Open Source Alternatives

Category	Proprietary Solutions	Open Source Alternatives
Office Suite	MicroSoft Office	There are two major office suites to choose from in the Open Source (or near Open Source) world: Open Office. Totally open, absolutely free. Runs on Windows, Linux, Solaris and Mac OS/X. Includes a word processor, spread sheet, presentation program. Good document compatibility, good font rendering, fairly good printer support. Easy for M$ office users to learn and use. Does not do high end office suite functions. Use M$ for that. Star Office. Proprietary cousin of OpenOffice. Includes all of OpenOffice features and adds better font handling and a database. Prices range from $25 (qty 10,000+) to $75 (ea), so it's not free but it is cheaper that what you are using now! A good choice for every day office suite use.
E-Mail Client	Microsoft OutLook, Microsoft OutLook Express	Ximian Evolution. Evolution is excellent! I've been using it for over an year and it does just about everything I need. If you use OutLook, you already know how to use Evolution. Contacts, Calendars, Task List, In-Basket - Evolution does it all. However, one thing it doesn't do is connect to Exchange servers unless you buy Ximian's connector for exchange. That'll set you back about $70US.
Web Browser	Microsoft Internet Explorer	Many to choose from. None support web pop-ups (like M$ Internet Explorer) does so you will have to put up with fewer intrusions. Mozilla. Latest descendant of the Netscape line. Very streamlined, very efficient and renders very faithfully. On June 10, 2003, eWeek reviewed the latest release and they love Mozilla!. Konqueror is another excellent web browser. Actually, it's a web browser, file manager, and more. It is supports Java Applets, JavaScript, Cascading Style Sheets (1 & some of 2) and NetScape plug-ins (including Flash, Real Video, etc.) Galeon is just a web browser - but it is a good one. It uses the Netscape Geko engine for fast, faithful renderings. It is fast and standards compliant. No e-mail clients, news readers or HTML authoring tools here.

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