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that's really funny, like most of your comments. I don't know if you're serious, but if you are, try http://7-zip.org/
I only need winrar once in a blue moon, but winzip has not been on my mind since about a year ago when I installed 7z. The ultra mode rules for compressing lots of source code files.

free
http://www.7-zip.org/
http://www.cdburnerxp.se/
http://www.mozilla.com/firefox
http://djlizard.net/software/dial-a-fix
http://www.yamipod.com/main/modules/home
http://www.safer-networking.org/en/index.html

shareware
http://www.steganos.com/?product=safe8&language=en
http://www.agnitum.com/products/tauscan/index.php
http://www.kaspersky.com/antihacker

Seems no one is giving serious answers so i guess i will be the only one

Freeware or open source software:
01. Firefox, http://www.getfirefox.com/
02. Winamp, http://www.winamp.com/
03. Miranda, http://www.miranda-im.org/
04. Media Player Classic, http://sourceforge.net/projects/guliverkli
05. ffdshow, http://www.free-codecs.com/download/FFDShow.htm
06. CDBurnerXp Pro, http://www.cdburnerxp.se/
07. Daemon-tools, http://www.daemon-tools.cc/
08. uTorrent, http://www.utorrent.com/
09. XnView, http://perso.wanadoo.fr/pierre.g/xnview/enhome.htm l
10. ExactAudioCopy, http://www.exactaudiocopy.de/
11. Dev-C++, http://www.bloodshed.net/devcpp.html
12. 7-zip, http://www.7-zip.org/
13. Real Alternative, http://www.free-codecs.com/download/Real_Alternati ve.htm
14. QuickTime Alternative, http://www.free-codecs.com/download/QuickTime_Alte rnative.htm
15. Process Explorer, http://www.sysinternals.com/utilities/processexplo rer.html
16. Uniform Server, http://www.uniformserver.com/
17. nLite, http://www.nliteos.com/ (sp+hotfix+driver slipstreaming and ability to remove almost anything from the windows installation disc, including wmp, ie, drivers, services, etc, you can get your windows install disc down to 180MB with a 70MB RAM footprint after boot).

Commercial/Shareware software.
01. NOD32, http://www.nod32.com/ - simply the best antivirus software out there
02. Cinema4D, http://www.maxoncomputer.com/ Great modelling/rendering program (also available for OS X)
03. mIRC, http://www.mirc.com/ not the best irc client, but it has a tiny memory footprint/feature ratio
04. Directory Opus, http://www.gpsoft.com.au/ replace Explorer with a far better file manager.
05. UltraEdit, http://www.ultraedit.com/ great editor for many textbased formats
06. Visual Studio, http://microsoft.com/
07. Nero Burning ROM. http://www.ahead.de/ my burning program of choice

I second Microsoft Power Toys and add some more:

* AutoIt for simple automation tasks and creating small programs with graphical user interfaces

* Firefox, of course. Opera is also a good choice.

* Daemon Tools for mounting ISOs as virtual CD/DVD drives

* Trillian--AIM, ICQ, IRC, MSN, and Yahoo messenger client


* QuickTime Alternative

* RealPlayer Alternative

* IrfanView--small, free, fast image viewer



* SysInternals utilities--useful for admins

* Scanner--shows hard drive usage as stacked pie graph of files/folders

* 7-zip: similar to WinZip or WinRAR or StuffIt

* Foxit [PDF] Reader--a lite alternative to Adobe


Following ones aren't free but are very useful Windows-only programs:

* FinePrint--n up printing, universal print preview, etc.

* MaxiVisa--use a networked computer like a secondary display

* TextPad, though I opt for the open-source and FREE SciTE

Galactic Civilizations II, Transcendence, and Future Pinball are all that come up off the top of my head at the moment. For the latter, you'll want to pick up tables at VP-Originals. A ton of other games can be found at places like Abandonia Reloaded.

Also, Stardock offers the Object Desktop suite if you want to make Windows XP look less... XP-y.

