Free Software for Your Business.
In this age of the computer, and the Internet, it is not unusual for a business, no matter how small it is, to relay on software to perform daily tasks like accounting, bookkeeping, preparing documents, e-mailing, and telephoning. Some of the software can be expensive, and may not be within the budget of certain businesses. Free alternatives are available, and based on my own experience, some of them are as good as their expensive counterparts. Let's now have a look what free software applications are available for common business activities.
Getting free software is not difficult. The best place, basing on my own experience, is download.com. For example, if you are looking for a free accounting software, just key in free accounting as your keywords, select software from the drop-down box, and click on green 'go' button or hit enter. Before, you commit yourself to using a software, make sure it is compatible with your system, and if necessary, in compliance with the law. This is especially true for accounting, investment, and taxation software. For other applications like word processing, and spreadsheets, you may either download single programs or a suite. The most popular free suite is OpenOffice.org. Like its rival, MS Office, OpenOffice.org comprises a word processor, a spreadsheet, a database, and a presenter. It is also important to make sure that the software you plan to use can handle a specific type of file format that is normally used by its expensive popular counterpart. For example, if you wish to use a free word processing software, make sure you can save your documents in the .doc format as this is the most widely used format. To some people, free synonymous to inferior quality. In fact, there are software applications that are a good as their expensive counterparts, and in certain cases, even better. This, I have experienced it myself before.
Since there may be so many free versions of a particular software, you may be wondering which is the best one. One way to find out is to see the number of downloads for each of them. You can fairly say that the version with the most downloads is the most popular. Before, you download any software, read its description to see if that is really the version you need. Also, if possible, see any ratings they may have for the software. The higher the
rating, the more reliable the software is. You may want to read the review for the software if there is any. However, it may be as reliable as the rating. It is more reliable if it was written by someone who is well-known in a particular field that utilizes the software. For example, a review by a famous graphic artist for a graphics software carries more weight than an ordinary person's. Sometimes, a bad review does not really mean it is not worth trying the
software. It is possible that someone from a rival business to deliberately write a bad review in order to create a negative download of the product as the download page may be used to attract people to the product's website where income is being generated for the company via advertisements, affiliate programs, and other means. The same goes for the good review. The software maker may get someone to submit a well-written good review for its software with the hope attracting a large number of downloads. Of course, honest software producers will not resort to such measures but instead rely on honest reviews to improve their products. Even if the review is an honest one, it may be necessary reliable as it depends on the opinion of the reviewer which may not accurate or correct. Therefore, it is better to try out the software, and if you like it, keep it.
An alternative to downloads is online application software. Google now has a word processor, and spreadsheet for the people to use online. This eliminates the need of having to download software. All you need is a web browser.
People who are fed up of Windows, may want to consider using Linux, a free alternative. They are different versions of Linux which include Mandrake, Debian, and Red Hat. There are also different versions of interface the Linux OS which include KDE, and GNOME. Make sure you back up all the work you have done on Windows before trying to install Linux.
Never download the full version of a non-free software that is distributed as free unless the original maker of the software has officially authorized the distribution. If you discovered such offer, confirm it with the original manufacturer first before proceeding with the download. Do not contact the person or organization who uploaded the software. Do not use the contact info of the original manufacturer found on the download page. Instead, go to the actual website of the manufacturer, or the yellow pages or any other reliable source to look for it. What I mean is if for example, you a see a free MS Word available on the Internet, check with Microsoft first before downloading it. It is even better that you read Microsoft's terms on their official website. If it says in their terms that they do not allow anyone to distribute their software for free for whatever reasons, then, the person who uploaded the software had performed something illegal. You may want to be a good citizen by reporting the matter to Microsoft. Do not report the matter to the download site as the site may be owned by the person who uploaded the software. For a download site with a good reputation, this should not have happened at all.