Free Software

Free is an emotive word. It means different things to different people and it's particularly misleading when talking about software.

If you're a small voluntary community group or charity, you almost certainly have very little money. You want to get the best for your cash (bang for buck) and ideally you would want to spend as little as possible on ICT. (This isn't an excuse to scrimp on strategy and planning.)

Much has been said in recent years about free software, not to mention common misunderstandings about how software licences work. Found a copy of Microsoft Office in the filing cabinet? Won't hurt anyone if you install it on another few PCs? Well, it's illegal (if you don't have the right number of licences) and if you get caught you'll be fined (or worse locked up).

There are different types of free software

1. Software which you are 'given' (this might include freebies when you buy computers)
2. Software which you can ask for (this includes donations from companies and also the CTX programme, albeit the latter has a small admin charge)
3. Free downloads from the internet (you need to be careful about what's free 'for personal use' as opposed to organisations - anti-virus software and firewalls commonly fall into this category)
4. Free software on magazines (again you will need to check use restrictions but most computer magazines come with a large amount of software to try or use indefinitely)
5. Web applications (Google is so much more than a search engine and you can use free word processing, spreadsheets and calendars through Google)
6. Free and open source software [FOSS] (software which the developers have released to the internet and which you are free to use and modify as you wish)

We'll cover open source [FOSS] in more detail in a later article so let's concentrate on the others for now.

Software you are given

It's tempting when buying a PC to be swayed by the goodies pack. Don't be! Do you really need AutoRoute 2007 and PC Golf? Companies don't give you something for nothing and need to recover costs so even though it appears free, you will usually be paying a bit extra. However, like any savvy shopper, you can find good deals and it can make sense to buy something as part of a bundle rather than the more expensive components. The caveat is Buyer Beware!

Software which you can ask for

In the same way some small funders (and corporate foundations) are open to 'please can we have X for the benefit of Y' type communications, it doesn't hurt to ask for freebies. You need to be careful about this and we wouldn't want to encourage thousands of community groups to start badgering software suppliers for freebies but if you think the company might be interested in what you do, it can't do any harm to ask for a piece of software (which will be cheaper for them to provide than to give you the equivalent retail cost in cash). Some companies have defined programmes and restrictions and it's always worth checking out the website and tailoring a letter before making the application.

Free downloads from the internet

The internet is a great source of free software. OK, you won't always know how good it is but there is a massive range of easy to use (and all important, easy to install) software which does everything you could ever need in a small office (or working from home). Some of it will be 'open source', some of it simply older versions of once commercial software that suppliers have released for free. Still more will be software which has simply been donated for everyone to use. There's an excellent ICT Hub Knowledgebase article on this with links to a range of free software to download. Need a replacement for Microsoft Office? Need a design tool to make images? There's something for everyone. Download.com from Cnet is another excellent source. You should be careful about spyware though.

Free software on magazines

Although not technically free (you probably need to pay five or six pounds for the magazine), cover discs can be excellent sources of free software. Again there may be restrictions on 'commercial or organisational use' but there are some real opportunities to be found. PC Answers, .net, PC Plus and PC Pro are common mainstream magazines but there are also specialist Windows (or Linux) ones and even web design magazines with publishing software. We wouldn't necessarily advocate buying them every month just for the software but the computer magazine aisle is worth a wander every so often. And if you think it's only the cheaper end of the market, bear in mind that similar magazines have given away copies (albeit older versions) of Dreamweaver and Fireworks in the past (current retail price in the high hundreds).

Web applications

We'll be returning to Google in the near future but did you know it's so much more than a search engine? Want webmail from your existing accounts? Need maps and route planners? Want to share documents online? Need word processing and spreadsheet software? It's all available for free and plenty more besides. It's not always convenient to need a web connection everytime you want to type a letter but the option is there. Miles Maier, London's ICT Regional Champion has a great blog on web apps (amongst other things) and you can also read about his day to day experiences in a case study. Web applications go well beyond Google and ThinkFree could be well worth a look whilst Knowledgebase offers a broader overview.

Free and open source software

We can't write an article on free software without mentioning open source. The open source community have produced a huge amount of fantastic software from Linux itself to Firebox and Thunderbird (very practical alternatives to Internet Explorer and Outlook). We'll be revisiting the subject in a future issue but wanted to flag up some key open source alternatives to typical office software, courtesy of osAlt. OsAlt is a fantastic directory of resources of both free, open source and commercial software and provides some interesting comparisons for all types of application from work processing and graphics to servers and networking. Easy to use and well worth the time

There is another way

The final source of free software ties in with our other feature this month. It's more or less guaranteed to give you what you want and shouldn't cost hard cash but it could be a bit time consuming. Yes, we're talking about volunteering. Volunteers are an excellent source of free software and you can work closely with them to tailor the result to what your organisation needs.

We hope that's given you a taste of what's available for free and an opportunity to add to your software collection without upsetting your treasurer unduly! Do check out the volunteering article and see if you can get some free help alongside your free software.

Simon Davey
Preponderate.net
www.preponderate.net
simon@preponderate.net

Further resources

Downloads - http://www.download.com
Free software - http://www.icthubknowledgebase.org.uk/utilitysoftware
Open source - http://www.icthubknowledgebase.org.uk/opensource
Software licencing - http://www.techsoup.org/learningcenter/software/page5350.cfm
Web office - http://www.icthubknowledgebase.org.uk/webofficetools
Open source alternative software - http://www.osalt.com/
CTXchange - http://www.ctxchange.org/