These programs eventually find their way onto every computer I work on. They are FANTASTIC programs I confidently recommend.
The Gimp (Photoshop alternative) www.gimp.org. Don't let the name fool you - this program is powerful! Whenever a new feature comes out in Photoshop the feature is not far behind in Gimp (if not ahead of Adobe). It has everything you need for photo editing from color adjustment to special effects. It's layout is very similar to Photoshop. If you can't have Photoshop or don't want to pay for the annual upgrade then this program is an awesome second.
Pros: MUCH smaller and faster install, including a portable version that can run off a thumb drive. Easily extendable with addons. Constantly being upgraded and tweaked. Tons of online community support. No 3 tools in 1 button which drives me nuts in Photoshop.
Cons: Algorithms for fine tune adjustments are much better in Photoshop - especially with skin tone. No adjustment layer.
Making the switch: The hardest thing to get used to is the 3 window interface. All of the menu items you are looking for are at the top of the window with the image in it.
Open Office (Microsoft Office alternative) www.openoffice.org. I know Dad isn't crazy about open office, and yes, it has it's flaws but it is the best alternative to Microsoft Office with a couple perks that make me choose it OVER Microsoft office often, namely PDF export. In an idustry that is constantly changing and adding formats the ability to lock a document into PDF s essential and they got this right! I also like how all of the different programs in the suite work together. The Calc (Excel alternative) program has a lot of the big boy features like using external data sources and pivot tables. It's also super web friendly for people who flirt with composing / coding for the web.
Pros: PDF Export. Import/export tons of different file types. Solid office suite including a word processor, spreadsheets, database, and drawing program.
Cons: Still a little kludgey and buggy. The fact that it requires Java is my biggest frustration. If you don't use it on a regular basis it will be SLOW when you first run it after a while.
Making the switch: This switch should actually be pretty smooth. A lot of the functions and interfaces are very similar to MS Office. Base is a little tricky to navigate the first time but so is Access :P
note: IF you don't have the space (or Java) and you need office apps then AbiWord and Gnumeric fit the bill nicely for a word processor and spreadsheet programs (respectively). Really. They're great. PS this document is being written in AbiWord.
Inkscape (Illustrator alternative) - This program is AWESOME and they just keep making it better. If you know anything about scalable vector graphics or want to learn more about them then you should check out this program. Inkscape is meant to be an image drawing program whereas Photoshop and The Gimp are meant to be image editing programs. It also handles PDFs nicely which most other programs won't do.
Pros: Great PDF handling and a lot of great editing functions. Excellent tutorials bundled with the install (through the Help menu).
Cons: Written to be navigated by keyboard shortcuts which can irk the casual user.
Making the switch: This switch shouldn't be too bad if you are already familiar with Illustrator. As a matter of fact, I think the transition is a lot of fun. Exploring all of the features in Inkscape can take some time but it's worth it.
DVDFlick including FFMPEG and ImgBurn (Nero alternative) - I also have a warm place in my heart for DVDFlick. It will burn just about any file type (including youtube FLVs) to DVD and when you need a video DVD burned in a snap it does the trick. It uses FFMPEG which is an AWESOME open source media format converter whose drawback is it requires getting your hands dirty in the command line :). ImgBurn, which is a great .iso creator and burner is also bundled with DVDFlick.
Pros: Handles transcoding/burning a huge variety of file types. Simple, easy interface. Small install with great results.
Cons: VERY limited menu abilities.
Making the switch: This is a great program to install for burning fast DVDs. The new burning software bundled with Vista and 7 will probably trump this program as we move forward (sad, I love this program).
VLC Media Player (Windows Media Player supplement) - there are so many video formats out there right now, it sure is nice to have a player that will play just about anything you throw at it. Rob called this the swiss army knife of media players and it is exactly that. I kept it on our media pc for emergencies and one night we couldn't get anything to play a scratched DVD which is quite possibly the most frustrating thing to happen when you're looking forward to a good movie! I opened the disk in VLC and it played like a charm. We've run every DVD on it ever since.
Pros: The swiss army knife of media players -plays EVERYTHING right out of the box. If it can't then it'll sure give it a try. Some awesome uses for the advanced user.
Cons: Interface is not so great nor intuitive. I can't really see making this my primary media player but it sure is useful.
Making the switch: Don't switch completely. Keep WMP or iTunes in the drawer as your primary player. Use VLC when you need utility.
Firefox (Internet Explorer alternative) - there are tons of good browsers out there - Opera, Chrome, and IE7+ to name a few. Out of all of these Firefox remains my favorite and I'll tell you why: function. Chrome wins for form, Opera wins for speed, but I just use firefox more because it's more useful. The addons are more mature and directed at people who are serious about exploring the power of the web. Surfing the web without Adblock Plus is a nightmare for me now and the web dev toolbar has been incredible for dissecting complicated code. Plus, it is easily skinnable now :). 2 thumbs up for Firefox
Pros: Solid interface with TONS of addons. Maintains a great balance of power and ease.
Cons: It's getting slow. It's cool but it's getting a bit too big for it's britches - stay free, stay strong!
Making the switch: this transition is quite possibly the most fun. Mozilla has branded itself and its product well which makes you feel like you are freeing yourself and exploring a whole new web experience.
Notepad++ (Notepad alternative) - If you write any code at all then this is the program for you. It's teeny and automatically color codes your text based on the language you are writing in. It automatically launches your code into the compiler and/or browser.
Pros: Helpful auto-formatting and handy across many MANY different coding languages.
Cons: There's nothing really negative about this program. It does what it does and does it well.
Making the switch: If you're switching from notepad to this then there is nothing but bright horizons for you. Switch now!
PDF Creator (Print to file alternative) - Have you ever wanted to turn the document you're working on into a PDF. This program will do it! It actually installs as a printer on your computer and anything you can print you can make into a PDF.
Pros: It works with every program that prints. It does a great job of creating PDFs.
Cons: It tries to install a toolbar at the same time as the install which really bugs me. On occasion it doesn't turn out the same appearance that your document has. Having said that, it works pretty darn well most of the time.
A few extras I'd like to mention include:
Mediacoder - gives you control over almost every aspect of media conversion. It even has different install versions for different types of media.
Lightscreen is a VERY handy screenshot tool that rus in the background and lets you take shots of the entire screen, the active window, or an area you can define at the time of the screenshot.
uTorrent - if you know what a torrent is then this is THE only option I would EVER recommend ussing. The u stands for micro by the way.
VirtualBox - Excellent, and I mean EXCELLENT virtual machine. If you want to install multiple operating systems on your machine you should check this out.
Blender 3d - I might throw Google Sketchup in with this but I prefer Blender. It is a 3d modeling and animating suite. Incredibly powerful for what it is. It's a lot to bite off if you don't know what you're doing.
DVDShrink - rips DVDs but, more importantly it will encode and burn DVD files that are too big so that they fit onto a regular 4.3 GB DVD.
DVDDecrypter - my preference for ripping DVDs. It has several different ripping modes including an .iso mode. It also uses ImgBurn to burn .iso files.
AutoGK - uses FFMPEG to convert just about any file type to XVID or DIVX .avi files.
