Today whilst updating Windows Live Messenger, I also opted to install the latest version of what used to be called Windows Messenger. Since my last complete reinstall of my computer I had not got around to installed Messenger. When I install WLM tonight I instantly realised it was time to find an alternative. Why?
A few reasons where immediately apparent.
- WLM is very large. Installed it takes up at least 32MB of disk space. It’s process (msnmsgr.exe) which I started right after installation 56.7 MB of RAM on my system when it is just sitting there open as I write this. This is when it is an open window. When minimised it accounts for about 7 - 8 MB (although the figure is rising as I write this, and I am not even using the Messenger client as it is minimised). By the time I wrote that sentence it has risen to 8.64 MB and is still rising.
- WLM has advertising in it. Not nice. Why should I be subjected to advertising whilst using a messaging client? I shouldn’t. End of story.
I am sure there are many other reasons to remove this application from my computer, but as I am already removing it without using it beyond its initial startup and login, I won’t have a chance to figure out what they are. But the two reasons cited above are enough. (The messenger process is now at 10.3 MB whilst minimised and not being actively used, and still rising).
Here are some good alternatives I found.
- Pidgin. This used to be called Gaim. A nice looking messenger client. Supports many different messaging networks including Microsoft Messenger, AIM, Bonjour, Gadu-Gadu, Google Talk, Groupwise, ICQ, IRC, MSN, MySpaceIM, QQ, SILC, SIMPLE, Sametime, XMPP, Yahoo!, Zephyr.
I can’t say I have even heard of nearly all of these, but there you have it. Lots of options.
If you run Mac OSX then Adium is the equivalent app for Mac.
- Trillian. Also looks nice. Has free and Pro version. If you don’t need lots of video related features then the free version seems to do most things one might expect.
- Miranda. This one I have not actually checked out, but here is what their website has to say about it: "Miranda IM is the smaller, faster, easier instant messenger with support for multiple protocols. Designed from the ground-up to be resource efficient while still providing a rich feature set, Miranda includes support for AIM, Jabber, ICQ, IRC, MSN, Yahoo, Gadu-Gadu and more. Additionally, with the choice of hundreds of plug-
- ins, icons, sounds and other content…"
So far I most like the look of Pidgin so that’s what’ll be replacing Windows Live Messenger on this computer for now.
Windows Live Messenger is now dead, as far as this computer is concerned. Let’s hope Microsoft doesn’t go an stick advertising into Live Writer (my preferred choice for desktop blog writing applications on which I am writing this). I’d hate to have to kill that as well, because I’ve seen most of the alternatives and none of them are as good in my opinion.
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The following is a list of Open Source / Free online groupware applications. There are many of them out there and this list represents the more appealing ones I have come across. At some time I might update this list with more information on each groupware solution. For now, however, this list is to simply serve as a starting point for finding the right open source online groupware application for you and your organization.
If you have any suggestions of other good systems not on this list please leave a comment and let me know.
- Hipergate — http://www.hipergate.org/
hipergate is an open source web based application suite.
It’s mission is to cover a full range of technical requirements in any organization. All applications are addresses from Internet Explorer, without needing any other additional software in the client computer.
This suite is multi-company capable, and can be used in a single company, a corporate group or working as an ASP solution capable of serving an unlimited quantity of single customers.
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PHProjekt — http://www.phprojekt.com/index.php?&newlang=eng
PHProjekt is a modular application for the coordination of group activities and to share informations and document via the web. Components of PHProjekt: Group calendar, project management, time card system, file management, contact manager, mail client and many other modules. PHProjekt supports many protocols like ldap, xml/soap and webdav and is available for 38 languages and 9 databases.
- eGroupware — http://www.egroupware.org/
I am not entirely sure if this one is able to be installed a run in a purely web based environment, but it otherwise looks very good.
- Group-Office Groupware — http://sourceforge.net/projects/group-office/
- Centraview — http://www.centraview.com
Provides more than just Groupware functionality.
CentraView is a leading Open Source Centralized Business Management (CBM) solution that delivers an ideal combination of Contact Management, Salesforce Automation (SFA), and Customer Relationship Management (CRM) functionality and much more, all through a standard web browser. CentraView is much more than just CRM or SFA. We offer a comprehensive business management suite that reduces the need to purchase many different software applications that don’t talk to one another. Ultimately we provide you with that all important “Centralized View” of all your customer information.
It’s important to backup content and databases we have online. Whether you run a blog (such as Wordpress) or other applications on a website, there are often many individual files to download if doing a backup manually via FTP. This can be slow and tedious if a quick backup is what you want (and why wouldn’t you?). phpMySQL has build in backup functions if you need them, although the following tools provide an easy one-stop solution.
Check out the following great tools for backing up your site content and MySQL databases.
- phpMyBackup Pro is a very easy to use, free, web-based MySQL backup application, licensed under the GNU GPL.
You can create scheduled backups, manage and restore them, download or email them and a lot more!
