The Free Software Files

Greetings,

This blog is dedicated to recording my views and experiences as I try out various free and/or open source applications.

For too long I have been wasting my beer tokens on paid for software that either lets me down, or needs a paid for upgrade when the next major revision hits the shelves. So, when I recently decided to buy a new PC, I also decided that I was not going to buy any new software if I could possibly avoid doing so. Instead, I would look to the freeware and free and open source software movements to meet my needs. I have kept some paid for programs that I have used for a long time and for which I have either not found or don’t want a free replacement.

So far, I have met with a lot of success in this endeavour and have found some very useful, reliable tools which I now use regularly. So I thought that it might be useful if I shared some of my findings and so promote some very useful software and show how you can still get lots done without spending wads of cash. I’ll also mention anything I have tried which didn’t pass muster and will use a 5-star system to rate things overall.

And by the way, we’re talking Windows applications here. I use Linux for a few things and get on fairly well with it. However, there are a lot of people out there who don’t, so I guess this blog is more for their benefit.

Anyway, keep an eye out for my first review which will appear on this site soon.