free and legal software

 
 
 
 
Please note that there are no links to illegal or pirated software on this site.  There's absolutely no reason to use illegal stuff these days as all the free legal stuff does just about everything you could want to do on a computer!
 

Best Free Listing Sites


The UNESCO Free Software Portal - all free and UN backed project
The Free Software Directory - copyleft!  Gettit!  copy.. left  -- duh. Bit dated.
 

Alternatives to the Big Names

Alternative to Microsoft office:
Openoffice - download page for this free suite and extensions
Openoffice Support - everything you need to know and more
Openoffice Templates - templates for every purpose - all free
Openoffice User Guides - as .pdf documents - all downloadable
 
Here's the alternative to Adobe Photoshop:
Gimp - why pay £600 for Photoshop
 
Here's an alternative to Macromedia Dreamweaver:
Kompozer - it doesn't look as good but it does most of what Dreamweaver does.
 
 

Best Free Audio Software


Waveosaur - even better
Reaper - actually tryware with no limit - the best nearly free sequencer (goes on a USB stick)
Audacity - very good audio editor - but might clash on systems with two audio cards

Check these:
LMMS - a FLStudio substitute - need to check before recommending
Ardour - free sequencer - - check
 

Best Cloud Services


Google Apps - what this stuff is made on.  To get started got www.thegooglecloud.co.uk
Zoho - http://www.zoho.com/ fewer services than Google, but some good ones and some better design



ABOUT THIS SITE

This site is just a convenient place to keep my stuff and links - it's my cyberspace office.  You might find it useful too -  let me know if you doJohn Cradden

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QUOTE OF THE MONTH


Carol Craig includes ten key 'messages' in her book, 'The Scot's Crisis of Confidence'.  I'll post one a week (app) from now on:

 
6. Another paradox is that Scotland is a country which should be vibrant, outward looking and inventive. Unlike the English who have always had the reputation for being a deeply conservative and inward looking people who venerate tradition and what they know from experience, the Scots were once internationally renowned as energetic, speculative and inventive people. If we could lift the dead-hand of some of Scotland’s restrictive values, some of this old vibrancy may bounce back.

7. The Scots are so proud of their egalitarian values that they deny the reality of modern–day Scotland. Scotland is a society which is deeply divided by class and wealth. Any outsider will tell you that Scottish society is very hierarchical and there is a distinct pecking order. Racism and bigotry are also ugly features of modern Scotland. If Scotland is to become more dynamic it must begin to face up to these problems. It must also start genuinely valuing diversity and seeing difference as something to be welcomed rather than something to be curtailed. Again one of the underlying problems here is that there is too tight and restrictive a notion of what it means to be Scottish.

 
From 'The Scot's Crisis of Confidence' by Carol Craig
(see here for the key points of her book)
See also The Centre for Confidence and Well-being, her foundation, which includes good advice and support for all involved in learning in Scotland.