Most small company sysadmins need to at least occasionally deal with Windows. I prefer to do so without leaving my desk. I also ensure cygwin and sshd are on Windows boxes, so that I don't always need rdesktop or vnc. ...

My windows list would look something like

• uptime.exe
• cygwin with sshd, exim, and cron installed as services
• PuTTYcyg, which is PuTTY with the ability to run bash shells locally (i.e. xterm)
• SysInternals Junction, directory symlinks in NTFS
• StartupCPL, monitor everything that starts up when Windows does
• 7-zip
• WinSCP
• KNOPPIX for when shit hits the fan
• Debian for when it won't come off the fan
• One antivirus (any, I prefer PC-Cillin) and two anti-spyware agents (any two with different engines)

Actually, it most probably is. Rpms are compressed (using bzip2, AFAIR). And even if it's the windows version of Firefox, it's installer file is most likely a self-extracting compressed file.

The Windows installer uses 7-Zip since bug 244026.

Is he saying sarcastically that the daft Windows users moving to Linux articles are actually correct and it is more difficult? Or is he just stupid and genuinly believes all this stuff?

He's trying to make a point -- that a good deal of disorientation (not all, mind you) from people trying Linux from the first time is the fact that they're going from an OS that they have maybe a decade of experience in using to one that they have no experience using. They learn to adapt to the flaws in the product that they know, and can easily identify any missing or hard-to-find features in the new product.

It's not that surprising. In System 7 days, I remember that any Windows user using Mac OS would complain bitterly about that OS's shortcomings -- and visa versa.

Now, a lot of that article was ranting, but it's got some reasonable nuggets. Windows still has better support for unusual hardware, just because the vendors are going to write their driver for Windows first. On the other hand, those drivers don't come with the OS -- you have to locate and track them down, and hope that the vendor is maintaining them and still exists. Linux distros, on the other hand, tend to have driver support already in the OS a much larger chunk of the time -- aside from a few special cases (some wireless Ethernet chipsets and Nvidia's binary drivers are probably the most prominent). Product keys *are* a pain in the ass -- I listened to a pissed off guy at work yell at a series of people at Microsoft for over an hour because something was wrong with his product key. It *is* still more of a pain in the ass, in my experience, to get specificially the video card working with a copy of Windows. A good chunk of the time, I see people installing Windows sitting in 640x480 until they install their video drivers (which requires knowing what's wrong, knowing what to do to fix it, knowing what the manufacturer of their card is and what the model is, and where to look). That's not as trivial as it seems -- my housemate had no idea where to look when she went looking for her current drivers and saw something like four video-card related packages, some of which was related to multiple desktops and so forth. And she *built* her computer.

The fact that OEM Ethernet chipsets seem to often not be supported out of the box under Windows does suck. HP or Dell machines just never seem to fully work after a new reinstall until you go poking around on the OEM's website for driver downloads.

Many of the people here probably pirate copies of Windows software for home use, and so often don't consider what "normal" people wind up having to pay. If they don't, prices can add up. Office is hundreds of dollars, Photoshop hundreds more. If you want even basic features provided by Linux distros, like profiling, when you do development, you apparently have to buy the expensive Enterprise Architect version of Visual Studio. Virus checking software plus service costs more (and doesn't even apply under Linux -- no viruses). Partition Magic costs money. Ghost costs money. CD burning software costs money (granted, Windows finally has some very rudimentary burning software built into the OS). Newsreading software costs money (unless you like having ads on your screen). Instant messaging software is free, as long as you can stand having ads on your screen. PDF creation software costs money. WinZip costs money (granted, there's 7-Zip, but most people still seem to use WinZip). Illustrator costs money. MATLAB (granted, not as general-purpose as the above, but my dad uses it) costs money. All of these have Free, open source alternatives that are part of all major Linux distros, no additional installation required.

Actually, you should download 7-Zip (http://www.7-zip.org/)

It's free.

