Everyone knows that I, like a lot of geeks out there, am in a love fest with alternative software and use alternative applications all the time. It’s not a mindset, personal preference or a hard-line ultra-religious tunnel-visioned mantra. It’s a necessity to me; what should be common-sense to everyone - that is to use the best software possible in all circumstances. Freeware and open source programs have been installed on my computer since I had one, combined with low-priced software to make a Zen-like tranquil computing experience ready and waiting for me every time I boot.

Oddly enough, not everyone uses alternative software. The reasons are varied from a lack of information or understanding to novice computer users that just use what the people at [insert name of huge electrical congolmerate here] say to use or that came with their system when they bought it. There are die-hard Microsofties that run everything Bill makes as well as that lovable and entertaining group of Redmond haters - Linux diehards (not to be confused with 99.9% of Linux users who are quite normal). Oddly enough these fundemantalist non-conformists act like everyone else in their group, gathering in large numbers on the web, shaking their collective fists at Bill and Company, laughingly telling everyone including gamers to run Linux while secretly also running a Windows box that they don’t tell anyone about because they’d lose their goth-kid status along with their point. Fuuuunnnyyy!

From time to time the alternative software on my machine changes. Sometimes, oddly enough it’s replaced with commercial software because the commercial choice became better than the alternative. This could be due to the alternative software itself becoming bloated, the direction the software was taken by its developer was stupid or it could be that it wasn’t updated enough and another product passed it by in terms of features, performance or price. This, although it happens is inexcusable in the situation of commercial software bypassing freeware/open source alternatives. That just shouldn’t ever happen, people!

Of course alternative software doesn’t just mean free/not commercial software but commercial alternatives to mainstream pay software. Like Adobe Photoshop vs Jasc’s Paint Shop Pro or using WinZip vs WinRAR.

I not only run alternative software on my machine for price, performance and better features but for security. A prime example would be my running Mozilla instead of Internet Explorer or when I ran Forte’s Agent software for my email instead of Outlook / Outlook Express. By running applications that are under the radar of virus-writers and script-kiddy morons, you can usually avoid all of the security problems that occur, although that’s changing somewhat in the case of Firefox as more people use it, more people will target it. The prime rule of all software.

In the future I will be discussing more about alternative software and the evolution of what I used to use vs what I am using now and why.

Are you running alternative software on your machine? Please let us know what you’re running and why you’re not running what everyone else is like Outlook, Norton’s Antivirus, Photoshop, etc. We’d love to know what you’re all running!