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Tag Archive for 'free software'

More free and open source softwares

Published on 4 September, 2006 in Editorial and Using Open Source. 3 Comments Tags: , .

At this juncture I had almost covered all the major free and opensource applications that I use regularly. There are still a handful of tools and utilities which I will cover.

Of course this is not all there is to opensource applications. There are still much more. Some I had planned to try, like Gimp and Inkscape while others I had heard alot but has no opportunity to use, like Blender. Still there are applications like Sunbird that I’m eagerly anticipating a release. Finally there are promising applications like Nvu that seem to have stopped development.

Do you have any favourite Free/Open source applications that you like to recommend?

What do you put on a new PC?

Published on 28 August, 2006 in Editorial and Using Open Source. 7 Comments Tags: .

We just order a new PC for the office. As the guy go about installing the necessary softwares, I reflect on what went into the desktop and how I could influence and introduce opensource applications into the software mix.

Operating system : Windows XP

As much as I want to use Linux as the office desktop platform, Windows XP is still the dominant OS. The learning curve is too steep for the staff to climb. Time is also a factor.

My plan is to allocate time for one of the programmer to explore Linux. Already he had setup a FreeBSD server in the office.

Office productivity : Microsoft Office, Open Office

MS Office is also very much ingrained. Most user learnt to use it in school and is very familiar with it.

I have Open Office installed. My observation is that it us easier to get a non-tech person or less compute-savvy user to start using OO. They do not have much prior experience so learning OO or MS Office isn’t too much of a difference to them.

Browser: Firefox

Firefox is installed and set as the default browser. Especally for the less savvy user, using IE is a potential hole for exploit and melware.

Whenever someone got infected by melware through IE, they are reminded to use Firefox.

File archiver : 7-zip

Graphic viewer: Irfanview

Anti-virus: ClamWin

Development tools: XAMPP, TortiseSVN, WinMerge

What opensource softwares do you install on your new system?

Free development softwares alternatives

Published on 12 July, 2006 in Editorial. 0 Comments Tags: , .

Beside business applications, I will also be looking developers’ softwares are tools. The term developer is use boardly to include not only programmers but also HTML designers, document writers, designers and other related functions.

Since these group of people are typically more savvy, my angle will be more of sharing and exploring ideas, tips and experiences. This is something new I’m trying.

First another quick round up of free softwares that I am using and where the commercial strongholds are still to be broken.

Category Currently using Free? Open Source? Alternative
Programming PHP Y Y
Programming Perl Y Y
Programming Ruby Y Y
Version control SVN Y Y
Version control client TortoiseSVN Y Y
Code editor Vim Y Y
SSH Putty Y Y
SFTP/FTP Filezilla Y Y
IDE Eclipse Y Y
Webserver Apache Y Y
Webserver package XAMPP Y Y
Compare/merging Winmerge Y Y
Design IDE Dreamweaver N N Nvu
Photo/Graphics Gimp Y Y

Anything else I missed?

Free desktop applications roundup

Published on 12 July, 2006 in Editorial. 2 Comments Tags: , .

This is a list that I had complied. A quick round up of free/opensource softwares I am using and where the stronghold of commercial softwares are still to be broken.

If you have any good suggestions for the few unknown (?), please leave a comment.

Category Currently using Free? Open Source? Alternative
Web browser Firefox Y Y  
Instant Messaging Gaim Y Y  
SFTP/FTP client Filezilla Y Y  
Text Editing Notepad 2 Y Y  
Graphic viewer Irfanview Y N ?
Vector graphic Illustrator N N ?
PDF writer PDF Creator Y Y  
CD Writer WinXP builtin N N ?
Password management KeePass Y Y  
Anti-virus ClamWin Y Y  

Welcome to Free Biz Ware

Published on 7 July, 2006 in about Free Biz Ware. 0 Comments Tags: , .

Hello there, thank you for coming by Free Biz Ware. My name is Ken and I am a small business owner. Here I will be sharing my experience in using free and opensource software in the office.

Free Biz Ware is a regular column introducing free and/or open source business softwares. Although the focus is on office softwares, I will also be covering personal productivity softwares and utilities for the desktop.

One feature unique this site is the evaluation of the softwares’ usability in an international, multi-language environment. Since my business is in China, it is a must that softwares support English and Chinese.

Feel free to share any experiences you have too. I’m looking forward to learn from you.