How about 7-Zip? Open Source, Free, supports more formats than WinZip, nice shell extension menu interface...

There are some amazing compression programs out there, trouble is they tend to take a while and consume lots of memory. PAQ gives some impressive results, but the latest benchmark figures are regularly improving. Let's not forget that compression is not good unless it is integrated into a usable tool. 7-zip seems to be the new archiver on the block at the moment. A closely related, but different, set of tools are the archivers, of which there are lots with many older formats still not supported by open source tools

I am a strong believer in F/OSS. Not only do I run it, but I contribute code and money (I also submit bug reports, patches, contribute answers to forums, and am an advocate of F/OSS to my peers). In short, I drink the Kool-Aid. I use only Linux and FreeBSD on machines I own (and I bought the machine on my desk at work, so I can use it there). I am a zealot. I think that an all (or mostly) F/OSS stack is something to strive for & that a lot of F/OSS software does work better on a free OS (usually because that is what the developers write it for & where it gets the most complete and knowledgable testing).

That being said, I do still sometimes have to use Windows & I am happy to have F/OSS on that platform. I patch my own code to work around bugs that only impact Windows users & I have financially supported projects on that platform. I have even given money to good F/OSS software which is only on that platform. I am certainly not alone. Just look at the top projects on sourceforge. Most run on Windows. Some run only on Windows.

So...some of the best Windows-only/Windows-mostly F/OSS:
Filezilla--great (S)FTP client/server. Hopefully a *nix port soon.
7-zip--excellent compression software. p7zip is there for the rest of us, but updates take a while to reach us.
PuTTYFor your ssh/scp/sftp needs.

I've given money to these projects & carry them around on a USB key (along with Thunderbird, Firefox, and vim). Cygwin is another handy thing to have if you have to be on win32 for very long.

The TCO of this software is pretty high. If you read the end user agreement, you are agree that you own at least 3 different pieces of software. Here it is:

MimarSinan CompreXX mark4 (GALACTICA Release)
END-USER LICENSE AGREEMENT

0. Agreement

By installing and/or using this product, you (the end-user) are entering a binding legal agreement with MimarSinan International. You acknowledge that you have read, understand, and agree to comply with all of the terms of this license agreement.

I. Shareware

This product is shareware. You are entitled to a thirty (30) day trial period for evaluating this product. This evaluation period has the following restrictions:

a. You may NOT distribute any applications created with the API and/or SDK included in the product.
b. You MUST cease using the product at the end of the evaluation period.

Upon completion of the evaluation period, if you wish to continue using the product, you MUST purchase a license from MimarSinan International. Visit http://www.comprexx.com/ for more information on purchasing a license.

II. Distribution

This product may be distributed ONLY in the original form in which you have received it. You are expressly denied permission to distribute any parts of this product, or to repackage and distribute the entire product in any form. You are granted permission to distribute this product only in the "MimarSinan InstallAware" self extracting and installing executable form.

III. Bundled Third Party Components

This product contains the third party components described below:

a. 7-Zip command line modules, provided by http://www.7-zip.org/

MimarSinan International is NOT associated in any way with the vendors named above. The third party components included in this product are PROVIDED FOR YOUR CONVENIENCE ONLY. You must already hold valid (evaluation) licenses to use these third party components. By installing MimarSinan CompreXX mark4, you indicate that you already hold valid (evaluation) licenses for these third party products.

IV. Borrowed Third Party Components

This product, if it finds the third party components described below, will borrow portions of the named components, to extend its functionality:

a. WinRAR command line modules, provided by http://www.rarlab.com/

MimarSinan International is NOT associated in any way with the vendors named above. The third party components are NOT included in this product, and are only borrowed from an existing installation IF THEY ARE ALREADY PRESENT ON YOUR SYSTEM. You must already hold valid (evaluation) licenses to use these third party components. By installing MimarSinan CompreXX mark4, you indicate that you already hold valid (evaluation) licenses for these third party products.

