These applications are worth trying. It might take you a little time to get used to some of them. But most of the functions you use are there. They may be in a different menu, or they might have a different name, but you will soon notice that you can quickly find them. If you are expanding your business and need to buy more licenses, have your employees try these applications. See what they think. And home users can definitely benefit from these free programs. And save a few hundreds of dollars in the process.
We are not including the operating system itself. Windows is not free. And even though there are several free substitutes for Windows, the learning curve might be a bit steep for most users.These are my (personal) favorites. Some of them are completely free, others might require a small fee if used for business. You should check the Terms and Conditions for each before you install them.
Office Bundles: Almost everybody that uses Windows uses Microsoft Office. But there are several alternatives to this Suite. My personal favorite is Open Office. Open Office includes Writer: a very complete alternative to Word. Calc: a substitute for Excel. Impress: which offers all of the capabilities of Power Point. And Base: an excellent Database that works just like Access. All these applications can read and write files from/to their MS-Office counterparts. Other free Office applications include KOffice or IBM Lotus Symphony and several others.
Accounting: There is much to be said about the features in accounting packages like Quickbooks or Peachtree. But some businesses are taking a look at the freeware alternative FreeAccounting. This integrated accounting package is strong in reporting, and includes Invoicing, Payroll, Inventory, A/R, A/P and General Ledger. But what sets FreeAccounting apart from others is the fact that it's a feature-filled Business Management System Delta60 might be an interesting alternative if they are looking to save money on Software.
Email: One application not included in Open Office is "Outlook". However, there are several excellent substitutes. Windows itself includes a free replacement. Outlook Express in Windows XP and older versions, and Windows Mail which comes with Vista and Windows 7. But there are other options. Mozilla Thunderbird is fully featured, secure and a very efficient Email Client. Or Pegasus Mail which has been around for quite some time, and is especially attractive to those who use Novell as their network environment.
Antivirus/Antispyware: Now here we need to start writing caveats. First of all, these are usually free for Home use only. But they are very affordable for Business use. Second, most of the vendors of these free products offer a payed version that is usually more convenient, and offer additional protection capabilities such as bundled Antivirus and Antispyware, firewalls, anti-phishing, and other bonuses. However, the free versions are usually adequate for most home users. If you keep sensitive information in your PC, you might want to take a look at the "pay" versions. My own personal "free" favorites are the following: In the Anti-virus category, AVG Antivirus, which is probably the most popular anti-virus application out there. With AVAST and BitDefender following closely. As for free Anti-Spyware, I have personally found SuperAntiSpyware to be the most effective, and AdAware as a good alternative.
Photo Editing: There is little doubt that PhotoShop is a well developed, seasoned program that is essential for professionals. But there are alternatives that come very near to providing the same capabilities. A completely free, open source alternative is GIMP. And it can be downloaded and used free of charge by Home and Business use. Photobie is another alternative worth looking into.
Diagrams: For quite some time now, Visio has been the standard for diagrams, and technical charts. Now there is Dia. Even though Dia doesn't have all of the capabilities of Visio, what it does provide might be enough for many. Dia can helps you design flowcharts, network diagrams, electrical circuits, DIN style electrical control schematics, 3D Directional Maps, and many other types of diagrams. It's worth a look. After all, it is free!
File Compression: WinZip is the "top dog" among compression utilities. But free compression utilities are not far behind. Several of them are very efficient and user-friendly. Because of the number of compression formats that it handles, 7-Zip is my personal favorite.
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