Sunday, May 23, 2004

TheOpenCD

TheOpenCD is a CD full of open source software for Windows. The idea is to make Windows users aware of Open Source and, hopefully, interest them in eventually trying out Linux. Open source software differs from commerical software, like that produced by Microsoft, in that it is free of charge to use and, since the computer source code is also available, those who are interested may contribute back bug fixes and enhancements. The vast majority of users simply consume, they don't write computer programs; this is understood by all and is okay.

One can download a CD image and burn it to a CD to pass around to his friends but what I've been doing is simply downloading the individual programs that interest me. For example, I recently installed PDFCreator, which allows the "printing" of any document from any Windows program to Adobe Acrobat format. I use the free Adobe Reader to view the resulting pdf ("portable document format") file and avoid having to buy the Adobe Acrobat software suite, saving a few hundred dollars.

OpenCD software is categorized as "Office & Design", "Internet & Communication", "Multimedia & Games", and "Utilities and Others". To see the software, click on the "The Programs" link on the main web page.

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