Freeware vs expensive software – what gets your click?

I was a bit disappointed in the article as well. Haven’t you heard of free audio, video and graphics packages – Audacity is very capable and has all the bells and whistles you probably want and GIMP for dealing with photos. Video is a bit more involved but Lightworks is pretty damned good. With LibreOffice what more do you need? Both Gimp and Lightworks take a bit ofg application but are very prowerful.

Common applications such as word processing, spreadsheets, photo editing, email are all fine and easily available under Linux. Nearly all PC users will need these at some point to the market and the scope for developers is huge.

The problems start with hardware.

Windows is the industry standard and any new hardware has Windows drivers – unless of course it is specific to Apple (more of this later).

If the hardware is popular enough to have a large global user base (wireless network cards, graphics cards etc.) then some time later Linux drivers will probably appear.

However niche hardware will usually only be supported under Windows (or Mac), and if you rely on this hardware then you will need a Windows OS (or Mac).

In my particular case I am a diabetic and need to test my blood with a meter.
My meter comes with a USB cable and some Windows software so I can track my readings on my computer and keep a diary to help manage my condition.
So I have a requirement for Windows.
I could of course enter all the results manually in a spreadsheet but why struggle?

I also use Microsoft Autoroute with a GPS sensor; at the moment I haven’t found the equivalent Linux application although I haven’t looked hard in the last few years.

I have a TomTom satnav.
The software to update it is Windows based.

So I am tied into Windows because suppliers of specialist hardware are tied into Windows because it is the market leader.
Manufacturers have to decide how much they are going to invest in software development to support their niche hardware, and on which OS.
Priorities are (1) Windows, (2) Mac, (3) Linux if you have serious geekness in your firm.
Market forces, unfortunately, rule.

The exception which proves the rule.
I am helping a photographer set up an old professional SCSI scanner which is still very functional but also very cheap because it is so old.
The software is only written for Macs.
The photographer has a Windows PC and the cost of a new Mac far outweighs any saving through buying this old scanner.
However Linux has a generic driver for scanners which can be mapped to support this one amongst many others. Score one for FOSS.
Then again a scanner is a very common piece of kit and so a generic driver makes sense.

So yes – I would use Linux and other free software if I could (well, I do because I have dual boot on my Windows systems) but I find myself working mainly under Windows because of the support for specialist hardware.

Oh, and to perhaps ease a little of the shine off the Linux glow: you still need to restart Linux if you update the kernel, which happens quite often; you will run out of space eventually unless (at least under Ubuntu) you remember to completely remove old kernels every now and then. Been there, done that…..although I am still appalled that I cannot run Windows XP SP3 on a 4Gb hard drive without eventually running out of space due to Windows Update.

Windows 2K where are you now?

Cheers

David

The moral of the story is about an elephant. The elephant in the room is ‘freedom’, this about liberty, with strong social implications. At first sight the issues may look like ones relating to how much is being paid, or not paid, in money. What drives the libre (free) software movement is liberty versus exploitation, freedom versus enslavement. Open knowledge and trust versus secrecy and a dis-abling of end users. Libre software can cost money. Proprietary software can be gifted free of cost. Frequently, the price of freedom is effort, perhaps inconvenience, and sometimes even a monetary price. I buy only Fair Trade tea. I do this for decided reasons. I do not buy it because I think it tastes best, but I do sleep better at night. Market forces, or should I say market power, can be a false friend, to be discovered too late when true friends have been stifled or destroyed.
‘Which’ is not a social nor a political commentary platform, but a narrow view leaves its subscribers in ignorance and almost certainly locked into vendors’ ‘market forces’ of secrecy in proprietary software. A broader view would lead to a choice of system, even if at present this is unusual for most PC users.
‘Choice’ – quite a good objective for a publication such as Which, eh?

I have been trapped for years by the lazy tendency to use the same old applications as I used at work – why bother trying to understand anything else? Then I recently used a loan machine while a failed hard drive in a new Acer netbook was being repaired and I was amazed how easily I got on with the pre-installed Open Office. I’ll never buy another Office licence. I’m also encouraged to look at some of the free options mentioned by other correspondents, especially GIMP. Just a point re the retailers – Novatech sell their PC’s with or without MS Windows and they are British to boot. I imagine there are probably others who do the same.