Claire's Random Thoughts

This is post 5/7 in my weekly series of my Top Free Applications

Some may call OpenOffice.org “Poor Man’s Microsoft Office” but I will have to respectfully disagree. Open Source does not necessarily mean inferior to paid software. I use Open Office for my document composing needs, not only because it’s open source and free (which is also a great reason for using), but because I truly believe it is better written than Microsoft Office. Here are some of my comparisons below.

Looking at my Add/Remove Programs panel, Microsoft Office’s suite takes up over twice the memory as OpenOffice.org yet provides almost no additional features. Hmm…so which one is more efficiently written? Microsoft has a reputation for inefficiently written programs for a reason.

Now, let’s compare which programs are included in the two packages. For clarification, I am giving Microsoft as much credit as possible for their software by comparing Open Office to Microsoft Office Professional Edition, the biggest and most expensive package. Five out of the six programs in each suite directly correspond to one in the other, not to mention that the five that directly correspond are probably the five most frequently used.

OpenOffice.org Base features the same functions as those of Microsoft Access
OpenOffice.org Calc features the same functions as those of Microsoft Excel
OpenOffice.org Writer features the same functions as those of Microsoft Word
OpenOffice.org Draw can be comparable to Microsoft Publisher
OpenOffice.org Impress can be comparable to Microsoft PowerPoint

There are some slight differences. OpenOffice.org also features a math program that can perform advanced math operations, similar to functions of a graphing calculator. Microsoft InfoPath (I never use it anyway), a form designer is probably the only feature I can find that is offered in Microsoft Office but not Open Office. I don’t think it’s a very popular program anyway, but I’m sure there is someone out there who uses it. For my purposes, InfoPath is completely useless, but it is the only potential justification I can find for choosing Microsoft Office over Open Office.

Best of all, Open Office is compatible with Microsoft Office files, but not vice versa. This makes it extremely simple and painless to make the change over to Open Office if you are a current Microsoft Office user. If others who use Microsoft Office, like the majority of the population that hasn’t discovered Open Office yet, send you Microsoft Office formatted files, you will also still be able to open them with Open Office. If necessary (i.e. to send to someone who hasn’t yet discovered Open Office), you also have the option of saving your Open Office document in a Microsoft format.

This is post 4/7 in my weekly series of my Top Free Applications

Another free but not open source program I thought was worth mentioning is my favorite IM client, Trillian by Cerulean Studios. It features both a free and pro edition with the free edition only lacking features of video chat and support for jabber. If you frequently use video chat, then this program may not be for you, because the pro edition costs $25.
For all my Instant Messaging needs, I use Trillian rather than the “Native” clients. I’m sure you have seen a pattern in my previous posts this week about all-in-one software/bundles/suites. They are designed to make my life slightly easier by combining multiple features that I frequently use into one program. Trillian is also in this category, because it supports multiple popular Instant Messaging networks all in one program. I only have an account for AIM, MSN, and Yahoo Messenger, but the free edition also supports ICQ. The pro edition that costs a one-time fee of $25 also supports some other less frequently used networks, such as Jabber (i.e. google talk), Novel Groupwise Messenger, and Rendezvous. However, I feel like the free edition offers enough standard features (for those of you who do not use video chat) that the original applications are not even installed on my computer anymore, because I have deemed them obsolete.

Trillian features a beautiful interface, easy integration of multiple networks, plenty of opportunity for user customization, and no advertisements of any type. In my opinion, Trillian’s interface is far more attractive than the default clients for all three of AIM, MSN, and Yahoo, but again, that’s a matter of opinion. If it’s not beautiful enough to suit your aesthetic requirements, there are also downloadable skins that you can use to customize the looks to your liking. Buddies from all three (or four if you use ICQ) networks can all be displayed simultaneously in one window and are color coded by network (yellow for AIM, red for Yahoo, blue for MSN). They are integrated in such a way that it practically feels like you can be down to the simplicity of one Network but still have the opportunity to chat with people in up to four (or more with the pro edition). Customization is on par with, if it does not exceed those of the original applications. Furthermore, there are no advertisements in any form in the free edition making it an ideal replacement for the default clients that do feature ads.

This is post 3/7 in my weekly series of my Top Free Applications

If you don’t know what this is, chances are that you will probably never need it. Basically, FTP stands for File Transfer Protocol and is a tool for transferring multiple files and folders to and from servers. If you used FTP regularly prior to reading this post, you have probably already heard of FileZilla. However, I thought it was worth mentioning, because this week’s project is on my seven favorite free applications, and this happens to be one of them, so it deserves recognition.

This is one of the best FTP tools around (in my opinion), not to mention that it’s free, a benefit of all the software I am introducing this week. The interface is also intuitive and among one of the easiest to use out of the FTP clients I have tried. FileZilla is fairly straightforward for an FTP client, so I don’t have too much additional information to share about this program other than the fact that it’s my choice for FTP, and I use it for this site that you are on right now.

This is post 2/7 in my weekly series of my Top Free Applications

I picked AVG Anti-Virus Free Edition, even though it’s not open source, because it’s free and has protected my computer for the past few years. Since this great program has served me for years, I figured I could return the favor by promoting the program for anyone hasn’t heard of it yet. For personal use, I would consider this the best security suite, and many people seem to agree with me, because it’s currently the most frequently downloaded program from download.com. If you are currently a paid subscriber of any security software, such as McAfee or Norton, AVG Free Edition may be an effective and cost efficient alternative.

Looking back at my post yesterday, you can probably see that I prefer software with a bundle of features rather than a separate program for every function. AVG does a good job with bundling security features into one package anti-virus, anti-spyware, email scanning, and an option of real-time protection (when I currently have disabled, because it is annoying when you are trying to install anything that can potentially modify a registry file). If you look at this page to compare the free and paid editions of AVG, you will see that the free edition already has most of the essential features.

The only feature that is not in the free edition that I would use regularly is a firewall. However, this minor drawback is not enough to deter me from choosing this security suite over other ones, paid or free. If anyone decides to use AVG Free Edition and needs a firewall, it is fairly easy to search for a free one from download.com, but I have no single favorite recommendation at the moment.

I will spend this week, the week of November 17, blogging about my seven favorite legally free applications, one per day. The majority of software I use is open source, because I can find no reason to justify paying for software when I can use a free and often better alternative. Some paid software, such as Microsoft Office, is not only ineffectively written but also highly priced, so I support the open source versions of programs with similar functions.

I am not saying that the programs I am going to introduce this week are the best available in their categories, even compared to the highest class paid versions, but they are my choices, because they are just as suitable for my needs as paid software would be, and I always look for cost effectiveness (i.e. As long as you’re not a professional graphic designer, you can perform all your needed photo editing functions using GIMP, even though the most expensive version of Photoshop probably does have more features, features that the average user will never need). After all, I am a poor college student at this point in life and have better things to spend hundreds of dollars on other than software. I hope readers of this week’s entries can find something useful and save more than few bucks at the same time.

Sure, some will tell me that the standard more popular software can be free too from bittorrent or P2P sites, but isn’t that the same thing as calling them “free” if you’re willing to steal them from the store?

Pre-determined list:
1. Seamonkey all-in-one internet application suite
2. AVG Anti-Virus Free Edition
3. FileZilla FTP Client
4. Cerulean Studios Trillian
5. OpenOffice.org
6. VLC media player
7. Stepmania

Stay posted the week of November 16, 2008 for my personal reviews, features, and tips about these programs.

Update: This weekly series is now complete