Lecture Week 7 - Open Source Software

This weeks lecture was about open source software or freeware. Open source software are programs and applications that are available for free on the internet. They have been created from scratch to mimic other popular programs that you usually have to pay alot of money for (such as programs made by Microsoft of Adobe). Another important feature of these programs is that they have open coding, which means that other users can view and edit the code and collaboratively evolve the program.

Some of the pro's of open source software are that its free and that you can get specific things (eg you can just download the one specific program you want rather than being forced to buy an entire software package just to get the one program you want). Con's however are that there is a risk of getting a virus when you download the program, and the free programs don't have automatic updates like most of the programs you pay for, so if you want to keep your software up to date you need to keep constantly updating it.

Some examples of open source software/freeware include;

Mininova - a directory and search engine for torrent files.

Portableapps - provides access to free portable applications, computer programs you can download to your USB, plug in & use on any computer, and then unplug & take with you without leaving any of your personal data behind.

Sourceforge - provides services to help people build open source software.

Freewaregenious - provides reviews & links to various freeware sources

Download.cnet - free trial versions of freeware

iTunes - free media player

KeyPass - a secure way to manage your passwords

Mozy - provides you with 2GB of storage for free where you can store your documents.

Recuva - restores files you've accidentally deleted on your computer.

Skype - allows free calls between computers. You can also call mobiles & landlines for a small price.

Linux - we talked about Linux in an earlier lecture, its an operating system which is an alternative for Windows that you can download for free.

Redhat - provides support for open source software programs.



Below is an online tutorial I found on how to use iTunes. It proved very helpful to me during our tutorial task where we were to download and use some freeware such as iTunes.