Some Software Sentiments 03/03/2005 They say there's no such thing as a free lunch. But they're wrong; when I first went online, I discovered that the internet was littered with free lunches. It may well be the last place on earth where the free lunch survives and prospers.I am referring to computer software, of course. Whatever you want to do with your computer, there will be a free program somewhere that will help you to do it. When I discovered this, I became a software collector for a while. I tried every program I could get my hands on, right from major applications like word processors, databases and graphics editors, to tiny utilities that did only one thing. So great was my obsession with finding the perfect program for my needs that I even started a database of the ones that I tried so that I wouldn't forget my opinion of each. My computer became full of programs that I'd tried and was using, programs I was evaluating and others I intended to look at one day.When the computer had no room left, I had to be more selective. I began to choose the programs I liked best and get rid of those that I could not justify. In time I became quite ruthless and have now settled upon certain programs that I would not be without.There is Notespad, for instance, a freeware replacement for the text editor that comes with Windows. Apart from doing everything that the Windows offering does, it has many more capabilities, the most important to me being that it can hold many files open at the same time and I can switch between documents by clicking on the relevant tab.UltimateZip is my chosen program for compressing files, it being completely free and yet able to do everything the famous WinZip does, including making executables from zip files. Executables are self-installing files that will run when double-clicked upon.One program that I keep even though I don't really need it, since I have Paint Shop Pro, is IrfanView, a graphics viewing utility. It is just too good to throw away and I use it when I couldn't be bothered to sit through PSP's loading time.Then there is Clippy, a clipboard viewer so much more capable than the Windows version. There's SmartFTP, Lavasoft AdAware and Mozilla Firefox, of course. Even my virus checker is free (AVG - just as effective as McAfee or Norton and it doesn't fill your system files with junk to slow down your computer).So the free lunch is alive and well and living on the internet. Freeware programs can be just as good and sometimes better than their commercial equivalents. But there is one thing they lack and that is packaging.Software that is paid for comes in the most wonderful packaging ever devised. No matter that the box probably only contains a CD and a manual or brief Getting Started leaflet; the software box is big, imposing and cleverly designed. This is not a box that you can just open and extract the contents from. No, a software box is an adventure, intended to add to the pleasure of your new software. Many of them set the buyer a little puzzle to lengthen those minutes of delicious anticipation before you may try out your purchase. Just how are you meant to open this box? There may be an ingenious system of flaps and tabs that has to be negotiated before the end flips open. Very often, to get through the first line of defence is only to discover another box waiting within to prolong your pleasure. And this has to be slid out of the first box before it will deign to open. Sometimes there is a finger-sized hole at one end to enable you to pull out the necessary flap.Oh, they are clever people, those software packaging designers. They know how to whet your anticipation and lengthen the delight of new ownership. And I appreciate their efforts, for there is nothing quite like those first few moments of preparing to try out your latest wild extravagance. I love a good software box and keep all mine lined up proudly on display, a showcase of my excellent taste in software.Something that is dying out in commercial software, however, is the printed manual. Too often these days, software companies are avoiding the cost of printing by including PDF files on the CD. There are still a few printed versions about, however, and I would recommend those produced by Corel and Jasc Software, who own the famous Paint Shop Pro. A good manual lends weight to software packaging, thumping from end to end of the box as you tilt it. It adds a touch of real class to your purchase, its weight announcing that this is no ordinary CD that you have just bought, this is software to be respected and admired.Of course, it is rare for manuals to be read. That is not really their function; they are included to make you feel that your money has not been wasted and to allow you a certain feeling of security in the knowledge that, should you ever need help, it is there in your beautiful, pristine manual. Plus it looks good on your bookshelf. A truly magnificent thing, is a good manual.So there we have my philosophy of software. If you want something that works and is free, someone somewhere will provide you with it. But, if you want all the joys of ownership, all the extras that go with a full software experience, then you will have to pay. Free lunch or dinner at the Ritz, the choice is yours.
