As you could probably tell from the previous post, I’m a Linux fan. I’ve been using it for years off and on, and I’ve been getting more and more into it. I decided to slowly start moving away from Windows. Downloading Fedora Core 2 Test 1 as we speak actually.
Anyway, I just reinstalled Windows because it was being slow doing everything, so I decided to take a different direction with this installation.
AIM 5.2 with AIMutation
MSN Messenger with Messenger Plus!
ICQ 2003b with allicq.com banner remover
Yahoo! Messenger
(note: I’d use gAIM if the file transfer would work, and I’d use Trillian if it just didn’t annoy me for whatever reason. They can both connect to all 4 major IM protocols and gAIM connects to a lot more. gAIM kicks lots of ass in plain messaging, and its open source, which I’m all about now. I’d suggest you try it out if you don’t use file transfer much, but, especially with MSN, I use file transfer all the time with Aaron of SNP Software (where I beta test). So that’s out. Unfortunately.)
Anyway…
Dashboard, Prospect, Vista, and Edit This!, all from SNP Software.
OpenOffice.org – much more lightweight than MS Office, about as useful, and Open Source!
Foobar- because it does what it should- accurately plays music. Doesn’t sound as GOOD as other players, necessarily, but reproduces it more accurately.
Mozilla Firefox and Thunderbird- I could rave for hours about why these are better programs than any other browser or mail client, but I won’t. If you try them, you’ll know.
WinRar archiver
Semagic Live Journal Client
Anyway, my point here is that I’m using more lightweight or open source software now, because I’ve gotten way past the “If it doesn’t look good it’s not as good” stage.
If anyone knows any open source software for computer security, Flash development, web development, image manipulation, pdf creation, or anything else handy, let me know, because, as I said, I’m trying to gradually move away from Windows, but I figure finding cross platform open source apps that work IN Windows is the best way to go.
I’ve been getting more and more into computers in general, and this makes me think… If I’d stayed with Computer Science I’d be out now and have a career. I don’t enjoy Journalism at all… I didn’t think I could get through the Physics classes for one, and I was kinda sick of coding programs for two, so I decided to change. I’ve always liked writing, but English wasn’t directed toward writing really, not for my purposes anyway, so I talked to the head advisor of the College of Arts and Sciences, and she said that Journalism might be what I wanted, so I talked to the head of the Media Studies department and he told me what it was all about and I was won over, because at the time I was still in the stage where I thought I could single-handedly change the world. Everyone goes through that I think… but now I regret it. I don’t want to do anything with Journalism when I get out of college, it just doesn’t interest me at all. So I have a bit of a quandry. What I think I’ll do is just finish it out, work wherever until I can get my certifications in my spare time (hopefully Microsoft, A+, and RedHat certified eventually) and then I can go on to bigger and better things. I’d like to eventually get MCSE certified (once I re-learn how to program) and if they have some sort of Apple certification I’d like to do that too. I don’t know what training you have to have to do tech support for major companies, but I know that after I’d been using a computer for about 6 months I knew how to do more than the tech support guy I talked to from Compaq. I had to practically walk him through how to do something, I wish I could remember what… anyway, that’s my rant.
Anyway, I’m off to write a paper for Philosophy, really the only interesting class I like right now.