Major features:
- backup of one or several databases with or without data, table structure, …
- three types of compression (no compression, gzip or zip)
- scheduled backups (by a small PHP script which must be included in an existing PHP script)
- interface for management of the backups (viewing, restoring, downloading, deleting)
- backup directly onto FTP server and sending of backups by email
- platform independent - only webserver and PHP needed to run e.g. on MS Windows, Linux or Mac
- shell mode (to use manually or by cron script)
- backup of whole file directories (on a FTP server).
- backup databases from different accounts on several MySQL servers
- one installation can be used for all MySQL users of one MySQL server (used by webhosters)
- highest security through two alternative login methods (HTTP or HTML authentication)
- easy to use interface and very easy to install
- several language packages available
- PHP WebSite Backup
- PHP MySQL Backup
The current release of mailman lacks a very important feature. There is no immediately obvious way to export a list of subscribers from a mail list — at least not via the admin interface. There is, however, a way to get this data. In my case I needed it in order to move the list of people from one mail-list to another way.
I read the following was an option:
Here is how to get a list of subscribers in one shot:
Send a message to: list-request@some-domain.org where list is the actual list name (e.g. sds-request@some-domain.org)
The subject line should read: who password*
* if the listserv is locked down you’ll need a password
(if you send it without and the list is locked it will complain in a reply email) Although it seems bizarre to send your password as part of the subject
I tried this method and nothing was emailed back to me. It may be that the mailman server I am using is configured to not allow this feature to work. I am not sure, as I only have access to the lists I manage and not the entire set-up.
So, here are some other options:
Go to the following address: http://www.yourdomain.com/mailman/roster/<listname>
This will produce a page with all members listed on it. Be prepared for a long page if you have lots of subscribers. The format is this: address at domain.com as opposed to address@domain.com. If you have a lot of subscribers there is an easy way to use Excel to convert this data into the format you want (address@domain.com). There is an Excel file available right here. Just unzip the spreadsheet into a directory of your choice. Open the Excel file (it is free of macro viruses, but you may like to scan if first if you’re not convinced). Highlight and COPY the list from the web page. Past into Column A the data you have just copied. Now all you have to do is fill the formulas in columns .
Enjoy, and let me know if this helps some.
Jonathan Evatt
There are numerous programs I have on hand for the creation of PDF (Adobe Acrobat Portable Document Format) files. Today I am installing and testing out the free (opensource) PDFCreator from http://www.pdfforge.org/. So it looks like a great tool for creating PDF files, and it’s free.
It can be installed in both a standard way and as a Network Installation. Fantastic. So it even supports operation over a network providing PDF creation capabilities to all ones networked computers and users.
If you want to create PDF files check it out today.
Already using a commercial PDF creation program—like Acrobat Professional or PDF Factory or CutePDF Professional?
I also recommend checking out this tool if you are currently using a pirated/warez version of a commercial PDF creation program. With PDFCreator avaialble there is really no excuse for using a pirated/warez copy of some other pdf application.
There’s a great site over at http://www.opensourcelist.org that will eventually have a database of opensource applications for Windows. It is the evolution of the site at http://www.jairlie.com/oss/suggestedapplications.html, which currently has more applications listed on it. This will be ported over to the opensourcelist.org site when the developer is finished with coding the site.
So the existing link is: http://www.jairlie.com/oss/suggestedapplications.html
The future link is: http://www.opensourcelist.org
The existing site has the following categories listed on it:
Major categories
One of the major factors I’ve come across that stops small businesses from switching over to a free Linux based operating system is that most of the mainstream small business accounting packages like MYOB and Intuit Quickbooks are not natively compatible with with Linux (i.e. the won’t run on Linux easily).
There is, however, a number of open source accounting packages for the Linux platform.
Here is a list of the major ones I have come across. I’ll update this list from time-to-time.
… yes, you can set up any of these applications up to handle GST
For the last few years both Quickbooks and MYOB have been enforcing hardware dependant product activation and re-activation. They also maintain the right to cease supporting the re-activation of software versions that are not current. This could mean that in 2007 when you try to reinstall your Quickbooks 2004 software onto the new office computer you won’t be able to activate it—forcing you to dish out another lot of cash for an upgrade. Not nice.
Many people are pissed off about this situation, yet we should not forget that we do have a choice. Programs like the free accounting packages listed here are one way to side-step these draconian measures.
Please post comments to this message if you try out any of these applications and let me know what your views are.
Core Force is a free, community-orientated firewall security solution for Windows 2000 and XP.
It is vital to have a firewall running at all times if your computer is access a network or the internet. The number of free firewall products has diminished greatly in the least year or two as security software companies buy up their competition and cease offering the free versions of software these companies use to make available.
Check out Core Force
CORE FORCE - Welcome
Here’s a great list of free software for Windows.
Of course you could just switch to Linux where just about any app you might want is free, but for those of us that still like to use Windows it is also possible to do a lot of neat things at little or no cost.
Please be aware that quite a few free applications contain spyware, adware, or other forms of malware. I suggest checking into any program you decide to download (by searching for something like “spyware adware [app name]” on google). Therefore investigate each one with caution initially. Once you know its clean then go for it.
AVS Form - Free Apps list
Enjoy
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