V. Plug-In and Application Development

This product contains an SDK and API which you may use to engineer your own Codex Compliant plug-ins and applications. You may freely distribute all plug-ins and applications created with this product, without any royalties, provided you hold a valid non-evaluation license for this product.

VI. Downloaded Third Party Components

This product, if chosen by the user, is capable of downloading third party compression providers directly from their vendor websites. If the download succeeds, the product will then install a plug-in bridge enabling Codex applications to invoke proprietory compression functionality. This is not a mechanism intended to circumvent the licensing procedures required for the legal use of such proprietory third party technology.

THIS INSTALLER, IF CHOSEN, WILL SIMPLY DOWNLOAD SUCH THIRD PARTY TECHNOLOGY, DIRECTLY FROM THE PUBLIC THIRD PARTY WEBSITES, AS A CONVENIENCE TO THE END-USER. THE PROCEDURES THE INSTALLER

7 zip

It's a good alternative to winzip.

The 7-zip Web Site.

7-Zip is free software distributed under the GNU LGPL.

The main features of 7-Zip:

        * High compression ratio in new 7z format with LZMA compression
        * 7-Zip is free software distributed under the GNU LGPL
        * Supported formats: 7z, ZIP, CAB, RAR, ARJ, LZH, GZIP, BZIP2, Z, TAR, CPIO, RPM and DEB
        * For ZIP and GZIP formats 7-Zip provides compression ratio that is 2-10 % better than ratio provided by PKZip and WinZip
        * Self-extracting capability for 7z format
        * Integration with Windows Shell
        * Powerful File Manager
        * Powerful command line version
        * Plugin for FAR Manager
        * Localizations for 57 languages

I agree with you 100%. Just 2 days ago I ran into this with our sysadmin. He had set up some computers (Windows) for my team in our secure space (SCIF) and I was unpacking our code. I had some tarballs I needed to open. Conversation:

Sysadmin: Didn't I install winzip?
Me: No, it's not on here.
Sysadmin: Ok, well let me put it on the machines.
Me: Did we buy it? Do we have a site license for these boxes?
Sysadmin: No, I just downloaded it.
Me: Well, don't bother installing it because it would look bad as a major defense contractor to get caught using it without registering it. Let me get a copy of 7-Zip and we can be legit.
Sysadmin: No, we're going to use winzip.
Me: But this is free and we'll be legal. I'm going to go burn it to a CD now (the computers aren't connected to the Internet, obviously).
Sysadmin: Well, I'm just going to install it on your machine and not the others.
Me: Fine, I'll put it on those myself.

I shouldn't have said that last bit because he decided we didn't need to keep the CD and shredded it (once it touches a classified machine it's classified, even if it's not re-writable).

Fortunately, I think I can just copy the 7-Zip directory to the other machine. I'll also probably be changing jobs in the next couple of months, though not over this.

Just use 7zip. http://www.7-zip.org/ Or if you're inclined to spend a little bit of money, get WinRar.

Today it's no longer necessary to install WinZip on a Windows machine. I know of at least two good alternatives: the open source (7-zip and the free as in beer ALZip.

7Zip!

For cross-platform use use 7-zip...
http://www.7-zip.org/

For Windows, tugzip is nice...
http://www.tugzip.com/

Here is a nice comparison....
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_file_ar chivers

Have you tried 7-Zip?

It has a simple gui interface and explorer integration. It supports many archive file formats including 7z, ZIP, CAB, RAR, ARJ, GZIP, BZIP2, Z, TAR, CPIO, RPM and DEB. There is also a UNIX commandline interface port available.

I paid for WinZip at one point, and recently tried to download an update - they have no record of me anymore in their system.

Althought really obsolete, WinZip is extremely popular with uneducated computers users.

I, for one... recommend these alternatives: winrar and winace, wich are vastly superiors in performance, but shareware, and 7-Zip wich has good perfomance with a poor interface, but it's free.


