by Minh Tran

Created on: October 06, 2008

Thanks to the enthusiasts of the Open Source movement, there are a lot of good freewares available on the Internet (and by freeware, I mean softwares that are free and can be used for an unlimited time). I believe that, at least for personal use, freewares are enought to satisfy all needs. Here is my favourite set of freewares that I really recommend. I like them because of their utilities, user-friendliness, and the support from the communities that develop them.

1. Office programme: OpenOffice (available at www.openoffice.org). This software is nearly identical in both looks and functions to Microsoft Office (up to the 2003 version) with a full set of processors for word, spread sheet, presentation, mathematical functions, and database. That means the switch from MS Office to OpenOffice is easy and smooth. Another small plus is that this software is available in a good range of operation systems (Windows, GNU/Linux, Solaris, and Mac OS X). OpenOffice also enjoys quite constant updating and has pretty detailed instructions. If one does not have MS Office yet, this is a nice (and free) alternative.

2. Graphic programme: GIMP (available at www.gimp.org) and Inkscape (available at www.inkscape.org). I know for sure that they are available for Windows and Linux. GIMP is the open source equivalence of Adobe Photoshop and Inkscape of Adobe Illustrator. Their status as freeware does not undermine their quality, as testified by the reviews I have surfed and my own experience working with them. Tutorials and tricks on how to use these programmes can be found right on the sites that host them as well as quite a few places on the Internet (just google their names).

3. Media player: MPlayer (available at www.mplayerhq.hu). Originally a player for Linux but now a version for Windows is also available. I recommend this software because it can play a wide range of formats and codecs, including those that would not run on my Windows Media Player such as FLAC or MKV.

4. Internet browser: Mozilla Firefox (available at www.mozilla.com). This programme does not need much introduction because it is the classic example of a successful open source software: light and easy to customize with a dazzling range of add-ons and plug-ins, which are contributed by people from all over the world. Security-wise, it is apparently quite reliable. Firefox can run on Windows, Linux and Mac OS X. Its sibling, the email client Thunderbird, is also worth checking out.

5. Security: Avira for anti-virus (available at www.free-av.com) and Spybot for anti-spyware (available at www.download.com/Spybot-Search-Destroy), both are softwares for Windows (actually Avira has a version for Linux but it is not really popular). These programmes are not open-sourced (as far as I know) but they are still free. Despite whatever is said about the unreliability of free security programmes, these softwares have been serving me well with quite constant updating. Plus, they are light so I think they are good to have.

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