I've decided after reading in a mag that *cough* cracked *cough* software can be full of spyware, key loggers ect that mabey I should get rid of certain programs and replace them with an equivalent free version. I'm thinking if this takes off mabey it could be sticky'd? The one's I have found so far are (please comment on these programs and suggest more replacement and programs that need replacing): Photoshop replacement: Gimp, Paint.net, Krita, CinePaint, Dreamweaver replacement: Notepad, KompoZer, Office replacement: Open office, Zoho (this is an online version of office), Google Docs (this is an online version of office),
Photoshop: Surely only gimp can be a somewhat different competitor. It just has some used to. Dreamweaver: I have to say that if you are serious about this you should learn one of the two major editors: Vim or Emacs. Take your pick. Office replacment: Although Office is the only software from Microsoft that amazed me (2007) it's mostly because O&O has not gone one step further since SUN was sold. You could still use vim or emacs for most documents or O&O for more specific stuff, however if you have a serious job to take care buy the software needed aka buy Office or iWork or whatever you need. (I say this because I have been hugely disappointed by O&O, Google Docs is mostly for many people to access and edit the same files.
http://directory.fsf.org ? Not a lot but some of them run on proprietary systems as well (such as GIMP). Please do make the difference between open source, free and no-cost, though. The list seems a mixture of all three? If you're purely looking for no-cost software, there's - as you probably already knew - plenty of that about, and most free software comes at no cost. (That's what we in the .biz call a win-win situation, kids!) I agree and disagree. I think a simple text editor like Leafpad, Nano (colour-coding, yay!); or an HTML editor like Geany could do the trick nicely without having to spend five minutes trying to quit your new application (before forcibly quitting it with a hammer)
For web development, my weapons are Paint.Net, Notepad++ and Firefox with FireBug addon, and I'm currently learning the Symfony PHP framework. Who needs an expensive IDE when you have a good framework?? Notepad++ features plugins for code completion and god knows what else. For a test bed environment of .... anything pretty much: VMware Server is free, as is VMware ESXi if you have a separate PC to put it on, so if you need to run a test server, just download an appliance and you're ready. I use Turnkey appliances, and I've added Samba to it, so I can map it as a network share in my computer, edit directly into wwwroot, and then refresh the page.
If you're interested in videos I've always found for compression and simple cutting the free Virtual Dub program to be better than any of the costly video editors e.g. Sony Vegas or Adobe After Effects.
Google Docs isn't a proper word processing program, it's more like multiplayer notepad. Open Office is hardly stunning either and if you're a student Office 2007 is only about £30. I'd cough up for it (I got it for free from the school, though).
+1, best free software site I have found. Generally stays up to date and explains available options for each category rather than eulogizing about one app.
