Posted by: Andy on November 9th, 2006
Category: General eBusiness, Free Tools
Viewed: 1,558 times
If you use Firefox then you are using Open Source Software. Learn how your business can benefit from Open Source Software in this informative 90 minute seminar. While other software licenses contain limitations and restrictions on their use, GPL licensed Open Source Software is flexible and cost effective.
What is Open Source Software?
There are entire organizations dedicated to the principal that software should be free and accessible. One example is the Free Software Foundation and its GNU GPL, a rather long acronym for a very reasonable concept: “General Public License.” Almost all software made originally for Linux and Linux itself operate under this license.
GPL
The GNU General Public License (GNU GPL or simply GPL) is the most popular free software license, originally written by Richard Stallman
The way the GPL license works is simple, if you do not abide by the GPL's terms and conditions you do not have permission, under copyright law, to copy or distribute GPL licensed software or derivative works. It does not mean that the rules of the GPL do not apply to you and that you may use the software however you like. The default is the restrictions of copyright law, not the anarchy of the public domain.
The GPL grants full freedom to use, copy, modify, and redistribute without any restriction, other than barring you from altering the license itself, claiming authorship of the application or selling the application outright.
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Posted by: Andy on August 23rd, 2006
Category: General eBusiness, Free Tools
Viewed: 2,101 times
Microsoft Office is $499.99 (Microsoft Office 2003 Edition, $499.99 Canadian from Best Buy August 23rd, 2006) and if you operate a small business chances are you will need the 4 most popular components of office: Outlook, Word, Excel and PowerPoint.
It’s impossible to operate in the age of computers without the ability to create documents, organize financials, demonstrate to clients and communicate by email. There are alternatives to purchasing expensive software.
Goodbye MS Excel, Hello Google Spreadsheets
Imagine a free spreadsheet tool that can do just about everything that MS Excel can do. It’s called Google Spreadsheets and is available as a beta from Google Labs. There is no software to download and install; Google Spreadsheets works within a web browser, like Firefox or Internet Explorer. The list of features is impressive and includes cell formatting, sorting and almost 100 functions. Unfortunately, Google Spreadsheets does not support charts.
Goodbye MS Word, Hello Google Writely
Google Writely is an online word processor with features comparable to MS Word. A key advantage of being online is portability; work from any web enabled computer using a web browser. Google Writely enables true permission based collaboration, sharing of information and syndication with RSS. Other great features are a revision system, the ability to save documents in popular formats such as MS Word, PDF, RTF and HTML and a handy folder based organizing system.
Goodbye MS Outlook for Email, Hello Thunderbird
MS Outlook is a powerful Contact Manager but is often used only to read email. To take full advantage of Outlook a business must first install a Microsoft Exchange server; a complex and expensive undertaking. If your only need is to read email then a great free alternative is Thunderbird by Mozilla. Thunderbird is safe, fast, and easy to use, with intelligent spam filters, quick message search, and customizable views. Powerful, and customizable, it is a full-featured email application. Thunderbird supports IMAP and POP mail protocols, as well as HTML mail formatting.
Goodbye MS Outlook for Appointments, Hello Google Calendar
If you need to track your appointments then use Google Calendar. Access your appointments in this secure, flexible and free calendar from any web enabled computer using a browser. No software to download and install. Share your calendar with coworkers to coordinate events and set up automatic event reminders, including mobile phone notifications, and instantly bring up anything on your calendar with the built-in search tool.
Goodbye MS Office, Hello OpenOffice.org
OpenOffice.org is an entire office suite that is free to download, use and distribute. The suite is made up of 6 components: Writer, Impress, Math, Draw, Calc and Base. It is compatible with all major office suites and works on all major computing platforms (Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X X11, GNU/Linux, Solaris). Because it is open source there are no commercial licenses or software compliance issues to worry about and no language barriers - if it’s not yet available in your language, the chances are it will be soon. OpenOffice.org looks and feels familiar and is instantly usable by anyone who has used a competitive product.
Tags: Google Spreadsheets, Microsoft, Microsoft Office, Open Source, MS Office Alternatives, OpenOffice.org, Firefox, Thunderbird
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Posted by: Christina on September 9th, 2005
Category: Free Tools
Viewed: 1,077 times
Wikis (a collection of Web pages which can be edited by anyone, at any time, from anywhere by using almost any web browser) are getting increasingly popular. The word wiki comes from the Hawaiian term wiki wiki, meaning “quick” or “informal”.
Wikipedia.org (an online encyclopedia and reference site) has grown 154% over the past year which could eventually overtake The New York Times Web site and others because of the increasing demand for it’s neutrality in defining controversial topics. Users are swarming to the site to read a variety of topics from the latest news to technical or scientific subjects; the great thing about Wikipedia is that it is edited and maintained by anyone who wants to contribute to the Web site. You can add your own comments or subjects and you can even edit someone else’s comments as you see fit using your web browser.
If you have never experienced a wiki before you can test it out at WikiWikiWeb’s Sandbox page. Your experience may encourage you to look into getting a wiki for your business!
> Read full article at BizReport.com
> Visit Wikipedia.org today!
> Read Wikipedia’s Wiki definition
> View first-ever Wiki site, WikiWikiWeb
> Visit FreemindWiki Wiki FAQ for more information on wikis
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Posted by: Christina on August 23rd, 2005
Category: Free Tools
Viewed: 935 times
Google Inc. updated its Desktop software for searching PC hard drives and the Internet, giving the free program a new look and adding tools that deliver personalized information based on a user’s Web surfing habits. The software provides search results and monitors the user’s behavior to provide relevant information in a resizable and moveable vertical window called the Sidebar. Some of the features include:
- Integrated email (Gmail, your Internet Provider email account)
- Stock prices
- Personalized news headlines
- Weather reports
- What’s popular on the Web
- Pictures from your searches and hard drive
The Sidebar is great for novices and provides many customizable features for advanced users and best of all, it’s FREE!
> For more information read Biz Report’s article.
> To download Google’s Desktop now, click here.
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Posted by: Andy on June 27th, 2005
Category: Free Tools
Viewed: 1,166 times
We are pleased to announce eBizPages, a free-of-charge, new eBusiness Connection searchable database of e-business suppliers serving the small business market. Created to meet the growing demand for online access to e-business related small business service providers across Canada, eBizPages clients will be further assisted by the Google ranking system which quickly identifies reputable sources for services and products.
eBizPages, www.ebizpages.ca, is the latest addition to Small Business BC’s eBusiness division, a non profit e-business resource centre expressly designed to assist entrepreneurs and companies in establishing e-businesses. A highly popular and key component of Small Business B.C.’s comprehensive services is the e-Business Connections website which averages twenty-five thousand hits per month. Over the past four years, eBusiness Connections has helped hundreds of small business owners -both in B.C. and across the country, establish e-businesses.
Submit Your Company for FREE. Add your Company to eBizPages now.
To learn more about eBusiness Connection, click on www.e-bc.ca and www.ebizblog.ca.
* Please note that if you are currently registered in our eBC Suppliers database, you will need to resubmit yourself into our eBizPages. We apologize for any inconvenience.
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