What is Open Source?

Open source software is free software developed by a collective of people working for no other reason than to further technology and provide something of value to the public. Their full agendas may vary, but this is one case where the something for free will not cost you a dime. You can even help in further development of the programs if you want to.

Open source programs compete with programs like Microsoft Office, Norton Anti-virus, Photoshop, Internet Explorer, Windows Media Player, and lots more. Often times the open source programs work even better than ones that cost hundreds of dollars! Below is a list of my favorite open source software and other free software that you might find useful.

Free Anti-Virus

Here’s a shocker! Some free anti-virus programs have been shown to outperform the ones you pay for. An Australian company ran some benchmark tests on quite a few major software programs. Both Avast and Avira came out ranking as good as or better than top tier anti-virus programs like Norton. More information can be found here and links to the download pages are below.

	Avast
	Avira

 

Free Word Processing Suite

Why pay hundreds for the Microsoft Office Suite? Unless you get the student deal where you can get the whole thing for about $60, then I highly recommend trying out Open Office from Sun Microsystems. It is compatible with Microsoft Documents and Excel. If they sold the Open Office Suite it would easily go for a couple hundred bucks. Give it a try.

Open Office

 

Free Photo Editors

GetPaint is a great graphics/photo editor for it’s ease of use and has won several big awards from the software community.

Gimp is much more technical and can allow for some serious graphics editing. Although it is difficult to use, there are plenty of online tutorials available for this open source program.

	Gimp
	Get Paint

 

Free Web-Browsers

Mozilla is setting the standard for open source web-browsing with hundreds of plugins to enhance your browsing experience.

Google Chrome is way faster than any browser you have used before, but lacks many of the great plugins you will find with Firefox. I image this will not be the case for long.

	Fire Fox
	Google Chrome

 

Free Video Player/Editor

Miro is truly an amazing high definition video player. It is compatible with just about any video format and beats Windows Media Player any day.

Miro

 

Free E-mail Client

Manage all your e-mail from one place with something other than Outlook. Mozilla Thunderbird is your open source solution and has tons of add-ons just like Firefox.

Mozilla Thunderbird

 

Free Personal Finance Tools

If there is one thing that you can do to get your finances in order, it’s consolidating all the info at Mint.com. Mint will organize information from all of you online accounts in one place. Brokerages accounts, auto loans, bank accounts, mortgages, and credit cards can all be tracked in real time!

If you need to manage your business accounting and cringe at purchasing programs like Quicken and such then all you have to do is download a free copy of Turbo Cash. If you are paying more than $1 for you accounting software then you are paying too much!

	Mint
	Turbo Cash

Where Do You Buy Medicine?

I never thought much about where I got my prescriptions filled, where I bought Sudafed, or where I picked up medication for colds and allergies. Most of the time it was because I was sick and didn’t really care about the price.

I recently ran out my heartburn medication last month. It was the generic store brand for Gaviscon. I had previously paid between $6-$8 at Walgreen’s for the medicine.

Out of convenience I stopped by CVS and found their generic brand “On Sale” for $8.99. The regular price was over $10 which got me questioning what was going on.
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Say Goodbye to Expensive Printer Ink

If you are burning through ink cartridges and purchasing them from Staples, Office Max, or even Walmart, then you better think twice about how much money you are throwing away on this commodity. The only reason to ever buy ink from a brick and mortar store is procrastination. Read the rest of this entry »

Cell Phone Costs on the Rise

Is your cell phone company killing your wallet? Mine was until just last week. I had Verizon and was paying about $120/month for 2 phones with limited minutes, a basic text messaging package, and mobile web service on one of the phones. Read the rest of this entry »

5% Cash Rewards? Really?

If you are anything like me then you may be asking yourself, “What is the best cash back credit card?” The credit card companies are all promising cash back rewards between 3% and 10% of your purchases, but they don’t give you the details you need to make a good decision.

What do you actually have to do to get these rewards and what are the stipulations attached to these cards? Read the rest of this entry »

	Rent by Mail	Exchange In Store	Watch Online	Buy Online	Blueray
1 rental	$8.99/mo	$11.99/mo (5 in-store exchanges)	X	Yes	N/C
2 rentals	$13.99/mo	$16.99/mo (5 in-store exchanges)	X	Yes	N/C
3 rentals	$16.99/mo	$19.99/mo (5 in-store exchanges)	N/A	Yes	N/C

Blockbuster Overview

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The Walmart Dilemma

I was hesitant to write an article encouraging people to shop at Walmart because I just plain hate corporate America. On the other hand, I love to save money. Read the rest of this entry »

10 Ways to Save in 2010

1- Groceries

Look at the grocery store advertisement that comes in the paper or go online to see what is on sale. Make a grocery list before you go to the store to prevent impulse buys. Avoid entering the store if you are hungry because it will make you want to buy everything in sight. I personally have a sweet tooth and will end up walking out the store with donuts, cookies, and pie if I have not eaten before shopping. Read the rest of this entry »

Double Promo Codes

I recently received a tip about a great deal that Hoover has on vacuums during the holidays. Hoover is offering a double coupon which includes an additional 25% off + free shipping. Read the rest of this entry »

#1 Anxiety Culture

Anxiety Culture brings you a twisted, yet intriguing view of society to keep you sane in such an insane world. This pop-psychology e-zine offers a vault of ideas and self-improvement articles all while maintaining its cynical, anti-work, and anti-establishment philosophy! Read the rest of this entry »