higher end Vista, just to fax documents, you can get this fax software called SnappyFax. I’ve searched for a long time and finally found it. It is not free but cost US$ 29.90. Still much cheaper than upgrading Vista.
So, here is my short list of several software that can save you a few quite a few ringgit. I’ve used them all the time so I can vouch that they are stable.