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Open Source: Harnessing the Power of the Software Revolution

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Digital CommunicationThe world of technology is in constant turmoil and change. And while I’m of the opinion that the only point of this is to pry you of your hard earned dollars more often, there is some good that has come out of it. Despite the big software companies trying as hard as they can to dominate and leave you no choice but to pay their inflated prices for computer programs, there is an army of revolutionaries defending the common man. Armed with keyboards and incredible brain power, open source programmers have created tools for us to use that not only rival the corporate giants, but in some cases blow right by them.

But the world of open source is a little bit messy. Even those who have extensive knowledge of computers like I do have trouble finding the best programs to use at times. Because they aren’t driven by profit, open source programs sometimes are buggy and updated irregularly.

Thankfully, there are some stand-out gems that anyone can take advantage of. I use some of these programs on a near daily basis, and have saved myself hundreds of dollars by doing so. I’ve also included a few programs that aren’t open source but still are free to use.

Libreoffice
The descendant of OpenOffice, Libreoffice is a productivity suite that includes all of the necessary office tools. A text editor, spreadsheet designer, presentation creator, and several other programs make it a fantastic alternative to Microsoft Office. While Microsoft’s suit is packed with more features and looks prettier, Libreoffice is completely free and driven by the community.
Estimated Savings: $100-$500

Mozilla Thunderbird
If you are going to ditch Microsoft Office, you’re also going to lose Outlook. But there are other ways to manage your email. I’ve used Thunderbird (which is headed by the makers of Firefox) for years now, and I have to say I like it far more than I ever liked Outlook. It is always one of the first programs I open, and it makes it easy to handle my constantly changing email accounts which typically number around a dozen.
Estimated Savings: $50-$100

Paint.Net
Adobe Photoshop is one of the most expensive pieces of software you can buy. Photoshop Elements is less expensive, but it does lack many of its bigger brother’s functions. There are several alternatives to these programs though. Paint.Net has always been my favorite. It does all the basic photo editing you will need unless you are looking to do some serious graphics work or professional editing. GIMP is another open source photo editor that I’ve heard great things about, but never used personally.
Estimated Savings: $70-$1000

Linux
Most of the programs on this list are for computers running a Windows operating system. But that operating system itself is very expensive if it doesn’t come with your computer. If you want to go totally open source, you can get a Linux operating system. There are hundreds of variations out there of it, and most are completely free and open source. They are also very powerful and customizable operating systems. With that said, I don’t recommend you use Linux unless you are very technologically savvy and are okay with taking a week or more just to familiarize yourself with its inner workings. If you are ready to take this plunge, the Linux distro I’ve used the most and recommend is Ubuntu. Ubuntu is one of the biggest and most popular, and some commercial computers even come with it now.
Estimated Savings: $70-$400

WordPress
If you have a website or are thinking about setting one up, there is no better way to do it than with WordPress. This site, as well as almost all of my other websites, run off of it. It is a free Content Management System that is really built towards blogs, but can be used for other purposes as well. WordPress literally powers hundreds of millions of websites, including some of the most popular on the internet.
Estimated Savings: Varies

Audacity
If you are into audio editing, or just like to fool around from time to time, Audacity is your best bet. It has almost all of the features you need an audio editor to have. And of course, it is totally open source and free.
Estimated Savings: Varies

Firefox
While all the main web browsers are free, I thought it was still worth mentioning Mozilla’s Firefox on this list. It is without a doubt the most widely used open source program, and is one of the world’s most popular web browsers. This is one of the pieces of software that really popularized the open source movement.

Other Free Programs

Google Drive
If you want an online office suite instead of Libreoffice, you can use Google Drive. There are ups and downs to this. You can access your files from any computer when using Google Drive, but you can only get them when you have internet access. I currently use Google Drive for most of my stuff, but I still use Libreoffice when I go offline.
Estimated Savings: $100-$500

Microsoft Security Essentials
There are all kinds of open source security systems out there, but I think that the best free option is actually from Microsoft. Think about it this way; who better to secure an operating system than the people who built it? It also is very efficient and doesn’t take up many resources, which is huge for me.
Estimated Savings: $50/yr

Itunes
I must admit that I absolutely hate Apple. In fact, I have an entire article in the works for this blog about how they are tricking consumers into making the company rich. But all that aside, I do think that Itunes is the absolute best music management software out there, and it is totally free.
Estimated Savings: Varies

And this list is only a small handful of the free programs available in today’s technology world. You can see that the savings really start to add up. Also take into account that the open source and free programs are always free, and you’ll never have to pay for an update. You can save hundreds of dollars per year pretty easily when you use free alternatives to popular software programs. And in most cases, the software is just as good, if not better than what the big companies produce.

Do you have a favorite free program, or one that you find really useful? Let us know in the comments!


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