Freeware Alternative

[coathanger007]

Before plunging into your wallet consider this. You probably will not need to make a monetary sacrifice to obtain that software suite. I would suggest thousands of dollars worth of expenditure accumulated over the years in expectation of the well-marketed though somewhat illusive return on investment supposedly directly attributed to the row of boxed, overpriced, legally licensed 'bulk-ware' lining your shelf. But there is hope if you are a home user or non profit organisation...FREEWARE.

Freeware is the alternative sought especially in the face of ever increasing retail software prices, yearly update payment options and the introduction of software licensing schemes. Unbeknown to many is the availability of free legal alternatives for marketed retail software. For example, you can replace Microsoft Office with SOT Office (an enhanced version of OpenOffice), 602PCSuite or EasyOffice. Instead of purchasing McAfee or Norton packages you could download Avast! Antivirus, Diskeeper lite, JV16 Powertools or PC Inspector File Recovery for free. My website is created entirely with freeware !

There are hidden costs such as time taken scouring the net for viable alternatives (though I have searched out the best freeware for you on this site), lack of convenient technical support and no guarantees of the software remaining free in perpetuity. I still believe monetary expenditure saved is well worth the trouble. NOTE: RESORTING TO CRACKED ILLEGAL SOFTWARE IS DOWNRIGHT WRONG. AS A CHRISTIAN AND LAW ABIDING CITIZEN I STRONGLY DISAGREE WITH ANYONE WHO BREAKS THE LAW IN THIS WAY !

For a sample, visit my website

http://decentdownloads.freeservers.com/

I have only included what I perceive to be the best freeware for each category.

[The__tweaker]

For example, you can replace Microsoft Office with SOTOffice (an enhanced version of OpenOffice), 602PCSuite or EasyOffice. Instead of purchasing McAfee or Norton packages you could freely download Avast! Antivirus, Diskeeper lite, JV16 Powertools or PC Inspector File Recovery. Then there is the widely publicised Microsoft court case fiasco where consumers have opened their eyes to superior Internet Explorer alternatives - namely Opera, Netscape or Mozilla. I have not been completely honest with you though. There are hidden costs such as time taken scouring the net for viable alternatives, lack of convenient technical support and no guarantees of the software remaining free in perpetuity.[/B]

Man you can shove that freeware far up your ass and squeeze it..

It won't ever enter my computers..

[PrairieDawg]

Freeware is great! I am constantly looking for more.

coathanger007 ... thanks for the link.

The_Tweaker... get a grip on reality... there are those of us who can not afford the retail versions of every thing and I for one much prefer freeware to warez. Open Office easily replaced MS Office and Diskeeper Lite does a much better job of defragging than XP's built in defragger (way faster and can run in the background without complaining). JV16 does everything that TweakXP does plus some. What about Ad-aware and Spybot? Are you also against those as well? Rivatuner, Cacheman, Gimp, and Trillian ... are they bad too then? Simple free games such as Blip and Blop and games using the Quake engine such as CodeRED Battle for Earth can keep the kids (as well as adults) amused for hours. Are you saying that a program is not good just because it has no price tag?

[MFaction]

_Tweaker runs your life buddy.

[Nosferatu]

Freeware rules. I love that basic layout of most of those programs. No options you will never use, just the stuff that matters and you save a lot of money which you can use to buy a new computer:thumb:

[augie10]

After reading Tweaker's posts for almost a year, and he has never been so against anything as this freeware thing. :confused: He has consistently been fair to all opinions to date.

The site is great for from newbs to so called pro's;) I have a good number of them and would recommend this site as a one stop shop. Took me a year to find all of this on my own.

Open Office is far better than MS Office. It recognizes most if not all formats out there, as opposed to MS, who repeatedly seem to favour their own format and think that there is no world out there.:zzz: Wake up MS, or you will lose your shirts.

*steps off soapbox*

augie

<EDIT> Hey Tweaker, a little explanation on your stand would be greatly appreciated.

[wind]

nice website, so many useful frewares!!!! good job! :cheers:

[Wiggo]

augie10[/size]]
After reading Tweaker's posts for almost a year, and he has never been so against anything as this freeware thing. :confused: He has consistently been fair to all opinions to date.

The site is great for from newbs to so called pro's;) I have a good number of them and would recommend this site as a one stop shop. Took me a year to find all of this on my own.

Open Office is far better than MS Office. It recognizes most if not all formats out there, as opposed to MS, who repeatedly seem to favour their own format and think that there is no world out there.:zzz: Wake up MS, or you will lose your shirts.

*steps off soapbox*

augie

<EDIT> Hey Tweaker, a little explanation on your stand would be greatly appreciated.

Maybe he had a bad night at work and missed his medication. :shrug:

[coathanger007]

Thanks for the encouraging remarks. Does The__tweaker sell retailware by any chance...that may explain his response.

[amd_man2005]

im all for freeware

[minibubba]

don't know what I'd do without openoffice.ord, mozilla, diskeeper lite, spybot S&D, AVG Anti-Virus, Zone Alarm, GiMP, winamp....

I'm a huge fan of freeware and open source products

for those of us poor college students, it is a real life saver

oh, and I left out the best open source product of all: LINUX!


I would like to know why the_tweaker has such a resentment towards freeware and if his bitterness extends to all of the open-source community....in which many of the products are considered freeware

the only freeware I'm opposed to is the dirty kind that has ad/spyare in with it...

here is a great spot for opensource software: http://sourceforge.net/

[kane2g]

there is a difference between freeware, and crapware.
There are plenty of free programs out there, but plenty of them have lots of bugz (not that MS doesnt have any! hehe) but maybe thats why tweaker is so negative on the subject.

[Mr. C]

there is a difference between freeware, and crapware.

I couldn't agree more
Careful study is a necessity before installing any app, free or otherwise. Seems to be more landmines all the time but there are plenty of gems out there in the freeware category if you take the time to research.

all those little utilities I use from day to day are freeware
Nosferatu hit the nail on the head, no bloat and an intuitive interface is a big plus - most of the apps I have made help files pointless, it's all spelled out in the interface.

And, if the app fits on a floppy it gets triple points in my scorecard

Why choose to pay for an app?
the upgrade cycle for software can be as fast and furious as vid cards and CPU's

[zeradul]

Hey Mr. C,

What would it take to get you to post a list of your top 100 favorite (500 if you want) shareware/freeware software titles. No descriptions or URL's or anything necessary. Just a list would do me, and I'll track down the ones I want.

Heck, a screenshot of your freeware folder/folders would do. :thumb:

[Darthtanion]

Welcome back Mr C. :D