Great Alternatives To Expensive Software
Most new business owners are strapped for cash. Inventory, payroll, business licenses, trade certificates, advertising, and lead generation are just a few of the start-up expenses that a new business must face. Certain expenses are nonnegotiable, leaving the new business owner to decide what to do with the money that is left. Often the new business owner simply cannot afford to pay for expensive software applications, many of which are priced in the hundreds of dollars.
Yet there is always a tradeoff, as quality must not suffer. Documents put together in a haphazard manner send a message that the company is small, broke, and untrustworthy. It is critical for the new business owner, who does not yet have a solid list of references, to exude professionalism in every aspect of his business.
This is where freeware comes into the picture. The concept of freeware has its history in the early days of the personal computer. Originally, computers were hulking machines, much more impressive for their sheer size and mass than for what they could actually do. The self-taught engineers of Silicon Valley were much more interested in perfecting the hardware than in ensuring practical usability for the home market. This opened up a niche for self-taught engineers in other parts of the country who, as they had paid a lot of money to buy these machines, had a vested interest to see what they could make them do. So they made programs and released them to their friends and acquaintances. As they acquired modems and began logging into BBS’s (basically forums before we had the Internet), they began to distribute their programming more widely. Shareware began to develop, in which a program was released for free as a slightly limited version, and by sending a small amount of money (usually $5-$10) to the programmer, the user would receive a code to access the complete program.
A reasonable alternative to costly software applications is freeware. Freeware has its roots in the earliest days of personal computers. Back then, computers were impressive to look at, but not so impressive to use. Computer designers in those days were largely self-taught, experimenting in their home garages in Silicon Valley. Their interest was in building a machine that would work. As the early computers reached other areas of the country, others took on the task of developing programs, giving the computer a new level of functionality. The early programmers wrote software for themselves and their friends. Gradually the programs were released to a wider audience through the use of BBS’s (the early forerunner of today’s forums). They were often released with a few key features disabled. For five or ten dollars sent to directly to the programmer, the user received a code that unlocked the full functionality of the program. The disabled versions of programs were known as shareware.
Thus an entirely new niche had been born, with a new market created by those tired of spending ever more money on software that still wasn’t without its faults. Freeware designers have answered the call of very many and their work is admirable, often superior to the paid alternatives. The freeware of today is often provided as “open source,” meaning that the code is available to anyone who cares to use it. This allows any user to add his own twists, and even to release his adaptations for public use.
The selection of freeware available today is huge. Open Office (www.openoffice.org) packages a word processor, spreadsheet and database program with a multimedia presentation program and even a very usable graphics package. Mozilla’s offerings (www.mozilla.com), notably the Firefox web browser and Thunderbird e-mail, are superior in innumerable ways, particularly in stability and safety. Gimp photo editing (gimp-win.sourceforge.net) and Free Accounting Software (www.freeaccountingsoftware.net/default.aspx) complete the basics of what the average home-based business owner should need.
New home-based business owners often have limited assets. They must carefully budget their resources and attempt to get the most functionality for the lowest price. Freeware software options are the most cost-effective, and provide a reasonable facsimile of more well-known applications. They also offer additional ways to personalize the computing experience, as well as adding features and functions.
Michael Hawkins runs the revenue sharing article directory Ask-Us-1st.com. Submit your own software related articles in the Computer and software section.
Comments
Leave a Reply
