A few of my favorite alternative software are:
- GIMP – alternative to Photoshop (for Windows, Macs and Linux)
- Inkscape – alternative to Adobe Illustrator (for Windows, Macs and Linux)
- Open Office – alternative to Microsoft Office (for Winodows, Macs and Linux)
- Ardour – alternative to Pro Tools or Adobe Audition (for Macs and Linux)
- Foxit – alternate to Adobe Acrobat Reader (for Windows and Linux)
- Firefox – alternative to Internet Explorer or Safari (for Windows, Macs and Linux)
- Thunderbird – alternative to Outlook Express (for Windows, Macs and Linux)
- InfraRecorder – alternative to Nero or Easy CD Creator (for Windows)
- GnuCash – alternative for Quicken (for Windows and Linux)
- Quicktime Alernative – alternative to Quicktime Media Player (Windows only)
Why would you use alternative software:
- Price – The Adobe software while very good the cost of it is astronomical. Microsoft Office is getting creaper but it’s still not there.
- Bloat – Lets take the example of Nero Burning Rom. It was a very good program. It had only one function and it did it well. Now it has turned into this massive program that does everything. It is now slow! It is to bloated! It is time to use something else!
- Security – The bigger and more complex these programs get the more they open themselves up to many security problem. Example: There are always reports of some major security holes in Adobe’s Acrobat Reader. Recently the reader had a security hole in Javascript. Why does a PDF reader need Javascript. Short answer, it doesn’t! It’s a document reader! You see Adobe was not satisfied having a good document reader they had to start adding functionality to it. Adding functionality adds complexity thus security problems. Foxit is just a PDF reader it doesn’t know what Javascript is and doesn’t care! It displays documents!