Clive
Way Well. I happened by, so I sat down to read the menu and see if anyone scribbled some more messages down at the bottom. I expected that after I was done, I would stare out across the land, thinking what to say next. But while I was reading this, along came SharpReader with all the latest news: Hey, bud. Clive just published a new blog. So I gotta go read that. Save my seat, will ya? Date Added: 03/03/2005
Gone Away Your usual seat is reserved, Way, right by the fire with bottle of wine close to hand. ;) Date Added: 03/03/2005
Way It should be illegal to have this much fun. Date Added: 03/03/2005
Gone Away Way, it probably is in some States... ;) Date Added: 03/03/2005
keeefer come to Oz, fun is compulsory here. If you arent enjoying yourself they will beat you until you start. I love free software too. I run AVG, Adaware and spybot. the combination of those 3 have kept my pc safe for years....mind you i ran my pc unpatched with no virus software for 2 years on the web and never got a single virus so maybe i have a natural immunity. I dont tend to buy software as such, im too busy buying games. Games have gone from the large boxed items you describe down to dvd style cd cases. The manuals have shrunk from 'renaisance women' style tomes, that you could use to raise the height of your monitor, down to 'anorexic supermodel' flimsy things that will barely suffice as emergency coffee spill sponges. More often than not the manual is replaced by a readme file......how useless....like anyone reads anything on a monitor! ;) Date Added: 03/03/2005
Gone Away LOL All true, Keef. :D Date Added: 03/03/2005
Mad My new SuSE 9.1 box is a thing of beauty. A large green box with a lovely grainy texture; where it has 9.1 printed on its surface in a lovely vibrant orange (yes, I like orange) the texture changes to shiny and smooth. Within this box lies another box! This one a plain cardboard brown but cleverly constructed in the way in which it folds. Inside these two containers lies a jewel case containing two cd's and (joy of joys) a satisfyingly weighty manual, which I will never ever read. This packaging alone makes it worth the £20 I paid for it and then when added to the potential wait if I decided to download Linux it becomes worth more than the asking price. Date Added: 03/03/2005
Gone Away Ah, now there's a man who appreciates good software boxes! :D Date Added: 03/03/2005
Keeefer Indeed, I wonder why Hes single ;) Date Added: 03/03/2005
Mad Hey no fair! You know I'm only waiting for the right girl... who writes semantically correct HTML and has lovely CSS. Date Added: 03/03/2005
keeefer Have you written a program called Gawain? :) Date Added: 03/03/2005
Mad Ouch! That hurt Date Added: 03/03/2005
Gone Away Don't worry, Mad, it's just nerd envy. :D Date Added: 04/03/2005
Keeefer lol so true, so true Date Added: 04/03/2005
Josh Gone! It sounds like you need a good file server, cap'n! I have one that has something insane like 100GB of random freeware alone (this includes about 2 dozen full Loonix distros, but still, I am a sourceforge.net junkie). As for new software, I must concur -- My PSP 9 box is quite the spiffster, and I put it in a place of honor with my other titles -- looks smart next to the pure white and lime green Dreamweaver MX 2004 box and all my electronics manuals. No, I am not an interior decorator. :> As for SuSe - blecch -- I know Zee Schermans put somesing schneaky in der boxensie, achtung Herr Mad. Date Added: 04/03/2005
Josh And for the record, I like my manuals rubenesque. Zaftig, if you will. Date Added: 04/03/2005
Gone Away This was in the Win 3.11 days, Josh, when I had 4Mb of RAM and a 630Mb hard drive. It staggers me to think back to those times and how much I managed to squeeze into so little. In fact, I reckon I tried just about every program out there and could have given you a quick run down of advantages and disadvantages to any program you mentioned. I no longer try everything I come across but it still gives me great satisfaction to use a free program that does more than the commercial offerings and watch the sheep rush off to pay through the nose for their Microsoft rubbish. Linux, of course, is another world entirely... Date Added: 04/03/2005
keeefer sadly some of us need to use microshite as our work places deem it the only suitable offering. Personally im tired of the whole windows thing, the extortionate fees aside, the software gets worse with every generation and the size of xp is ridiculous, soon you will need a seperate hard drive just for the O/s. Someone should take gates to the top of the Petronas Towers and demonstrate to him what windows are for. Date Added: 04/03/2005
Gone Away I was lucky enough to work in a place where I decided what went on the computers (no-one else knew anything about them, so I had a free hand). Apart from the OS, which I suffer until Linux becomes useable by the layman, everything else was Microsoft-free. Date Added: 04/03/2005
keeefer Apple should make O/s for the Pc market, they are innovative and far more realistically priced......I think out of all the big vendors Apple seem to still be in touch with the world. Linux is great, i was one of the first people in the UK to 'sell' it. All my techies raved about it and i was impressed with what i saw. I love the idea of the open source market.......its like a commune for geeks ;) Date Added: 04/03/2005
Gone Away I disagree about Apple; I think their OSes are primitive by today's standards. And ugly too (an unforgivable sin, in my opinion). The sooner Apple dies and goes away, the better. But you have said all there is to say about Linux as it is today in your last sentence, Keef. Only geeks can get it to do what they want it to. A great OS wasted because geeks (sorry, Josh, it's a compliment, honest) don't understand what a layman needs. Date Added: 04/03/2005