--
Dreamhost superb hosting.
Kunowalls!!! Random sexy wallpapers (NSFW!).

Here's some good freeware ones:

There's more out there, but really, I can't see how Winzip is as relevant today as it was during the Win3.x days when it was the only good zip GUI out there. I guess scheduling is nice, but then again, all operating systems come with a schedular these days anyway.

Productivity:

Graphics:

Media:

Internet:

Survival Kit:

Development:

Actually, there is some open-source software that is Windows-only (for example, 7-Zip, which I actually run under Wine sometimes when I have some obscure archive format I need to open). It's rare, but it does happen.

Unfortunately, open-source spayware removal software is unlikely because (a) it's difficult to figure out how to remove spyware and (b) there are probably few people willing to write it and risk being sued, especially as they won't make any money from it.

http://www.7-zip.org/

Winzip is bloated. http://www.7-zip.org/

"For example, do you know about FAR - one of the best file managers in the world?"

Total Commander is better.

"Or how about RAR?"

7-Zip is better.

"And certainly you haven't heard about the superb mailer "The Bat!""

Other poster pointed out that it isn't Russian.

"Besides, lots of software is written in Russia: Microsoft Flight Simulator"

X-Plane is better.

"IDEA (the best Java IDE)"

JCreator is better.

Those Russians might have the most powerful mafia and some really hot chicks, but their programmers are obviously ass.

7-Zip is open source and opens RAR. It doesn't create them though.

7z is the standard that technically able users are using nowadays, since it's a container and can support multiple compresion/encryption schemes without needing new extentions...

I've recently examined various compression ratio comparisons on the web and it seems RAR is usually 2nd best and 7-Zip is best. I expected bzip2 to be much better than rar but in fact it was much worse. 7-Zip is released under the LGPL. Compression with the maximum compression settings is extremely slow and uses a lot of memory. RAR seems like a very good compromise.

Use 7-zip, I have it on both my machines, it's good and LGPL.

7-Zip http://www.7-zip.org/ works just fine for me, and has Linux and Windows versions.

I think that's where the true problem lies. HTTP.

We need to look towards http 2.0. What I would want:

- pipelining that works, so that it could be enabled for use on any server that supports http 2.0
- gzip and 7zip support.
- All data is compressed by default (a few excludes such as .gz files, .zip files etc. since that would be pointless).
- Option to initiate persistant connection (remove the stateless protocol concept), via a http header on connect. This would allow for a whole new level for web applications via SOAP/XML.

There are tons of other things that could be enhanced for today's uses.

HTTP is the problem. Not XML

Some current Stage 5 situation: (FOSS community begins to slowly but inexorably erode the technical lead held by the commercial offerings)

WS_FTP --> Filezilla
Winzip --> 7-zip

I'd be interested in seeing what factors it takes to push the above into Stage 6 (FOSS version dominates).

That's only true until that "freeware" stops being free-of-charge, then they suddenly start to care a lot. There's nothing like a little six-figure bombshell landing on a PHB's desk, it seems to concentrate the mind wonderfully.

As an example, the closed-source app PowerArchiver was once "free", til enough people started using it and depending on it, then its owner's started charging for it. Luckily, the LGPL'd 7-zip was there to step into the breach. 7-zip's also used in the installer for FireFox, and it's a good thing the Moz project never relied on a free-of-charge closed-source tool for the installer.

The morality of Free vs. OSS licensing means a lot more to me personally than just precision. But even all those users who think they don't care about licenses can eventually see that closed and semi-closed licenses are a bad deal for them in the long run, once you point out to them that GPL'd software can never go bankrupt, never get bought out, never get canned by marketing droids, never raise its rent, etc.

As long as someone's willing to maintain the code, it can remain free of charge to all those users who don't care about code, but care deeply about cash.

