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Moving to Free Software
We tend to think of free and open source software (FOSS) as a Linux phenomenon. As Linux led to a boom in the development of FOSS, many of the best free software packages originally developed for Linux have been ported to Windows. Yet the majority of Windows users are largely ignorant of the great packages that are available to them. Firefox is really
the first FOSS application that has had broad acceptance in the Windows world. Our bet is that once Windows users discover the value of FOSS through Firefox, they will be looking for other programs to explore. They will need this book. Thousands of free packages are available, but Gagne will cover only those that stand out. He will explain where to get each program, and how to install and use it. In addition, every chapter will end with a list of related applications that readers may want to explore on their own. The book is organized by section, with each section covering a class of related applications. See page three for the breakdown.
Contents:
Acknowledgments xviiChapter 1: Introduction to Free Software 1 Really Free? 2 All You Need Is ..
2 About the Money ..
3 Has Marcel Gone Mad? 4 Transitional Software 4 Installing Programs 6 Finding Even More Free Software 7 What About Support? 8 Linux! The Ultimate Free Software 9 Full Steam Ahead 10 Resources 11 Chapter 2: Surfing the Web with Firefox 13 Mozilla versus Firefox 14 Addicted to News: Firefox Does RSS 22 Extending Firefox 24 Resources 28 Chapter 3: Thunderbird: A Safer Email Client 29 Thunderbird 30 Attached to You ..
39 No More Junk Mail! 41 Revisiting RSS 43 Resources 44 Chapter 4: Gaim: Multiprotocol Instant Messaging, and IRC, Too! 45 Why Jabber? 46 Instant Messaging with Gaim 46 IRC: Internet Relay Chat 54 Using Gaim for IRC 54 Resources 59 Chapter 5: Skype: Free Long Distance, Anyone? 61 Creating a Skype Account 62 Is this thing working? Testing Your Connection 65 Search Me! Adding Friends to Your Contact List 66 Come Here, Watson! Making Calls on Skype 69 SkypeOut and SkypeIn 72 Face to Face with Skype: Using a Webcam 73 Getting a Little Privacy 75 Resources 76 Chapter 6: Creating Documents with OpenOffice.org Writer 77 OpenOffice.org Writer 78 Write Now! 80 Help! 85 To Word or Not to Word? 86 Personalizing Your Environment 87 A Wizard of Words 90 Navigating Style 91 Speaking of Document Elements ..
94 More! Give Me More! 95 Resources 96 Chapter 7: Using OpenOffice.org Calc for Spreadsheets 97 Starting a New Spreadsheet and Entering Data 98 Magical Totals 104 Nice, Colorful, Impressive, and Dynamic Graphs 105 Final Touches 108 Resources 109 Chapter 8: Presentations with OpenOffice.org Impress 111 Getting Ready to Impress 112 Instant Web Presentations 122 How About a Little Flash? Shocking! 126 Extra! Extra! 126 Resources 127 Chapter 9: Personal Databases: OpenOffice.org Base 129 The Beginning: Creating a New Database 130 Setting the Table 134 Creating Mailing Labels 140 Further Exploring 145 Resources 145 Chapter 10: CDex: An All-Purpose CD Ripper and Audio Converter 147 Intermezzo: Digital Audio Formats 148 Introducing CDex 148 Ripping Music to Your PC 151 Ripping Just a Little 153 Simple Music Player 154 Resources 155 Chapter 11: Audio Magic with Audacity 157 Installation Notes 158 Touring Audacity's Interface 158 Let's Record Something 159 Editing Audio 162 Fade to Special Effects 163 Creating Podcasts with Audacity 164 Resources 166 Chapter 12: The Juice: A Podcast Aggregator 167 The Juice on the Juice 168 Running on Automatic 175 Cleaning Up 177 Locating More Podcasts 178 Resources 178 Chapter 13: Nvu: A Graphical Web Site Design Tool 179 Installation Notes 180 Saving Your Work 185 Creating Subsequent Pages 187 Publishing Your Web Site 191 It's a Beautiful Thing 195 Resources 195 Chapter 14: Inkscape: A Vector Drawing Program 197 A Friendly Introduction 198 Drawing Tools 202 Fill and Stroke Genius 210 Drawing Tools, Part Deux 214 The Full Meal Deal 219 Saving Your Work 220 Resources 221 Chapter 15: Digital Art with the GIMP 223 Ladies and Gentlemen, Start Your GIMP 224 Printing Your Masterpiece 230 Tools, Tools, and More Tools 233 You Mentioned Gimpshop? 246 Resources 247 Chapter 16: 7-Zip Is Decompression Heaven 249 Installation and Setup 250 Touring the Interface 250 Unpacking a File 253 Creating an Archive 254 Self-Extracting Archives 256 Resources 258 Chapter 17: Spybot: Protecting You from Spyware 259 Getting Started with Spybot 260 Keeping Up-to-Date 262 The Hunt for Spyware 264 Fixing Problems 266 Immunization Prevents Further Infection 268 It Never Ends ..
269 Resources 269 Chapter 18: ClamWin: Free Antivirus Protection 271 Always On versus Scheduled 272 Scanning Your Files 273 What to Do with the Viruses 276 Scheduling Virus Checks 277 Keeping ClamWin Up-to-Date 278 Limitations and Other Choices 280 Resources 280 Chapter 19: Scribus: Free Desktop Publishing 281 Installation Notes 282 Frames, Bristol Board, and Projects 282 Getting Started with Scribus 283 Text Frames and Properties 286 Working with Images 290 Printing Your Document 295 A Scribus Calendar 297 Personalizing Scribus 301 Getting More Help 302 Resources 302 Chapter 20: Endless Free Fun and Games 303 PlanetPenguin Racer 304 Freedroid RPG 306 Armagetron Advanced 308 SuperTux 309 Tanks for the Memories: BZFlag 310 Fish Fillets Next Generation 313 Neverball and Neverputt 317 SolarWolf 320 FlightGear 323 Penguins ..
326 Resources 327 Chapter 21: The Ultimate Free Software: Linux 329 Burning the CD Image 331 HELP! 334 Taking a Tour of Ubuntu Linux 335 Installing the Ubuntu Live CD 346 Remember to Share 353 Resources 354 Index 355
Brief Description:
Takes the reader on a tour to the little-known world of free Windows software, uncovering packages for everything you want to do with your PC. This work presents tools for everything from Web browsing to instant messaging, office productivity to gaming, and even Windows security.
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