Emil is gung-ho open source: Linux, everything. I actually respect him because as stupid as he is (I say it to his face too) about it, he does have principles and he has become pretty consistent with it as open source has become increasingly reliable at producing what he needs in terms of software.
For me though, I liked the idea, just was not going to do it, at least for major apps like Office.
But when I got the T61P and also wanted my team to try out new software instead of just relying I-use-Photoshop-to-crop-images not this other lightweight and free software, I decided to try a bunch of free programs, preferably open source.
The test subjects:
- Open Office 2.31
- Pidgin IM 2.31
- Mozilla Thunderbird 2.0.0.9
- Screen Captor 2.37.03
- FileZilla 3.03
Open Office :
Open Office is pretty well known, completely open source and free. Reviews are generally positive about it- some things it does better than Microsoft Office, many others maybe not as well. I didn’t use OO too much, but I did think it was slower than expected. Maybe this is because it runs on Java? I have a really quick laptop (dual core Centrinos at 2.2 GHZ) with 3GB RAM, and it didn’t feel as responsive as I would have liked. Opening files was a bit slower but I think that’s because I was always converting MS Office documents, not working with the native format. In Calculator (Excel-equivalent), there were some things that I was used to in Excel that I couldn’t reproduce in OO. I’m no pro, but just thinks I needed, basics like auto-filter- it didn’t quite work right, but it again, maybe that’s from opening an Excel sheet.
Nonetheless, I needed 100% compatibility to want to keep running it.
Since I’ve been running Office 2007 for a while, I can definitely say it feels quicker. Again, that’s not to state it as fact for everyone else out there, but for me, it is. Overall, I think OpenOffice is ideal for an international business, or where everyone in the office is using OO. In terms of personal use, I’d say go for OO all the way but in business situations, no one will give you slack because you’re using OO and its compatibility may not be 100% perfect.
Pidgin IM :
I have used Trillian for IM for a long, long time, at least 5 years. Before that, I used ICQ. I only used AIM through Trillian because after getting used to ICQ, I’ve been a power IM user. I’d tried Pidgin before when it was called GAIM, but its AIM-like interface threw me off. It still has it, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing, just depends on you. The biggest thing I noticed with Pidgin is that you can’t do metacontacts, that is you can’t combine X different contacts from the same person into 1 combined “metacontact”. You’ll just have the other contacts mixed in with the rest, and the results can be confusing. I also like Trillian’s method of sorting. Online and offline contacts can be separated, and while you can do that in Pidgin, it’s different. I can’t remember how it is, but it’s impossible to recreate how it feels in Trillian. Is it fair to compare when it’s not necessarily worse or better than Trillian? Probably not, but I have to use what I like.
I think most people will like Pidgin a lot, especially those who like the AIM interface. I’m more ICQ-oriented and Trillian was almost like the next step of ICQ for me.
Mozilla Thunderbird :
I already mentioned that I went back to Office 2007 for things like word processing and spreadsheets. Same thing for e-mail. Thunderbird has some cool features, but I think if people developed more for it (like they did with Firefox), it could be the best e-mail solution, even for business. Firefox is probably no different from Internet Explorer 7, if not worse, without extensions. While Thunderbird has some nice ones, just can’t match up vs Outlook (2003 or 2007) in business settings.
Like the other software, I suppose it hurts because I am familiar with different software and expect similar feel. But I have to assume that many people out there are the same. I found myself confounded by how you address e-mails (you seem to have to use the mouse a decent amount to send an e-mail, though I am sure I just needed to learn the shortcuts). I really need that Ctrl-K to finish my e-mail addresses.
It really felt like I had to relearn a lot of stuff, a lot of stuff where I didn’t see a need to relearn things (things didn’t get better).
With things like OpenOffice and Thunderbird, I ask, why not replicate the same functions and way to execute those ways that Microsoft Office does them. I’m sure in one sense, you don’t want a copy, but at least offer a “use X like Office” keymapping- after all, the biggest way to gain adaptation is if everything works like your old software did, but maybe you add some extra features in that take some learning to get used to, or maybe you’re missing some of those extra features.
Overall, I just felt slowed down by Thunderbird. The Lightning/Sunbird extension is not so bad for personal use, especially with the Provider Google Calendar Syncing extension,but overall, definitely lacking for a business environment. Considering it’s free and for personal (casual user) use, I don’t mind it.
Screen Captor :
I never used screen capture software until I started working for software companies. Now, it’s pretty indispensable to show examples of bugs or issues, I used to use CaptureWiz, for not other reason than someone suggested it to me, and I mainly like how it’s able to detect boxes or what you might be wanting to capture, very useful. Otherwise, it’s simple to use and no issues.
Screen Captor is pretty good. I have no real problems though I couldn’t get it to quite work in terms of object detection like Capture Wiz. I think Captor has the same feature, but even though it has extensive options, not as intuitive to get the same results as Screen Captor. Then again, Screen Captor is free, and I think most people will really like it.
FileZilla :
I don’t really use FTP software other than for downloading the latest version of XBMC or updating I Spit Hot Fire. I normally used FlashFXP , and while I’d heard great things about FileZilla, the one thing that stood out to me was that it seemed so much slower in file actions versus FlashFXP. Not sure if it was my Internet connection (though I tried it a number of times over a week+), or some settings, but it just felt incredibly slow.
Final Remarks:
It’sa bit sad that I ended up using all my original preferences versus open source software/free software, but I don’t think that’sa reflection of the software, more so of me. I think everything was quite good, but habits die hard, especially in a business setting where you need to feel comfortable to get things done.
Update (02/05): Right after I posted this, Lifehacker posted Make Word and OpenOffice More Compatible
Tags:
filezilla ,
firefox ,
flashfxp ,
icq ,
lenovo ,
mozilla ,
open office ,
open source ,
pidgin ,
t61p ,
thunderbird ,
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