Freebies from the Web

Hank Maierhttp://Copland.UDel.Edu/~hankudel

http://www.MaierAssociates.com/

The Things Bill Gates Never Told Me

or

Overview● The Open Source

– “non-profit corporation dedicated to managing and promoting the Open Source Definition for the good of the community, specifically through the OSI Certified Open Source Software certification mark and program..”

– The basic idea behind open source is very simple: When programmers can read, redistribute, and modify the source code for a piece of software, the software evolves. People improve it, people adapt it, people fix bugs. And this can happen at a speed that, if one is used to the slow pace of conventional software development, seems astonishing.

● Read more at http://www.opensource.org/

OVERVIEW● Free Software Foundation

– Welcome to the GNU Project web server, www.gnu.org. The GNU project was launched in 1984 to develop a complete Unix-like operating system which is free software: the GNU system. (GNU is a recursive acronym for "GNU's Not Unix"; it is pronounced "guh-NEW".)

– Free software is a matter of freedom: people should be free to use software in all the ways that are socially useful. Software differs from material objects--such as chairs, sandwiches, and gasoline--in that it can be copied and changed much more easily. These possibilities make software as useful as it is; we believe software users should be able to make use of them.

● Read more at http://www.gnu.org/

Some Terms

● Freeware - Free● Shareware – Free to download and try, Volunteer

payment expected if you keep it and use it. May have expiration algorithm

● “Nagware”- Every so often program “nags” user to buy it.

● “Adware” – displays ads in banner. May be configurable for your interest, IMO don’t do it or you may attract SPAM

● Demo Packages -

Some Packages

● Open Office (Comparable to MS Office, Can interchange documents with MS Office, Commercial version Star Office from Sun)

● TextPad (superior replacement for NotePad)● AVG (Antivirus software comparable to Norton or

Macfee)● AdAware (Eliminates spyware – if you don’t have

it – get it!)

Some Packages II

● IRFANView (Free image processing software)● Utilities:

– SamSpade (Evaluates Email to identify source of Spam, useful to IP addresses)

– Link Sluth – Find broken links and other stuff about your web site

– Check Ports (Usefull to watch for unauthorized / unexpected WEB activity on your PC.

– Desktop Restore – Fixed your scrambled ICONs when Windows forget where you put them.

Some Packages III

● LINUX – A very nice UNIX alternate to Windows● Apache Web Server● PHP – “Easy to use” Web scripting language● MySQL

– Full relational DB system comparable to Oracle or MS SQL Server,

– Low cost hosting services tend touse MySQL

Cost Savings

● MS Office - $150 - $500● Notron Antivirus $20 - $40● Image viewer and editor $20 - $40● Spywear eliminator $20 - $40

● Totals $210 - $620

Pluses & Minuses – Good Stuff

● High quality software● Very affordable software (Free or Mostly free)● Generally compatable - built to standards● Being a “little to a lot” GEEKY helps

– “No geeky” needed --> TextPad, IRFANView, AVG, ADAware

– “Little geeky” --> Open office– A Lot geeky --> Free LINUX (a “little geeky” buy

a distribution of Linux

Pluses & Minuses - Buyer Beware

● Pick a reliable vendor● Research title first● Could be poorly written code resulting in danger

to your PC● Could be a Trojan Horse / Virus – not likely if you

do the above two steps.

Where do I get FREEBIES

● http://www.tucows.com/● http://www.openoffice.org/● http://www.grisoft.com/us/us_index.php (AVG)● http://www.irfanview.com/● OR the source of all knowledge

– http://www.google.com– http://www.yahoo.com– Other search engines

Demonstrations

● OpenOffice

● IRFANview

● SamSpade

● AVG

● AdAware

Conclusion

● High quality software is available for Free or at least very cheep

● Requires the user to look for it

● Being a little geeky helps

● I use the packages I discussed today

Questions & AnswersQ. How was this presentation developed?

A. This presentation was prepared using Open Office !!! ): !!!

Saved in Powerpoint Format Shown in IE

Your Questions?