The most common reason people stick with Microsoft Office is because we’re familiar with it. Let’s face it, we don’t like change, even if that change may be better and more efficient. Another reason is that people are comfortable with it, and of course because everyone else seems to use it.

The best competitor right now is ‘Open Office’. It’s called that because it is developed by a very large community of people who donate their time to the worthwhile cause. It’s completely compatible with Microsoft Office, and it’s free. You can get it from http://www.openoffice.org. Their goal right now is simply to get people to use it.

Consumer perspective seems to be encouraging, albeit sceptical. People don’t want to take the time to learn something new, but considering the lack of a price tag and compatibility with Microsoft Office, consumers seem more than willing to take a look.

“I’d definitely check it out, I would,” says Steph Norris, a first-year nursing student at the college, but says

sticking with a new product would “depend on how much I like it. Free stuff would be nice.”

With students, learning new programs in addition to their course load isn’t appealing, so alternative programs need to be easy to use and not require much of a learning curve. They don’t need every feature known to man built-in, they just want something that works.

“You have to go with something that you know, you don’t have time during the school year to learn something new [in addition to everything else],” says Norris.

With the internet gaining strength over the past decade, many companies, such as Google, are taking their applications online instead of selling their boxed software in stores. Google has ‘Docs’ and ‘Google Spreadsheets’. Another company is Zoho Office, which is also free.

Even with the convenience, some are not yet comfortable with storing their documents online, and consumers don’t fully trust the internet, so companies need to do more to gain customer trust.

“I don’t know if I’d trust the online programs,” says Mike Campon, an Environment Sciences student at the college, “I don’t believe they are as secure as they say they are.”

As for whether online applications are beginning to makes a dent in boxed software sales, the answer seems to be no.

“[There isn’t] an awareness and people are set in their ways, and it’s brand loyalty,” says Julian Clement, an Entertainment Associate at the Future Shop in Medicine Hat, “[there is a]lack of information out there about online software.”

Unless you’re “in-the-know”, customers only seem to be aware of the software on the shelves and don’t seem to trust anything else. With the vast amount of features, Microsoft Office seems more targeted toward business, while the alternatives are aimed at home users.

“If people were more aware [of the alternatives], they might definitely second guess that decision [to buy Microsoft Office],” says Candace Knelsen, the department manager for Electronics at the Lethbridge south Wal-Mart location, though she says that “sales seem to be as strong as ever.”

One solution to bloated software that includes features most people never use is called ‘modular software’. Microsoft is a perfect example, with many experts predicting Windows 7 will be sold as a basic operating system, and customers can buy or subscribe to add-ons and other features.

“I want the computer to come with the basics with the option to expand, but I want them to make it easy to find and download the add-ons,” says Paul Sywanyk, a third-year Conservation Enforcement student.

Sywanyk brings up a valid point. Companies will need to make it easy to obtain the additional features, and the lack of doing so will only bring confusion and hassle to the already complex software industry.

Customers are tired of bloated software that is difficult to use and that slows down our computers. We are becoming more aware of other choices in the software market, and we’re making it clear through the internet and our spending habits that we just want something that works and that isn’t a hassle to use.

Originally posted 2008-11-21 17:20:40. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

Most of us use Microsoft Office, but there is a free office suite you can freely download and use at no cost to you, called Open Office. It is developed for the most part by volunteers who goal is to create a strong and free competitor to Microsoft Office. It is completely compatible and it uses up less memory.

On a Windows machine, anti-virus software is a must. Norton or McAfee are options, but they’re bloated and not as effective as they used to be. AVG Free Edition, Avast Home Edition, or BitDefender are free, and won’t slow your system down. Don’t use more then one anti-virus at a time, though.

Most of us have heard of Ad-Aware and Spybot, but a great, and more thorough anti-spyware program is Spyware Terminator. Most anti-virus solutions contain equally effective spyware detection, but it never hurts to have a second opinion.

I use Adobe Photoshop often in college. It’s very popular, but very expensive. If your tasks only require simple image editing and don’t need anything elaborate, get Picasa, Gimp, or Inkscape to do many of the same things.

WinZip or WinRAR seem to be the most common programs to extract and create compressed files. Zipeg or 7-Zip handle all of the most common file formats, and will accomplish the same tasks.

There’s no need to buy programs that will “clean” your system. There are free applications that will do the exact same thing. One is IE Privacy Keeper. Another is Ccleaner (crap cleaner).

With all of the files on hard drives, it’s important to keep everything organized so your computer does slow down while it’s looking for particular files. Windows does come with a defragmentation program, but IObit Smart Defrag has more options and does a better job, for free.

Instead of sifting through the start menu looking for the program you want every time, use Launchy. Type alt+space, and type the first few letters of the program you want and press enter, and it opens. It’s very similar to a feature built into Mac OS X called ‘Spotlight’.

I hope you have enjoyed reading my columns this semester, and I look forward to writing more of them next semester. For links to all of the programs, please visit my website at www.thedigitaldistraction.com.

Originally posted 2008-12-04 19:16:54. Republished by Blog Post Promoter