When I set up a Windows machine, I always install certain programs. You probably do, too.
OpenOffice.org - a free alternative to Microsoft Office, comes with a spreadsheet, word processor, presentation program, database, and more. You may want to install the Java runtime environment in order to have 100% functionality. OpenOffice.org will read and save in Microsoft formats.
Firefox - if you're reading this blog with Internet Explorer, consider Firefox. Internet Explorer 7 actually looks pretty cool, but Firefox is my browser of choice. I like tab browsing, cool extensions, and the logo is much cooler than a big blue "e"
Thunderbird - my email program, brought to you by the fine folk at Mozilla (makers of Firefox)
EditPad Lite - I need to edit text files. You may not. If you do, ditch Notepad and grab EditPad Lite. Most of my blog entries are written in EditPad Lite before I post them.
Adobe Acrobat Reader - an increasingly larger number of documents I find myself reading are PDFs. I've used other PDF readers, but Adobe's is still the best for my money.
7-Zip - a much better compression program than the one that came with Windows. It also supports a much wider range of formats.
Python - a programming language. No, I don't know python, but I'm old enough to remember when PCs all came with a programming language (some dialect of BASIC). Python seems like an appropriate replacement, and it's a constant reminder that I need to play with (er, learn) it.
Dosbox - a very nice MS-DOS emulator, because I haven't quite finished all of my old DOS games yet...
Nethack - before there were graphics, there were rogue-like games (um, called such because they all descended from a common ancestor, an ancient game called... Rogue). Nethack is a rogue-like game with a graphical tileset (that means pictures of things instead of textual representation. You'll like the game better with graphics :-) It's more complex than it seems at first glance, a more elegant game for a more civilized age. Oh, it's a dungeon crawl (if you're wondering what, exactly "nethack" is about.)
Frotz - a program for playing old Infocom-like text adventures, such as Zork, Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, and Leather Goddesses of Phobos. A number of recent titles have been produced by a small, dedicated community of text adventure fans (although the current term is "interactive fiction" rather than "text adventure.")
So, what do you always install on your machines? (and, for the rabidly curious, yes, I also put all of this stuff on my Linux machines ;-)
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5 comments:
I've thought about OpenOffice... I have Firefox, Thunderbird, and Adobe Acrobat Reader. I've just recently been able to hook up my laptop again after a year, so still getting things situated. ;o)
OpenOffice is cool, especially if you don't have a legal copy of MS-Office. There's a lot of scuttle that, like it's pricey competitor, it's a bit bloated. I'd probably agree, but I don't really care, because it's a $300 piece of software for FREE :-)
Um... Legal copy... What's that? This is a good list... But, I'm still hooked on IE 7 for now and I don't have to switch browsers when I want to get MS updates. :)
Yeah, gotta love the fascist browser requirements for updating your proprietary OS. OTOH, gaming is MUCH better under Windows :-)
And, as usual, you are all talking over my head. The lessons you guys tried to teach me about computers just did not stick. Guess I'll just stick to healthcare.
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