07th May 2009
Saving money, part 4
In our last post we looked briefly upon brands and not buying more than we really need; but still not be too cheap if it is something we use a lot, and give profit with saved time, or problems with a broken item.
I also briefly mentioned that I use the computer a lot; I would also give an advice for those who use the computers some. Instead of using pirated software or buying expensive software you should have a look at open source software as an option.
In some cases you could do fine with GIMP instead of adobe Photoshop, you could do fine with OpenOffice, instead of Microsoft office etc.
I have a dual boot computer where I use both Linux and Microsoft Windows. I often find the compilers better for Linux than I do for commercial options for Windows, but I still like to be able to use both operating systems as I find both having strength and limitations. I also often write my documents in OpenOffice, but do the spell checking in Microsoft’s office system.
I believe you can save a lot of money by learning about open source options; and I believe them in some instances to be safer to use than commercial products.
The reason I believe open source might be more secure is simple; when people have the chance to view the code they are also able to detect and report security flaws. While using closed source you are limited to trust the engineers of the company. I am sure most people understand how code viewed by thousands of people might be more secure than something viewed by a few security engineers in a company.
Of course, even I know that there are limitations to open source, sometimes we get more of what we need from a commercial product; I am only saying that you as a person, and companies around the world might save lots of expenses to computers if they take the time to evaluate open source products as well.
And for those who wondered; open source and free software don’t always mean it’s free without having to pay for it. You might have to pay to use a commercial edition, or pay for the services. The free we find in open source is often meant as free and open source code; you are able to have the freedom to modify the source code, and distribute it to your friends. But most open source projects do not ask their customers for any payment and is also free without having to pay for it.
-Kentaki-
In our last post we looked briefly upon brands and not buying more than we really need; but still not be too cheap if it is something we use a lot, and give profit with saved time, or problems with a broken item.
I also briefly mentioned that I use the computer a lot; I would also give an advice for those who use the computers some. Instead of using pirated software or buying expensive software you should have a look at open source software as an option.
In some cases you could do fine with GIMP instead of adobe Photoshop, you could do fine with OpenOffice, instead of Microsoft office etc.
I have a dual boot computer where I use both Linux and Microsoft Windows. I often find the compilers better for Linux than I do for commercial options for Windows, but I still like to be able to use both operating systems as I find both having strength and limitations. I also often write my documents in OpenOffice, but do the spell checking in Microsoft’s office system.
I believe you can save a lot of money by learning about open source options; and I believe them in some instances to be safer to use than commercial products.
The reason I believe open source might be more secure is simple; when people have the chance to view the code they are also able to detect and report security flaws. While using closed source you are limited to trust the engineers of the company. I am sure most people understand how code viewed by thousands of people might be more secure than something viewed by a few security engineers in a company.
Of course, even I know that there are limitations to open source, sometimes we get more of what we need from a commercial product; I am only saying that you as a person, and companies around the world might save lots of expenses to computers if they take the time to evaluate open source products as well.
And for those who wondered; open source and free software don’t always mean it’s free without having to pay for it. You might have to pay to use a commercial edition, or pay for the services. The free we find in open source is often meant as free and open source code; you are able to have the freedom to modify the source code, and distribute it to your friends. But most open source projects do not ask their customers for any payment and is also free without having to pay for it.
-Kentaki-
Posted by Kentaki under 
Saving Money 
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