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Most students aren’t aware of the options available to them when it comes to doing homework on their home computers versus in a school lab. They often complain that they don’t have the necessary software to do their homework, because most computers don’t come pre-installed with Microsoft Office or Photoshop.
Maybe this isn’t an exciting topic, but it’s something students and professors should know about and utilize.
Open-source software is a big solution. This rapidly growing movement emphasizes a public, community development of software, as opposed to the traditional practice of private, for-profit development. Companies like Microsoft usually do not release their programs’ frameworks to the public. After all, what’s the point of buying a Microsoft product if anyone can improve it and sell it for less or give it away?
OpenOffice.org hosts downloadable software for word processing, spreadsheets, presentations and other projects. It can open Office files and save new documents as if they were made in Office, and formatting and saving documents is more straightforward than in Word 2007. Unfortunately, it’s a bit cumbersome running on a Mac, so Apple users should try its sister project, NeoOffice. Both of these software suites can be downloaded online for free.
Not open source but still totally free, Google offers its Docs suite online with word processing, spreadsheets and presentations. Even if a computer does not have stand-alone programs of these sorts, users can edit, import and store up to 5,000 documents with just a Web browser. Yes, it can even open and edit Office files, and more than one person can work on a file at the same time. It’s amazing how everyone uses Google for searches, but so few people utilize its other practical services. With limited formatting options, it isn’t pretending to be a replacement for a standalone suite, but it’s certainly convenient. Of course, the downside is that files can’t be edited or opened without Internet access.
Students looking for a cheaper alternative to expensive graphics programs like Photoshop should try GIMP. GIMP is also bulky when running on Macs, so for them, Seashore is a more basic graphics editor. Inkscape is similar to Illustrator. All of these programs serve well for photo manipulation and illustration without the technical features of Photoshop, which is more professional than many students need for basic work or hobby.
For desktop publishing, Scribus is an open-source alternative to InDesign, Pagemaker and Quark. However, it can’t open or save to any of these programs’ formats. Maybe use this one for personal projects instead of homework.
Want to talk to friends or family but don’t have the phone minutes? Skype solves that, allowing people with the program to make phone or video calls online to each other one-on-one or in-group conferences. This is free, but enabling calls to landlines and cell phones costs extra.
All of these programs can be downloaded online for free and with minimal hassle. They may not be as polished as the big guys, but they’re made for functionality, not profit, and deserve to be given a chance, even as a backup. They’re ideal for students with small budgets and a penchant for downloading what they can’t afford. As for how to find them — Google knows.
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