SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY The Friendly Tech
GLEN ELLEN, CA. ~ This month I am going to begin to talk about open source or free soft- ware and how using free
community
based alternatives to expensive com- puter programs can save even the basic computer user a few hundred dol- lars, and some even more! Open source software is comput- er software that the creator or copyright holder has licensed it so that anyone can study, change or distribute it free of charge. Open source software is often developed in a col- laborative manner. There are also many programs that are not open source but can be used and shared for free with no ad’s or sales involved, just great software for free. Some common open source software you might of heard of
or used are Mozilla FireFox, Thunderbird or
Open Office set of programs.
processing program as well as a strong spread sheet pro- gram very similar to Microsoft Excel called Calc. It also has great programs for creating slide- shows and presen- tations, diagrams, maintaining data- bases and com- pose math formu- las. Libre Office is completely free and runs on both windows PC’s and Macs. Compared to its paid equiva-
piece of
UPBEAT TIMES • September 2013 • 12 FUN Facts & Trivia - 4
Using Open Source by Ben Hampton • Questions? E-mail:
Ben@sonomapcrepair.com the popular
www.Libreoffice.org you can give it a try before purchasing something else. (they do ask for donations if you enjoy the product and feel you can) The
second common software that can
So, what are the best free pro- grams and how can they save you money? Read on to learn more about software that does what you need and more all for free. One of my favorites programs is something called Libre Office, it is an advanced (but easy to use) office suite comparable to the popular Microsoft Office.
It has an easy to use and powerful word People’s Music THE WORLD’S GREATEST MUSIC STORE
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Instrument Sales & Rentals Repairs Books & Lessons 12 • September 2013 • UPBEAT TIMES • 707-494-1767
lent’s you can save between 100-250$ by using free office software. It can open docu- ments sent to you by other people and save them as Microsoft word, the world standard, so anyone you send files to can access them eas- ily.
I recommend everyone
download it and give it a try because it is completely free and easy to install. Just go to
be expensive is photo edit- ing tools. They can histori- cally be hundreds of dollars. If you interesting in medium to advanced photo editing or graphic design then there is a great program you should know about called Gimp. It is another open source project but this time in the world of graphics. Gimp is a power- ful photo editing or graphics tool that has tools used for image retouching and editing, free-form drawing, resizing, cropping, photo-montages, converting between different image formats, and more. It might not be enough for
some businesses but Gimp has far more tools than most of us know what to do with. It is VERY similar to Adobe’s
Fish Tails! One's that didn't get away!
September begins on the same day of the week as December every year, because there are 91 days separating September and December, which is a multiple of seven (the number of days in the week). No other month ends on the same day of the week as September in any year.
Photoshop but at a much more reasonable price for the causal user. Free or donation, www.
gimp.org Similar programs sell for between 90-600$ so gimp can be a great find. It also runs on both Mac and PC and can open and save to almost any file format. I hope that these two tips can help you get more out of your computer! Read next month to hear about the best free or lo-cost tool for every- day computer use like email and web surfing. As always if you have any question large or small about free tools, get- ting your computer set up to use them or have a question in general about technology please email me!
On the Left:
The Big One!
Ron Cassero's grandson, Christopher(left) and friend
Andrew(holding fish). Literally on their first cast of the day at Lake Sonoma, Christopher landed a HUGE 7lb bass!!
Got a photo & a fish tale to go with it? Send it to:
upbeat@upbeattimes.com
Video links also accepted if you have it recorded and we'll create a QR code so people can view! Call Upbeat with any questions! 707-494-1767
If passion drives you, let reason hold the reins. ~Benjamin Franklin
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