I Just Dumped ALL M$ Products...

...and I couldn't be happier.

The other day I was thinking about buying M$ Office so I went to Amazon and was SHOCKED at the listed prices....$350 - $400 for the full version that includes Outlook. That really pissed me off, so much so that I decided right then and there to dump all my M$ products.

It's the best decision ever. Initially I thought that I would just deal with using inferior products but came to realize there is nothing inferior about the FREE Open Source products that have now replaced my M$ programs.

I replaced:

M$ Office -with- Open Office

M$ Outlook -with- Mozilla Thunderbird

M$ IE7 -with- Mozilla Firefox

M$ Expressions Web Designer -with- Dreamweaver

M$ Desktop Search -with- Copernic Desktop Search


Honestly I find that all of these Open Source (Dreamweaver is not Open Source or free) products are just as good and in some cases WAY better than the M$ equivalent.

Now I find that my system resources are freed up and I'm getting better performance from my computer.

[edit on 4/14/2007 by kinglizard]

i never spent a peny on my MS software apart from 120 on my XP media

KL, how are you liking open office?
I was considering, testing it at work. On a few hapless users.

Oh, and be careful about announcing dumping M$ products.
Bill Gates may figure out how to charge disposal fees!

lol spacedoubt.

Open Office has programs that replace Word, Excell, Powerpoint, Acess. It also has a drawing program like a supped up M$ paint.

So far I can't find anything that it doesn't do. It loads fast and all the toolbars and names are basically the same. The Word program doesn't correct grammar and there isn't a synonyms deal in the right click menu but really I'm impressed with the suite. The excell program seem the same as M$.

I like that the programs can be set to save all documents you create in the M$ equivalent format.....this way you can send them to anyone that uses M$ programs.

I haven't really put all the programs to task but I don't see any obvious shortcomings. I highly recommend the download. Heck you don' tneed to uninstall M$ even, just don't set Open Office as the default programs and give it a test drive.

Im a Wordperfect user myself which causes problems with work as they are all Word bastions. Ive used it since it came on 5 1/4 inch floppies. I was a power user as I had a HUGE 20 MB hard drive that looked like a cut down shoe box

I've used Firefox since the beta version, and have used Thunderbird for a long time.
I have GIMP and a few others, but don't use them much.

I have one problem.........

I have a system that I've been putting together, mostly when I have the money to gather the parts, or I salvage something from another system.
But it's all good stuff.

What do people recommend as a good open source operating system.

I've been using M$ for so long,(since 3.1), I'm a little afraid of trying something else.

Too funny Fred...just the other day I ran across some 5 1/4 inch floppies from "back in the day". lol

You should try Open Office Fred, it's easy to work and you can save in M$ formats.

Now you just have to dump Windows and your transformation will be complete.

Yeah I'm not quite ready to make the jump to Linux yet though I should install it on my old computer to get a fee for it. Don't you need to manually install programs using that operating system? Or is that the old days of Linux?

I think Linux is a lot easier than it used to be, but I'm still not really sure if it's that great for a desktop OS for general use. I was thinking more Mac OS X....I guess that'd have to wait until you purchase a new computer, unless you are really brave and want to try some fo the unofficial hacks that have been used to get it running on non-Apple x86 machines.

I don't buy software, I get it from the backdoor lol

But for real, such high prices for simple software?!!?!? Damn.......

I'm glad I get everything free

I should even get a car for free lol

from what i have heard linux is as easy to install now as windows xp would be. couple clicks while it sets up.

I think you can download dvd iso's no problem, I have heard ubuntu is a good starter linux distro...


I still use xp though since linux doesnt really offer some apps im into, but for simple office use it seems fine...

i agree i hate microsft i upgraded to vista the other day and its slowed my computer down to # it so bloody crap.

WooHoo -

Thanks for the great downloads kinglizard.




Price no longer reflects quality with any predictability.

Anxietydisorder,

You can go here:::

Live Cd List

Check out and download several of the ones that interest you.

Most can be tried out with CD loading programs to see if you really like the system,,

Semper

[edit on 4/15/2007 by semperfortis]

Originally posted by kinglizard
...and I couldn't be happier.

Hey did you dump your operating system as well. I have heard a lot of people say that susie linux is the way to go on operating system. I too am exceedingly angry at the price of Ms word and like products.

Don't become a Mac user, they're so smug and arrogant...

Also switching to something other than windows will make it much harder for you to find compatible software. I don't know why so many people complain about Windows I have no trouble with Windows itself...

Meh...

One small step for a man... one giant leap for potential nerdkind.

Don't forget GIMP replaces Photoshop (there is even a Windows port).

I expect you will eventually decide to transition to Linux as your open source OS. I've heard good things about Ubuntu from newbies so that's probably the way to go to break your Windows habit. I prefer debian myself, but I've been working with *nix for well over a decade.

It's definitely a learning curve if you've never even had shell access before. But man... once you rid yourself of MS completely, you'll feel like 10 years have been added to your lifespan. Your hair will grow back, with less gray at that. Your account balances will swell. Women (or men, whatever) will want to be with you. Birds will sing, children will laugh, and your life will become one happy happy joy joy adventure.

Originally posted by apc
I expect you will eventually decide to transition to Linux as your open source OS.

You know I don't think I would want to just switch right off. Maybe a dual OS boot or I could get my old computer put back together and install linux on that one. I really would like to get some experience with the operating system and experiment a bit.

Oh definitely. You can expect to destroy your Linux system many times over before becoming decently competent with it.

Another option would be some kind of virtual environment like VMWare or Microsoft's Virtual PC (it's free I believe). Something where you can have an entirely independent virtual computer system contained within a window on your desktop. When it explodes... who cares just delete it and make a new one!

[edit on 18-4-2007 by apc]