With that said, I've put together a list of free replacements for common, often highly overpriced software. Also included is some free software for which I think there are better free alternatives. Obviously, there are a lot of links here - comment if one is broken and I'll fix it. I also have no problem adding to the list, so leave a comment if you see something that I missed!
| Product | Free Replacement | Notes | |
| Adobe Illustrator | For vector images. | ||
| Adobe PDF Writer | I use Primo all the time. | ||
| Paint Shop Pro Adobe Photoshop | I like Paint.net best. | ||
| Media Studio Pro Adobe Premier | Edit your movies. | ||
| Adobe Reader | Foxit is faster! | ||
| Apple QuickTime | See also VLC. | ||
| Beyond Compare | Compare stuff. | ||
| Defrag (Windows built-in) | Fix those bits. | ||
| Family Tree Maker | For doing genealogy. | ||
| Goldwave | Audio Editor. | ||
| Microsoft Access | Versatile database program. | ||
| Microsoft Equation Editor | For fancy equations. | ||
| Microsoft Excel | Spread out your sheets! | ||
| Microsoft FrontPage Macromedia Dreamweaver | No fluff; it just does the job! | ||
| Microsoft Internet Explorer | I like Firefox for some very specific Add-ons: | ||
| Microsoft Money | Know where your money goes! | ||
| Microsoft Notepad (Windows built-in) | Bigger and Better. | ||
| Microsoft Office | StarOffice (as part of GooglePack) | We're talking a whole office suite here. | |
| Microsoft Outlook Express Microsoft Outlook | I prefer webmail, but maybe you don’t. | ||
| Microsoft PowerPoint | Bore people to tears with your presentations. | ||
| Microsoft Project | Plan your project and make nifty charts. | ||
| Microsoft Publisher | Make cards, flyers, banners, etc. | ||
| Microsoft Task Manager (Windows built-in) | More robust than taskman. | ||
| Microsoft Virtual PC | Virtual PC is also free now. | ||
| Microsoft Visual Studio | Ultimate++ might be a new favorite! | ||
| Microsoft Windows | I consider these to be the top three flavors of Linux. Opinions differ. | ||
| Microsoft Word | Write the next great <insert country here> novel. Just don’t do it in MS Word. | ||
| msconfig (Windows built-in) | | ||
| Nero Easy CD Creator | I prefer InfraRecorder. | ||
| McAfee Antivirus NOD32 Norton Antivirus | |||
| Power DVD, etc. | Plays them all. | ||
| Rational Rose Microsoft Visio | Design your projects. | ||
| Real Player | See also VLC. | ||
| System Information (Windows built-in) | Get more information about your system. | ||
| Windows Explorer | Not the whole shell, just the file navigation functionality. | ||
| Windows Media Player iTunes | I’m still not satisfied with any media play so far, but my latest favorite is MusikCube for sure. | ||
| Windows Messenger MSN Messenger Yahoo! Messenger | Pidgin (formerly Gaim) | One messenger to rule them all. | |
| Windows Update | Looks like Microsoft shut down Autopatcher as of Aug 2007 :( | ||
| WinZip Winrar | Compress and uncompress stuff. jZip is my favorite. | ||
| Zone Alarm Firewall | |||
| ? | CD Ripper. | ||
| ? | Comodo BoClean | Anti-malware products. | |
| ? | Free FTP client. | ||
| ? | Mind mapping tool. | ||
| ? | See the world from home! | ||
| ? | For complex math graphing. | ||
| ? | Good photo manager | ||
| ? | It's apt-get for Windows! | ||
| ? | | Compose music your way. |
Powered by ScribeFire.
2 comments:
Nice little list of software replacements. There are a few missing that I know of, but there are some that I haven't heard of before. Nice job!
If you're trying to save some money from buying proprietary software, you can just look and download open source software that basically performs almost the same as your old ones. With the recommendation of the Ottawa computer support service, this is really a logical choice for frugal people with a computer.
Having the Ottawa computer tech support deal with my computer problems in my business for a long time now, it's a good investment to have them aboard!
Post a Comment