keeefer So true Gone. Im gonna cry.....i just got told by my boss that i could have got press passes to the Melbourne Grand Prix this weekend! oh well theres always next year Date Added: 04/03/2005
Gone Away Look on the bright side, Keef. The Oz GP isn't nearly as good now they've moved it from Adelaide... Date Added: 04/03/2005
Keeefer Thats true....but press passes! I could have been in the Paddock with all those pitbabes....ummm i mean cool cars Date Added: 04/03/2005
Gone Away You are incorrigible, Keef. And married too now... :D Date Added: 04/03/2005
keeefer Yes i am married now, but there was nothing in the vows to say i had to put out my eyes :) Date Added: 04/03/2005
Gone Away I'm sayin' nuthin'... .oO(doesn't anyone ever read the small print?) Date Added: 04/03/2005
Wayne Whew! I have some catching up to do on this site, what with a recent seven-part story, something about Paris Hilton, and this nifty piece of observation. Me? I admit, I like the software box, garish and whorish as it is. I like the games with textured covers, so blind people could trace the shape of an axe-wielding orc on the cover. I like the drifty application images dissolving into pixels as they waft out of a computer monitor. Inside the box, mostly air, it's true. Anyway, I have to thank your for pointing me towards some free software that I may make my own. (Currently I use Wordpress for my site, which is about as functional as the more expensive Movable Type, I think. I don't believe my HTML is semantically correct, unfortunately.) Date Added: 04/03/2005
Gone Away Ah, I can tell that you're as bad as I am, Wayne. I love boxes like that with all the outrageously expensive graphics and textures and so on. Maybe the marketing research boys have done their job and know just what motivates us... I admit that this was what I call a non-blog, caused by creative exhaustion, but I am always ready to press good software on others. Hey, if it's free, let's get into it! As for HTML, I pick it up as I go along, with constant exhortation and correction from my son, Mad. ;) Date Added: 04/03/2005
Josh Those MT folk - somehow they reckon if they pay for it, their it doesn't stink. ;-) Date Added: 04/03/2005
Gone Away Someone has told them that there's no such thing as a free lunch. Probably Microsoft... Date Added: 04/03/2005
josh Enh, I dunno. For reasons I cannot explain, I have a calculable prejudice in this matter: Mac Elitist = Movable Type User = Saab Owner = Those people sneering at you for holding a cup of 7-11 coffee. Date Added: 04/03/2005
Harvey Young Oh the joy of getting something free. You have created a wonderful post and very useful information. I have been seeing AVG on some of the emails I get from clients. I had no idea that it was freeware and now I think that will be my acquisition over the weekend. I think you are so right about buying a piece of software without a manual. It almost seems as though you have been cheated. I too use PSP and the sizeable manual makes me feel like I purchased something special. I guess I should display it on my shelf, although I still have not read it. I plan on coming back to this post for reference. Funny that there is also no reason to print things any more when you know that the information (or manual) will be archived in a trusted place. Date Added: 04/03/2005
Gone Away Yes, it is a joy to get something for free. Let us thank those who put excellent software out on the net for absolutely no charge. In a strange way, they demonstrate that not all hope for humanity is lost. Date Added: 04/03/2005
Rusty Been too busy writing two VERY long papers to comment, but I've finally found time... I used to download without restraint, and screwed my computer twice by doing so! By being more knowledgeable about such things now, I love the free proggies I can get. I have the usual spyware removers, and like keefer am just 'out there' without anti-virus protection. I don't care about the stuff on my computer, I can get it back. If things get too bad I just reformat. Date Added: 04/03/2005
Gone Away I knew a programmer who used to reformat every month or so as a matter of course. But I hate having to do it because I spend the next week or so getting things back how I like them. One thing I did learn from all that time spent looking at software was which programs to avoid. RealPlayer, for instance, I detest because it's constantly phoning home and giving them who knows what information. If a program needs to phone home, I like it to ask politely first! Date Added: 04/03/2005
Josh Well, if this is gonna be a god permalink for FOSS, I guess I might as well throw in some other ideas that are free (as in beer): A great open source FTP client is Filezilla. Every feature I have ever seen in n FTP client is in this package. You can find the windows client binaries from a link at this page VNC is an easy to use program useful for controlling a remote computer's desktop over a network connection. There are several flavors, but my personal favorite is RealVNC. Spybot Search and Destroy is a great program for removing spyware cookies and registry entries. A lot of people swear by Adaware, but I use both. Good thing to have at hand when Adaware just isn't cuttin' the mustard. Date Added: 04/03/2005
Gone Away Thanks, Josh. Very useful. Date Added: 04/03/2005
Back to the main blog
You may use HTML in comments. A carriage return is <br />, use two for a new paragraph. For bold text use <strong></strong> and for italic text use <em></em>. If you know what you're doing feel free to use more complex mark-up but please no deprecated tags or JavaScript.
Name * Comment * Email * URL Commenting has closed for this post
