I'm a musician, and a lot of my friends are too. We've usually had to buy, beg, or borrow to get software that can handle our tunes. And seriously, I never thought professional-level studio software would ever come to the music industry via open-source. Just didn't cross my mind.
But yes, my friends, it is true! You can now afford to buy a new Macintosh just on the money you'll save on audio editing software alone! Which is good, because you'll need a Macintosh, or an installation of Linux on your PC, in order to run it.
Hey, when a group of hackers puts in 160,000 lines of code on a project, they get to decide exactly which platforms are worthy of receiving their work for free. ;]
Anyone serious about music and audio should, at the very least, visit the site and see what's up: http://ardour.org/
Friday, April 11, 2008
Replace Microsoft Office with OpenOffice
Microsoft Office is a very popular suite of applications used to write letters, manage numbers, keep records, and make presentations. People feel like their computer isn't complete without it. But M$ Office is expensive, buggy, and uses closed formats that don't always work well even with other Microsoft products!
For a refreshing and completely free alternative, try OpenOffice:
http://why.openoffice.org/
OpenOffice offers you the same features and functionality that you have come to expect from Microsoft. You can even exchange documents in Word and Excel formats. Versions are available for Windows, Mac, Linux, Unix, and other compatible operating systems. There's even a special version for Mac users called NeoOffice.
I used to use and develop software for Microsoft Office 2000 on my old Gateway laptop. I was always frustrated with their closed-minded, expensive approach to everything. It is so nice to have a free alternative that meets my needs, without having to give up on sharing documents to and from users that are still stuck with Microsoft!
Try it today. You have *nothing* to lose. Did I mention that its free? ;]
Wednesday, April 9, 2008
Slacker Tools: An Introduction
Many developers, programmers, artists, musicians, hobbyists and users are looking for free tools to get the job done.
Don't want to pay for Maya3D or Lightwave? Yay, Blender!
Can't afford Microsoft Office? Enter OpenOffice, stage left.
There are so many options out there, its hard to know where to begin... Your quest may be full of new learning experiences, new terminology, and new ways of thinking – you need a guide!
In this blog, I will be leading you out of the jungle of commercial software and up the mountain peaks of free and open applications. Our goal here is to be truly capable of purchasing hardware only to meet our needs. I'll be showing you how to survive, and excel, at any task most people would pay thousands of dollars to achieve.
Bookmark Slacker Tools, and let me lead you in your journey to freedom with each exciting new post. ;]
David:.
P.S. If you are a developer looking to monetize your ideas online or sharpen your hacking skills, you should check out my other blogs too:
http://bytethebullet.blogspot.com/
http://takemetoschool.blogspot.com/
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