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Open Source & Free Software SolutionsHow free is free?
Presented by Deb Forsten
Take a look at Open Source and Free Software solutions and compare the prices
Tips for finding good free alternatives Gain a new perspective on some
software alternatives
The Free Software Foundation refers to open source “free” software in terms of freedom not necessarily price◦ An open source product should meet around 10
criteria to be considered “Open Source” So open source actually refers to the free
access to the source code of a project/application
Note: all open source software is not free and likewise all free software is not open source.
Concept started in the early 1900 with the automobile industry
Gasoline patent holders tried to control automobile makers development – Henry Ford challenged and won – open standards were used up through WWII
Advanced Research Projects Agency Network (ARPANET) – used a similar procedure to share IBM’s operating system in the 50’s & 60’s in computers
In 1983-85 – Richard Stallman(MIT) founded the Free Software foundation to support the GNU Project and the GNU General Public License (GNU GPL or simply GPL)
Open Source terminology and Open Source Initiative (OSI) evolved in 1998 (supported by Netscape.)
Open Source◦ advantages: free,
enormous community of users/developers, always improving the product
Commercial/Proprietary Coding ◦ advantages: more security,
more control, costs more, Why would some one
give away the code? Is it a sub-standard
product? Your decisions should be
based on what you need software to do for you.
Google it Sourceforge.net Osalt.com php.opensourcecms.com/
Office Applications (word
processing, spreadsheets,
presentations, database, image
editors)
Text Editors
Image Editors - galleries
Web Content managers
Audio/Video editors/converters
Not all free software is open source Beware of free applications Definitely beware of added value packages
that you “Check” at the completion of installation
“mywebsearchtoolbar”
Once you find one – Google it for title and spyware
Case Study – Logmein – remote desktop access
Try before you buy!
Free version verses $69.95/annual Pro Version:Basic difference is •file sharing•screen sharing•Drag-n-drop file transfer
Answer the question: what do you need this application to do?
Price: free
Price:$499
Price: free
Price: free
Price: free
Price:$499
Price: free or $25/month depending on the features
Price: $99/month
Price: free
Price:$699-999
Price: free
Price:$399
Orwww.pixlr.com.editor
Price:$149
Free online publishing tool: Issuu.com
Or maybe print on demand: blurb.com
There are hundreds + software solutions in the world of free and open source
It really boils down to what do you need to use software for? Then it!
In these economic times, don’t be afraid to shop for solutions.
