Is free software a viable alternative?

In recent years, free open-source software has become more and more prevalent. I’m not talking about shareware, which is has been around for decades – I mean major applications, utilities and even operating systems that are simply free for the downloading.

As one example, this week I’m writing the notes for this podcast using the free OpenOffice word processing program, a very respectable competitor to Microsoft Word for many users, and I’m recording my podcast using Audacity, a free audio recording and editing program.

It got me to thinking … is it possible to run totally free?

My answer is a qualified yes. It depends on your needs, and more importantly, your own abilities.

There are two major stumbling blocks:

First – support for most free software – from the various operating system distributions to applications and utilities – is typically collaborative. By that I mean your best source of support will come from other users of that software in forums, mailing lists and newsgroups. The good news is that there’s often a lot of support. The bad news is that quality varies widely – and ironically, the more you already know, the better your chances of finding good help.

Second – not everything you need might be available, or comparable to commercial equivalents. For example I have yet to find a good money management program to compete with Quicken or Microsoft Money, or a personal information manager to rival Microsoft Outlook.

There are other, smaller issues that range from inconsistent user interfaces, to behavioral quirks to occasional incompatibilities with other programs. Most commercial applications typically adhere to user interface standards, and are run through a bevy of formalized tests. But if you’re willing to deal with some of those kinds of issues, the price is certainly right.

Free and open source software isn’t quite ready for the “I just want it to work” crowd. You’ll still need to be prepared to learn more about the software itself than you might for a commercially available application. However there’s a wealth of software out there, and it’s getting better every day.

I’ve placed links to some related articles in the show notes for this podcast. Visit askleo.info, and enter 9425 in the go to article number box. Let me know what you think, I’d love to hear from you.

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