• CKRename - Tool to mass rename files in a folder. Works very well for renaming MP3s.
• WinMerge (Use latest RC under beta builds) - Compare document, script, HTML, etc content versions (compares what has changed from revision to revision).
• XXCopy - Extended version of XCopy. This is a great utility for scripting file backups from one drive to another.
• ISOBuster - Open CD/DVD ISOs, BINs, IMGs, etc without having to burn them. Can extract files without burning as well.
• Vim - Improved version of the vi editor.
• IrfanView - Batch Image Processing and viewer (much like ACDSee, but FREE!).
• Diskeeper Lite - An updated version of the disk defragmenter that comes with Windows 2000 and Windows XP. This version does a better job of defragging the drive and shows you more information. The site isn't the manufacturer's, but the download does come directly from them. ExecSoft doesn't have this listed on their site anywhere anymore.
• Locate - Windows version of a linux utility. Creates a database of every file on your drives. You can then search and get instant results.
• xvi32 Hex Editor - Very nice hex editor.
• 7-Zip - A freeware file archiver. It supports all of the popular formats (ZIP, CAP, RAR, ARJ, GZIP, BZIP2, TAR, CPIO, RPM and DEB) as well as its own format, 7z.
• Max Lister - Create text lists of files in folders. For example, it's useful for an mp3 list.

Installation / Automation

• InnoSetup - Create your own EXE installers.
• ISTool - A GUI front-end for creating InnoSetup installer scripts.
• WinINSTALL LE 2003 - Create your own MSI installers. Also edit existing MSI installers (change options, add/remove components, etc).
• KiXtart - Advanced batch processing language. Commonly used for logon scripts but can be used to accomplish many tasks (comparable to using VBScript and WELL documented).
• AutoIt - Create scripts to send keys to applictions. Commonly used to "silently" install applictions that don't natively support silent install switches.

Multimedia Tools

7Zip

Supported formats: 7z, ZIP, CAB, RAR, ARJ, GZIP, BZIP2, TAR, CPIO, RPM and DEB.

GUI or command-line. Self-extracting archives supported.

I like 7zip much better then winzip, and I have not tried winrar. 7zip doesn't have those evil 'register me' messages and is open source.

if as you assert hes using a fresh image (how you can know that is beyond me), AND assuming ff doenst use this 7-ziphttp://www.7-zip.org/ thing at all (which it appears to be a stand alone program )

then clearly the problem lies with this 3rd party app. And if you claim you got the same error you used it also. Having a 3rd party app on the system when doing alleged "sensitive security matters" seems to be contraindicated. Besides IIRC XP (which hes using) has the ability to unzip built in.

I call shenanigans on you

Yeah check out 7-zip. http://www.7-zip.org/

It looks like Open Office is targeting MS Access in their next release.

I have been testing the 1.9.mXX releases (currently preparing for their first beta release) for a few weeks now, and most issues have been minor formatting changes, and a couple crashes here and there -- all of which have been reported. The one major issue I have come across is the problem where graphics are lost after saving changes to a document Issue 36459 where the fix has already been checked into 1.9.m64.

The pre-beta milestones have improved import/export filters, and many new features most people will like. It needs people to stomp on it in their worst way (ie, regular usage :). Does Open Office 1.9.mXX render a document differently than your other office suite (be it Word, Wordperfect, Works or etc)? Do your part:

o Create a seperate file with only the portion that changed from the other suite.
o Create a PDF of the document from the other suite.
o Create a PDF of the document from the latest development snapshot of OpenOffice (using the same pdf program if possible -- I use the Open Source PDFCreator which is a ghostscript front end).
o Zip the files (I use the Open Source 7-zip program)
o Report the issue (and create an account if you don't have one) with your best description of the problem with a step by step list of what actions need to be performed to reproduce the problem.
o Attach the zip file of the three files you created before.

The development code needs more people who are able to write bug reports -- that means don't install it on grandma's computer. If you think "it doesn't work" is a good bug report then please move to the next message, thanks.

Slackware, you insensitive clod! ;-)

Actually on a serious note, I install (for my mother, family and friends)...

