Free Software article discussion

prowla

FrugalFriend wrote: »

New school and college term starting now, so just the right time to mention a new free software app I've found. Its a note taking application called KeepNote. I've found this fast, simple to use and very useful. its completely free software (GPL licensed) and available for GNU/Linux, Windows and Mac OSX.

KeepNote complements OpenOffice, and makes it a complete replacement for MS Office, with its OneNote, note taking software.

When I initially downloaded KeepNote I was a bit confused, but its really easy. It works on the metaphor of notebooks, and within each notebook there are pages of notes, just like in a real paper notebook. You can give each notebook a different name, and save the relevant notes into it, so your notes are automatically organised.

To start just click the File menu at the top left, and click "New Notebook". Then name and save your notebook. Now you're ready to add pages by clicking the New Page button top left.

Let's not get carried away with this - how does a note taking app make OpenOffice a complete replacement for M$ Office?

free4440273

Office 'alternative ' ///

http://www.documentfoundation.org/download/

hannoja

Brockyman wrote: »

Just did a quick search and no-one seems to have mentioned PHOTOSCAPE. My daughter and I have both been using it for over a year now and are very pleased with it. It's a fairly basic photo editor but with some very useful tools and features, nowhere near as advanced or complex as Photoshop or Gimp. It also works with RAW files which may be useful.
Free download from http://www.photoscape.org/ps/main/index.php

I still use an old copy of Paint Shop Pro, and use Gimp occasionally, but this looks cool. The only thing putting me off investigating it further is that LinkExtend shows two warnings: from BrowserDefender and Norton, both reporting an embedded link to malicious site 'brothersoft dot com'. I believe BrowserDefender and Norton are 'related', and I'm not a fan ('fell out of love' with Norton a while back); and also, other checks suggest Photoscape is fine. It's obviously not caused you any problems either, so I probably will take a closer look at it some time. (Probably just a case of being careful what I click on/allow in NoScript..)
Thanks

Ximian wrote: »

Large list of Freeware available here: http://www.bestfreewaredownload.com/

WoT prevented this site opening for me, due to a few malicious software reports, so I'll stick with safer sites.

celler

gizmos freeware site i have used for years and cant praise it highly enough.


http://www.techsupportalert.com/

dane_c1987

Hello,

A worthy addition to the 'Student? Get MS Office 2010 Super Cheap' section I believe would be Phoenix Software. They're selling the latest versions of Microsoft Office for both PC and Mac for £38 which is pretty darn cheap. The prices are kept at at the 17.5% VAT rate as well.

Find them at:

phoenixs.co.uk/microsoft-office-student-offer/

Cheers,

Dane

FrugalFriend

prowla wrote: »

Let's not get carried away with this - how does a note taking app make OpenOffice a complete replacement for M$ Office?

Because if you add a note taking application such as KeepNote, OpenOffice then has similar software applications compared to MS Office. In fact, it is more complete than MS Office Home and Student, which has no database application:

MS Office Home and Student
Word - word processor
Excel - spreadsheet
Powerpoint - presentation
OneNote - note taking

OpenOffice and free software
Writer - word processor
Calc - spreadsheet
Impress - presentation
*KeepNote - note taking
Base - database
*Thunderbird - email client

* extra free software not part of OpenOffice

ecoten

Some of the developers who used to work for OpenOffice have now moved away from Oracle's OpenOffice and established a separate Document Foundation to continue development of OpenOffice under the name LibreOffice without having one single commercial interest directing the project.

I hope I've explained that well. See also
computerweekly.com/Articles/2010/10/12/243295/Can-Openoffice.org-rival-Microsoft-with-Libre-Office.htm and many other websites for more information.

See also the Document Foundation's own explanation:
documentfoundation.org/faq/

If MoneySavingExpert wants to support the new LibreOffice then maybe the Free Software page could be updated and references to OpenOffice could be swapped for those to LibreOffice?

Dave_C_2

The original article puts Picasa in the on-line tools section but not in in the photo-editing section, but I cannot understand why.

It's just so easy to use as a photo-editing program, which is why I ditched photoshop years ago. If all you want to do is "tidy up" your pictures, it's the best there is!

I also couldn't manage without Avira, CCleaner, Foxit, Audacity, Free Download Manger for Firefox, Thunderbird, 7-Zip and MBAM.

Did I mention that Picasa is a great photo-editing tool?

Former_MSE_Becca

This discussion is now closed - please read the new Free Office Software: Alternatives to Word, Excel, PowerPoint article thread for the latest info.

MSE Becca