| Microsoft is probably the richest software corporation | | | | acrobat by letting you create PDF documents. |
| in the world. They make money on selling software | | | | I just upgraded my computer and gave my old one |
| plus they also make money when you need help with | | | | to my younger brother. Now this old computer has |
| one of their software products by charging you for | | | | windows on it but knowing my brother if he ever |
| support. I remember when Microsoft released DOS | | | | gets a virus he will not be able to handle it. Knowing |
| 6.0 and millions of computers around the world | | | | this I am thinking about converting my brother over |
| crashed because the software had a lot of bugs. You | | | | to Linux because all he uses now is Dreamweaver |
| would think then that a company would have to fix | | | | and MS office and I think he would be perfectly |
| this problem free of charge but not Microsoft, they | | | | happy with open source software. Plus if there are |
| charged you for the upgrade to DOS 6.2 which fixed | | | | 10 viruses that can hit Windows then there would |
| the problem in the product DOS 6.0. | | | | only be less than one virus for the Linux operating |
| Over the past decade I have spent a fortune on all | | | | system. |
| sorts of different software products but those days | | | | In the old days Linux like Unix was all done at |
| are over. I have found a great solution where the | | | | command prompt but nowadays they have a |
| software is free, you just either make a donation or | | | | graphical interface which looks like a Windows clone. |
| pay for support. Now with this type of software, | | | | Over the years I have bought a lot of software that |
| besides being relatively inexpensive, you a free to | | | | I later discovered somebody had obtained as open |
| use it as is or if you are a programmer you can | | | | source and then modified it. If you want to make |
| modify it. Most of this software will either run as a | | | | money as a designer of software then rather then |
| stand alone product or software like a Content | | | | starting from ground zero you can get an open |
| Manager you install it to the host where you have | | | | source application and just add a few modifications. |
| web hosting and you can just run it in a browser like | | | | This will greatly reduce the time it takes for designing |
| IE. | | | | a new software app... |
| I used to use Dreamweaver to design all my | | | | Now another kind of software that is practically free |
| websites but we're talking at least several hundred | | | | is what is called freeware. The difference between |
| dollars just for the Dreamweaver and if you want | | | | open source and freeware is that the Freeware |
| the complete suite which is Macromedia studio then | | | | application has already been compiled and you are not |
| you're looking at spending over a thousand dollars. | | | | able to modify it or even replicate the coding. I, |
| Now with this package the only support that is | | | | myself, when looking for software have mainly just |
| included is the stuff that is in the manuals that comes | | | | been looking for applications that I can use. Usually I |
| with the package. If you want support in plain english | | | | will see an advertisement for a product with a lot of |
| then you are going to have to pay for additional | | | | features that I would find useful. I then look for |
| support. | | | | either a Freeware or open source package that has |
| Nowadays I am using an Open Source product called | | | | the same features. This is one way that I save |
| VNU which has a Windows version but it also has a | | | | money. |
| version for the Macintosh and for Linux which I'm | | | | If you want more information on what you can do |
| thinking about converting over to. Rather than paying | | | | with open source software they all follow a general |
| for a package like Microsoft office I am using | | | | license which if you do a search on a site like Google |
| OpenOffice which is a free open source solution. | | | | you will be able to find many references regarding |
| OpenOffice has a lot more features than the | | | | this open license. |
| standard Microsoft Office, it incorporates Adobe | | | | |