- Joined
- Oct 10, 2008
- Messages
- 3,471 (0.61/day)
| System Name | Acer Aspire V3-771G-53218G75Maii |
|---|---|
| Processor | Core i5 3210M (2,5-3,1Ghz) |
| Memory | 8GB DDR3 SODIMM |
| Video Card(s) | Geforce GT650M |
| Storage | Samsung 830 256GB - 750GB Toshiba drive |
| Software | Windows 7 x64 Home Premium (non-acer-bloatware) |
Read this first: This thread touches the word "piracy", but that does NOT mean that you can post anything that, even remotely, links to pirated content. My intention is to show that there are alternatives, NOT to promote piracy in any way.
After years of using mostly pirated software, I've recently decided to put in some effort and get me some legal and preferably free alternatives for software I use.
Quest one was finding a legit office suite. This wasn't that hard, since I'd already heard of OpenOffice.org and I've used it on Linux installations before.
I heard that it had improved significantly in the last few years and as far as I am concerned, that's correct.
Bye, illegal copy of Microsoft Office 2003. That's about €100,- off the piracy list.
Quest two was finding a decent image manipulation program for free. I was using Adobe Creative Suite (and yes, I had CS3 even though I only used Photoshop) and I really use it for not much more than some photo retouching, saving images in different formats and some cut n paste work. Windows Paint still simply sucks too much.
First I tried the GIMP. Known it from the Linux days, but I never got used to it. Also, my tablet sucks in GIMP.
Next, I pirated some other program to see if it was worth the buy, and it was even worse. So that went back in the bin.
On a LAN, someone showed me Paint.NET. It's got everything I need and it's free
Byebye, CS3. Roughly €300,- off the piracy list.
And that's where I currently am. The first big bucks are replaced and I'm certainly happy with the alternatives.
There are some other programs I have an issue with:
- Winamp. As a music player it's great. I'm so used to it that anything else would have to have the same way of handling the music library and playlists.
Yes, it's available for free, but I get annoyed by the "Go Pro!" popups. I might cough up the $20,- just to get rid of those (I don't use Pro features) but I'd rather find a working alternative. Yes I'm cheap-ass
- WinRAR. Undoubtedly the easiest packaging program I know. The trial popup annoys the hell out of me though. Paying €35,- for a license is possible, but are there alternatives that do the same?
- I'd like to find a decent free video editing program. I've worked with Adobe Premiere Pro in the past and I liked it very much. Unfortunately I don't own a license.
- Same goes for a decent (free) audio software. I'd love to sometime actually get into writing some songs. Something like Ableton Live would be great, but a couple features less would be fine as well.
- CD/DVD/BluRay burning software: Needs to be able to create audio cd's, images, video DVD's, video Bluray images and of course burn a simple data CD. Burning to and from images as well. I currently use an OEM version of Nero 8 Essentials since it's all I've got, but it's not that great. Tried Astroburn but it misses features, alot, and it doesn't work well on W7 yet.
As far as the OS itself is concerned, I'm running on a Release Candidate of Windows 7 x64, which I legitimately obtained and registered. It will go into bihourly reboots starting March 1st, but I'm definitely buying Home Premium x64 since it's surpassed my expectations and I'm constantly using it.
I'd like to hear your suggestions on free software alternatives. Both in my own case and alternatives for other (commonly pirated) programs.
After years of using mostly pirated software, I've recently decided to put in some effort and get me some legal and preferably free alternatives for software I use.
Quest one was finding a legit office suite. This wasn't that hard, since I'd already heard of OpenOffice.org and I've used it on Linux installations before.
I heard that it had improved significantly in the last few years and as far as I am concerned, that's correct.
Bye, illegal copy of Microsoft Office 2003. That's about €100,- off the piracy list.
Quest two was finding a decent image manipulation program for free. I was using Adobe Creative Suite (and yes, I had CS3 even though I only used Photoshop) and I really use it for not much more than some photo retouching, saving images in different formats and some cut n paste work. Windows Paint still simply sucks too much.
First I tried the GIMP. Known it from the Linux days, but I never got used to it. Also, my tablet sucks in GIMP.
Next, I pirated some other program to see if it was worth the buy, and it was even worse. So that went back in the bin.
On a LAN, someone showed me Paint.NET. It's got everything I need and it's free
Byebye, CS3. Roughly €300,- off the piracy list.
And that's where I currently am. The first big bucks are replaced and I'm certainly happy with the alternatives.
There are some other programs I have an issue with:
- Winamp. As a music player it's great. I'm so used to it that anything else would have to have the same way of handling the music library and playlists.
Yes, it's available for free, but I get annoyed by the "Go Pro!" popups. I might cough up the $20,- just to get rid of those (I don't use Pro features) but I'd rather find a working alternative. Yes I'm cheap-ass
- WinRAR. Undoubtedly the easiest packaging program I know. The trial popup annoys the hell out of me though. Paying €35,- for a license is possible, but are there alternatives that do the same?
- I'd like to find a decent free video editing program. I've worked with Adobe Premiere Pro in the past and I liked it very much. Unfortunately I don't own a license.
- Same goes for a decent (free) audio software. I'd love to sometime actually get into writing some songs. Something like Ableton Live would be great, but a couple features less would be fine as well.
- CD/DVD/BluRay burning software: Needs to be able to create audio cd's, images, video DVD's, video Bluray images and of course burn a simple data CD. Burning to and from images as well. I currently use an OEM version of Nero 8 Essentials since it's all I've got, but it's not that great. Tried Astroburn but it misses features, alot, and it doesn't work well on W7 yet.
As far as the OS itself is concerned, I'm running on a Release Candidate of Windows 7 x64, which I legitimately obtained and registered. It will go into bihourly reboots starting March 1st, but I'm definitely buying Home Premium x64 since it's surpassed my expectations and I'm constantly using it.
I'd like to hear your suggestions on free software alternatives. Both in my own case and alternatives for other (commonly pirated) programs.
Last edited:
