Tuesday, November 2, 2010
The first Microsoft product you should replace is your web browser. Even though IE9 is a lot better than it’s earlier incarnations (I’m using the beta for work and it’s pretty good), it still can’t hope to hold a candle to Google’s Chrome bowser, which is my personal favorite. Microsoft is under serious threat in the bowser market, so if you’re still using IE, trade up to chrome and be prepared to be astonished by it’s silky smooth operation and lightning speed.
Next in line is your Microsoft Office suite. You’ve probably already paid for this (unless you’re a pirate, Aarrr!), without ever considering that there might be alternatives. There are alternatives… in fact, they’re free! The first stop for me would be OpenOffice, even if they’ve recently lost 33 of their top developers to the new solution,LibreOffice… Either way you get a free product that does the exact same things as Microsoft Office.
If downloading and configuring your office product doesn’t sound like your cup of tea, why not keep your head in the clouds and use Google’s office solution: Google Docs. It runs right in your web browser, so you can access your files from anywhere at any time and with broadband and mobile internet in South Africa only set to improve, it’s not a bad bet at all.
So expand your thinking a little, have a look at the incredible Open Source alternatives on the ‘net and stop paying ‘The Man’ such a huge chunk of cash… unless you’re paying me to do something Microsoft related… then it’s necessary.
In the News:
Electric car recharges in 6 minutes – One of the greatest drawbacks to ‘green’ cars is being solved.
The Pope warns against a digital world – …. well… he would… wouldn’t he?
Military “Laser Beams” getting closer to mass production – so they’re still so big they have to be mounted on a truck… who cares? they’re Lasers!!! so cool.
NASA Survey Suggests Earth-Sized planets are common – and a good thing too, since we’re close to befouling ours beyond hope of redemption.
NASA’s Mars Rover Spirit Finds evidence of Subsurface water – so a colony on mars is possible… if you were offered a one-way ticket to the red planet… would you go? …. I think I would.
Kindle Allowing Chinese Unfettered Access To the Web – Awesome! go Amazon!!!!
Word of the Week:
Hypocrite (noun) –
1: A person who puts on a false appearance of virtue or religion
2: A person who acts in contradiction to his or her stated beliefs or feelings
Another week, another post… Thanks to everyone who gives my random scratchings a read… I do appreciate it. If you liked it (or disliked it), post a comment with the links below…. and I nearly forgot… check out my friend’s blog Business Minds. 🙂
-Odd
“The inherent vice of capitalism is the unequal sharing of blessings; the inherent virtue of socialism is the equal sharing of miseries.”
-Winston Churchill
The Odd Blog 