Text Box: Productivity Through Technology Text Box: Stylus Newsletter

Text Box: OPEN-SOURCE & FREEWARE—A FREE LUNCH AT LAST! Text Box: Volume 5, February 2005

Text Box: To remove your name from our mailing list, please click here Questions, comments or contributions? E-mail info@stylus.co.za or call 084 4233359 Text Box: Remember that we offer a full range of services, from hardware to software, from databases and web-sites to graphic design, customized training… and good-old fashioned advice! Text Box: Every so often you will come across a voice in the wilderness espousing the virtues of open-source software, or more likely, a doomsday prophet predicting the demise of Microsoft! I seriously recommend that you avoid anyone who tries to convert you “before its too late and Microsoft explodes”. Put them in the techno-geek category and avoid them like the plague.   The idea behind open-source software is simply this: the actual code for the program is accessible to the user. If you are a programmer, you can modify it, or customize it to suite your needs. Copies of the software are available for download from the Internet, and there are large virtual (Internet) communities that support these technologies. “Open-source”  is not necessarily free: there may be a charge involved.   There certainly are benefits to open-source. Take PHP for example, which is a language for the Internet. It Is free—a real ama-10/10 deal. It is VERY widely used (look for .php extensions in your browser address bar when surfing the net). It is well documented, and there is a large on-line community with bulletin boards and newsletters. It is also purported to be more stable to use than for instance .ASP (Microsoft’s equivalent technology).   For the desktop user, there are applications as well, such as OpenOffice. However, you will most likely experience compatibility issues that are beyond the skills of the average techie—let alone the average user! So for instance, you will write a letter in OpenOffice’s word-processor, send it off, and the recipient can’t open it—very embarrassing. (true story—my ISP kept doing this to me!)   Should Microsoft—or you—be worried? Well, Microsoft is losing share to open-source software. This is mainly due to licensing costs. However, this is no secret, and it will be fun to watch how Bill, ever the marketing genius, defends his domain. Microsoft remains the most widely used desk-top software, and don’t expect to see this changing anytime in your working life.   Freeware is free software from the Internet—yep there is such a thing as a “free lunch"! Stylus already uses: 1. Skype. As we see people using VOIP (using your PC as a telephone over the Web—international calls at local rates!!), watch the clamor for software such as Skype. Get chatting! Down with Telkom? 2. Plaxo. On-line address book with other cool features. Makes your addresses available from anywhere, and acts as an off-site back-up. Integrates fully with Microsoft Outlook, and helps you keep your contacts up-to-date. Creates a cool looking signature, too! 3. Flash Player. A little plug-in (in other words it is integrated into another application, and is not a stand-alone)  for your Internet Explorer that allows you to view Macromedia Flash content which is widespread on the Web (we use quite a bit of Flash). A must have!   Links to the above are on www.stylus.co.za under the LINKS section. Please be wary of downloading from the Internet. Installing software from what are ultimately unknown sources is a HUGE risk to your PC’s security, and therefore your general mental well-being! Text Box: “For midsized and large organizations, a significant Linux® deployment will neither be free nor easily accomplished. In fact, respondents at large organizations reported that a wholesale switch to Linux® from Windows® or Unix would significantly increase TCO for the foreseeable future”   -Laura DiDio, The Yankee Group Text Box: For more information on these or other topics, please visit our website, www.stylus.co.za, or call us on 0844233359.