GITweekly

Ever since the rumour emerged that Skype would soon allow you to call your mates over a 3G connection, rather than over WiFi only, I’ve been hitting that “Updates” button in the App Store.

Waiting, waiting and then last night – bang!

Then I read the fine print – there’s always a catch isn’t there?

There will be a charge for calls (Skype to Skype) over 3G after the end of August 2010 – what?

Sure they may want to earn some extra cash for the silky new audio codec (SILK) that they’re using but this goes against the core business that Skype has built – the “stuff the phone company” model.

Anyway, give it a look – let us know what you think.

If not you may want to try a great little program called Fring – they’ve been allowing Skype calls over 3G for some time now – I wonder if the 3G charges will apply to Fring Skye calls?

Both juicy bits of software are available free in the App Store.

I regularly meander through large electronic goods purveyors. Gazing at the shinyness that imbues these hallowed places with Visa card rending excitement. I glance covertly at the prospective purchases of the impulsive and unworldy inhabitants. All is not well.

It’s every bit as interesting as watching a David Attenborough documentary on meerkats.

“He” stands in front of a wall of primary colours. The yellow one is $60. The red is $79.95. The red says to him “I am strong and I’ll protect you”. The yellow fights back, saying “you’ve used me before – trust me”.

Enter the world of the naive “mum and dad” software purchaser – Today, for them, is otherwise known as the “Antivirus out of date must purchase new one because computer says so” day.

Should I say something to them?

Should I let them throw a hundred big ones on a purchase that may not be necessary?

Sorry to say I’ve always been too nervous to say anything. Coward.

But, he says getting to the point of it all, there are alternatives. And by alternatives I mean alternatives to paid versions.

But are they as good as the well known commercial offerings?

It depends, is the answer.

Here’s the rub, or the proviso. If you’re a photographer, engineer, graphic designer, web architect or whatever, and you use your computer to make a living – you’ll probably be aware of what software solutions are out there. And more often than not it’s going to be the more expensive tools that are used. Beyond tax write-offs and strict adherence to standards you probably already have the tools you need.

But for the rest of us mere mortals – we have ways of getting great results using tools that are often more simple to use and that won’t kill the hip pocket like the big boys.

So where can I find these little gems?

Two amazing places to start are:

Osalt – Open Source as Alternative

This super simple to use site lists, on the left hand side of their page, an amazing range of categories. From business and communications tools to games and graphics programs. Just click on the category or type in the program you want an alternative to and hey presto – you’re now entering a world of new software choices and alternatives. Punching in Photoshop gives five alternatives for a range of operating systems.

AlternativeTo

With a slightly flasher interface, AlternativeTo provides you with the same sort of experience as Osalt. Typing into the search box gives you similar software titles, but the site comes into its own with tag clouds and tabbing at the top of the page to narrow down the software choices into operating systems. Super simple and super effective. It also provides some alternatives to online tools like Dropbox, Grooveshark and Evernote.

Have a play with both. You’ll be amazed by the possibilities.

One of the most amazing side effects of these sites is the fact that you won’t have to spend a fortune trying new things. If you’ve ever wondered if you could do some graphic design but couldn’t afford a vector graphics program like Adobe’s Illustrator – try Inkscape (an amazing graphics editor). Too sweet.

So there we have it – get that brain of yours working. Try new things. Paint, draw, design, program – all with amazing open source or freeware software. You may just find that the alternative suits you better than the big boys.

The GITweekly Top Ten Alternatives to Commercial Versions.

1. Antivirus – Microsoft Security Essentials. Fantastic virus, spyware and malware protection. CNET Australia‘s editors gave it a 9.0 rating. Nice for zero cost.
2. Image and Photo editing – Paint.Net. Simple to use alternative to Adobe’s Photoshop and Corel’s Paint Shop Pro.
3. Office Suite – OpenOffice. A truly fantastic alternative to the often expensive Microsoft Office. Comes with a word processor, spreadsheet, presentation/powerpoint, database, and graphics programs. You can even save documents in the industry standard word format.
4. Music manager/iTunes alternative – Double Twist. Organise your podcasts, music, playlists and videos. Works with a multitude of devices (including some Apple products much to their annoyance). Check their list for your device – if it’s there you’ll enjoy Double Twist.
5. CD/DVD/Blu-Ray burning software – ImgBurn. Super simple to use. Great alternative to Nero.
6. Email Program – Thunderbird. With a great batch of add-ons and tabbed email (organises your email logically and simply) Thunderbird is a fantastic Outlook challenger.
7. Web Browser – Google Chrome. While most of us use Firefox and Internet explorer, the folks at the big G have created a super fast and secure browser. Try it. Now.
8. Simple Audio Editor – Audacity. Cut, splice, convert, make people sound like chipmunks. Check out all of the features here.
9. Operating System – Ubuntu. A version of the mysterious Linux operating system. Don’t be scared – they’ve designed it with us average folk in mind. Comes with a beautiful graphical desktop – just like windows only free. Yes free. Got an old PC lying around? Wack this onto it.
10. Hey stop copying me peoples! Find your own using Osalt and AlternativeTo. Seriously.