7-zip
gs / gsview
Firefox / Thunderbird
AVG
WinPT
Eraser
OpenOffice
Gimp (depending on the family member or friend)
Gaim
FileZilla
Amaya (only because bluefish is not available on win32 yet)
RealVNC
VIM
irFanview
Azureus (depending on the family member or friend)
Daemon Tools (depending on the family member or friend)

for me. Once I tried foobar2000 there was no going back.

Features
* Open component architecture allowing third-party developers to extend functionality of the player
* Audio formats supported "out-of-the-box": WAV, AIFF, VOC, AU, SND, Ogg Vorbis, MPC, MP2, MP3, MPEG-4 AAC
* Audio formats supported through official addons: FLAC, OggFLAC, Monkey's Audio, WavPack, Speex, CDDA, TFMX, SPC, various MOD types; extraction on-the-fly from RAR, 7-ZIP & ZIP archives
* Full Unicode support on Windows NT
* ReplayGain support
* Low memory footprint, efficient handling of really large playlists
* Advanced file info processing capabilities (generic file info box and masstagger)
* Highly customizable playlist display
* Customizable keyboard shortcuts
* Most of standard components are opensourced under BSD license (source included with the SDK)

If you've ever tried writing a plugin for Winamp you'll fall in love with the fb2k SDK, its like heaven compared to the other player. ;-)

Honey, which compression should I use to shrink this one, Rar, ace or 7z?

Being geek is fun when even humans look like source codes when digitalized. Maybe we should code "womb emulator" and using it, fork human gene making vacuum resistant, amphibious and tiny versions... uhh, then stable and unstable releases and nightly builds.

Gulp, it just occurred to me that I might be a nightly build...

50%? Are you kidding? It's rare to see a Windows computer with less than 100% pure, unadulterated, stolen shit in it

That certainly rings true among the people I know - at least with regards to their home computers. 100% of them run pirated copies of WinXP, pirated photoshop, pirated Office, etc...

Personally I think the likes of Abiword make a perfectly acceptable replacement for Word, at least for home users - and often times businesses would do just fine with it. I think Abiword is an upgrade from MS Word - others my not agree. But it's definitely faster to load, looks just as good (better in my opinion), uses less memory, and has more than enough features to keep home users, college students, and business people happy.

I'm not a huge fan of Open Office - not because there's anything wrong with it. It's just that I don't really need an Office Suite. (I imagine most home users don't.) But for those who do "need" it, I think it's a great substitute for the $300+ MS Office Suite.

For my own spreadsheet needs, I prefer Gnumeric because it feels very light weight while still having all the features I need. Plus I think it looks great and it's a heck of a lot faster to load up than OOo. The only problem with Gnumeric is that there isn't a Windows port (that I know of).

I also have several friends who pirate the "Pro" version of Trillian. I finally convinced my friend to give the Windows Port of gaim a try and he has been using it ever since. Bonus - download the encryption plugin for gaim and have secure messaging.

I don't know enough about Photoshop and image editing to know if The Gimp is an acceptable replacement. I've read several posts where people say it is *not* (an acceptable replacement.) I'll have to take their word for it. My image editing needs are very basic so gThumb is about all I really need.

I have another friend who pirates FTP software. With the existence of FileZilla, I fail to see the point. What can't FileZilla do?

A lot of people pirate WinZip. I have to admit that WinZip does have a pretty interface (if you use Windows), but if you don't want to pay for it, and you don't want to take the risk of infecting your Windows computer with a virus when you download a WinZip crack of Kazaa, then I recommend 7-zip as a free alternative. Also, the last time I saw WinZip (which admittedly was years ago) there were a few archive types it didn't handle.

There are so many great Free and Open Source alternatives available, even if you use Windows.

Get FireFox now

Everything from sysinternals, 7-Zip, VNC, PuTTY, ClamWin, etc.

Of course I'd fall over dead from shock if they all listened. But I do have more than a few converts, which is a small victory I'll take!