On Oct 23, 2:47*pm, JeffM wrote:
Engineer wrote:
[...]advice on free or shareware software and other IT help?
I've not found a Usenet group that does this.
Here in the 21st Century,
learning to use a search engine is a useful skill:http://groups.google.com/groups/sear...group:freeware
I need to get the following software types[...]
1. Word Processor[...]Openoffice[...]
Yup.
But my wife still need a way to open obsolete Wordperfect files
http://www.google.com/search?q=conve...erfect&num=100
Again, learning to use a search engine is a useful skill.
2. Spreadsheet (OpenOffice[...]
3. Presentation grahics ([like] Powerpoint[...]Openoffice[...]
Yup and yup.
3. Business card software recommendations
(a Google search brings up a lot of trial ones - which is best?)
You will find the Boolean NOT operator to be useful.http://www.google.com/search?q=Busin...able+-CD+-Joom...
Anything that can retain the position of the stuff you put on the grid
will do for "page layout", no matter how small the "page".
Frankly, learning how to use a task-specific app for this seems
foolish.
OTOH, the general-purpose apps
OOo Draw, Inkscape, or Scribus (DTP) could do this.
All are GPL'd (gratis & libre).
4. IE for Internet (on XP CD)
While you're moving toward free,
you could get (gratis & libre) Firefox or SeaMonkey.
(AdBlock, FlashBlock, NoScript, etc.
make surfing MUCH less annoying.)
Getting a Free Software operating system
is something to think about as well. *(Dual-boot to start?)http://www.google.com/search?q=cache...://shipit.kubu...
5. Email - all on Rogers-Yahoo webmail so no problem.
SeaMonkey or Thunderbird.
..and Gmail allows you to use your local client.
[...]is there a Windows XP forum[...]?
Roger
Puckdropper at dot wrote:
www.daniweb.com
That site appears to be for software/web developers.
I don't see a forum specific to any of the OP's topics.
There's a spot there for questions like yours,
and a whole bunch of people who are happy to answer them.
If that spot exists, it's not obvious.
A more specific link would have been nice.
FWIW, Office 2007 Student and Teacher Edition
has Word, Powerpoint, and Excel and is price at around $150.
That's $150 too much for commodity software apps.
In addition, I don't understand why people buy M$ products;
that money will be used AGAINST you
as Micros~1 purposely makes their products incompatible
--not only with competing products,
but **with it's own previous versions as well**
The MSFT attitude is
*Screw you if you don't buy into our perpetual-upgrade treadmill*.
It sounds like you make quite a bit of use of those types of programs,
so it's probably worth purchasing.
Disagree strongly.
The OP has already discovered that most non-vertical apps
are readily available as gratis offerings (free as in beer).
When you include the freedom of GPL,
Free Software (not just "freeware") is a no-brainer.http://www.google.com/search?q=cache...kipedia.org/wi...
If the OP hasn't discovered it yet, he will eventually find that
some documents generated with previous versions of M$ software
can't be opened with the current *version of M$'s software.
OTOH,
OpenOffice.org has a reputation for being able to open those files,
making it **more** M$-compatible than M$'s own apps
(depending on your definition of "compatible").[1]
OOo 3.0 (just released) also includes support for .docx, .xlsx, .pptx,
etc.
--MSFT's latest effort to (yet again) break compatibity.
.
.
[1] *A recent "update" to M$Office
sought to "cure" the problem of lousy backwards-compatibility
by disabling support for the old file formats. *8-|
Screw Microsoft.
Thanks for all the good replies! Support URL's noted.
Since the OP I have downloaded (into #2 PC, my wife's) OpenOffice v2.9
(I think) and it (WRITER) not only opens Wordperfect but CALC opens
Excel spreadsheets and IMPRESS opens PowerPoint presentations (I have
a few) - presentations can also be created, useful. BTW, I also
dumped the Norton suite from #2 PC as it seemed to be slowing things
down. I loaded the free Avast! Home Version - working well so far. I
enabled Windows firewall, too.
I already have OO v2.4 (I think) on my #1 PC used for business - so
I'll upgrade that to v2.9, or later, and stick to it for all bus.
apps. Virus/Spyware protection on #1 PC will stay as Norton since the
Avast! Home version is for only non-commercial use and I respect
that. Fortunately, #1 PC (a 3.0 GHZ P4) runs Norton well with no
glitches and Norton was "free" (sort of, it's in the rent!) from my
ISP, Roger-Yahoo.
Cheers,
Roger