Holla' if you like open source software

So, I'm really not that much of a computer nerd, but I am aware of this little phenomenon called "open source software." I'm no expert, but basically it's software by the people, for the people! And that means it's free (but donations are always welcome).

I'm appreciating it anew today because I recently got a new computer. I sucked it up and had Microsoft Office 7 installed on the system, but what I didn't realize until just the other day is that I bought Office basic. Meaning, though I do have Word, Excel, and Outlook, I am missing FrontPage and PowerPoint. Those are two programs I actually have to use for work, too!

So, I was debating about what to do, and even called my friend John to get his advice (which was great. I kept trying to copy the old program files but thankfully he told me that madness was futile and wouldn't work.) But then I started wondering if there was an equivalent to either program.

Thankfully, there is! The "equivalent" for FrontPage is called Nvu ("New View") and you can get it at http://www.nvu.com. The "equivalent" for PowerPoint is called Impress and you can get it as part of OpenOffice at www.OpenOffice.org. (They also have replacements for Microsoft Word, Excel, Access, CorelDraw, and I'm not sure what else.) I put equivalent in quotes because it's not super helpful to think of them as replacements. They are different. But for all intents and purposes, they do the same things. Sometimes, you might argue, they even do it better.

So far, everything is working perfectly. You can even save things in Microsoft-compliant formats. For example, even though I'm creating a slideshow presentation in Impress, which is a totally different program, I can save it in a format that PowerPoint users can handle without any problems.

You probably know that Google is on top of this whole software thing as well. They have created web-based versions of these software programs, as well as web-based email and calendars. I'm sure that's the way it's going...

I am happy for the creativity and development of companies like Microsoft, but I have to admit my little heart leaps when there are democratic solutions like this available.