Imagine that you have just bought a new computer. It might easily have cost you upwards of four hundred pounds. So you get it home, plug it in, manage to look at some web pages, and… then what?
You probably want to use it to type some letters. You want to create your Christmas cards on it. You want your children to do their homework on it. But there is a problem. You don’t have the right software to do it.
What is software?
Software is what tells your computer how to do a given task. It controls what you see on the screen, what your documents look like, and what you can create. You may have seen a lot of fuss recently about the iPhone and other mobile phones using ‘Apps.’ Apps is short for applications which is just another name for software.
Typical software on a home computer
A home computer typically has software installed for these tasks:
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An operating system such as Windows or Mac OS X (Normally supplied with the computer.)
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Security software to keep viruses away.
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A web browser to view web pages with.
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Web browser plugins including Flash, Java and a PDF viewer.
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An office suite for producing documents.
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Page layout software for desktop publishing.
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Email software. (Not required if you use Web email)
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A music player and store.
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Instant Messaging and communications software.
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A photo and image editor.
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CD and DVD creation software.
What came with your computer?
When you purchase a new computer it will come with some basic software that you need to get going, normally including Windows which tell the computer how to do the most basic things. You will probably also have a (time limited) trial copy of some anti virus software to keep your computer secure, and you might even get a copy of Microsoft Works which provides basic capabilities for typing documents and using spreadsheets. Most people will purchase some form of security software and a copy of Microsoft Office, at some considerable expense. A typical cost is around £40 for a copy of Norton Internet Security, and £90 for Microsoft Office Home and Student edition. If you are purchasing for business use, the price of Microsoft Office rises dramatically to around £190 for Microsoft Office Home and Business edition. (You will be breaking your license agreement if you use the home and student version for business.)
These costs are not small, especially if you consider the price of Microsoft Office for business can be more than half of the cost of your new laptop. So is there a way around these costs? Don’t worry, there is.
Free software. No, really!
It may surprise you to learn that you can find much of the software that you need for free. Software can be free for a few different reasons, and there are some different classes of ‘free.’
The first kind of free is simply a loss leader for a business. Often software will be free for home use, but as soon as it is used for business a more costly license must be purchased.
The second kind of free is trial software, which lasts for a limited time before you must purchase the full version, or has less features than the full version.
The third kind of free is “Open Source” software. It is software that has been written by one or many people collaborating, often via the internet, to produce the software that they want to use. The result is given away for free to anyone that would like it. Not only that, but they also release the code and the documentation that was used to create it, so that anyone with the knowledge how can modify the software for their own purposes. The most popular license used for open source software, the GPL, specifies that the software can be sold or given away, but whoever receives it can also sell it or give it away, and the source code used to create it must also be available. The concept of open source software might be difficult to grasp if you are not a programmer, but it has given the world a wealth of software for every conceivable task, all available for free.
So what is the catch? Well, in some cases you might get a cut-down version of the software. You might be encouraged to pay to upgrade to a better version. In the case of most open source software, there is no catch at all for the end user!
If you are interested in using free and open source software this article continues with recommendations for your computer at the Refresh Technology Blog.