Converting yourself from the Dark Side

Software piracy has been and will always be a hot issue. With more users on the internet and more P2P applications to "spread the wealth", it's not a simple task for the feds or govs to outdo. But what if you are that rare good samaritan and would like to keep yourself 'clean'?

Here's an excellent article from Bit-Tech talking about that. Of course, the Optimize Guide that I mentioned a few posts before also has a few suggestions for free alternatives.

What I'm really excited about is the online revolution of office productivity. Nowadays, GOOGLE is at the forefront. With other independent players with specific solutions for word processor, spreadsheets, calendars, etc. But if you want something free and handy, have a look thru Google's extra features.

Gmail is an excellent mail application of the future. Despite its BETA tag, it's a full-featured email facility with really neat features. Intuitive conversation style sorting, color labeling, spam filtering are among the cool things it has. Once you have an account the initial 2GB keeps on growing! It's like having a dynamic email account that just evolves. Logging on also automatically connects you thru GTalk for other active online Google users.

Now, Google also comes with online calendars and spreadsheets (still experimental), which makes our world even more tighter when it comes to collabration. Now you can simply share your calendar with anyone and check their availability. Online spreadsheets is an excellent way for keeping a common shared DB. Of course, there is a security issue at hand, but hey, if it's just simple info like keeping track of your CD collection and sharing that info with a friend, I don't see any wrong in that.

PCworld had a full-featured article on online tools that we can use as an alternative to local software. In this day and age where internet connectivity is almost a necessity, it's only natural for it to evolve that way. In the future, we may very well be seeing PCs coming with bare minimum OS and everything else is done online thru a secure account. Of course, uptime will be a critical point to deal with at that stage.

Might as well enjoy the free stuff while we still can...