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I’ve only recently started to use the free Google Docs software applications to make a budget and work collaboratively on documents, and so far I’m impressed.

I’ve only recently started to use the free Google Docs software applications to make a budget and work collaboratively on documents, and so far I’m impressed. In the beginning when I tested the Google Spreadsheets program I noticed a slight lag using the tabs and more advanced features, but the most recent incarnation is practically perfect.

The Documents program may lack the fonts of the commercial programs, and it takes a bit of work to get important documents looking professional, but it has all the most commonly used features as Microsoft Word, and should be more than adequate for most people.

I’ve only tried the Presentation program once but I’d have to say that it’s somewhat basic and limited in terms of themes, animations, transitions, interactivity and inserting things like videos, but it works and it’s free.

One of the best features of Google Docs is that you can import files from most commercial programs, and export the files in a number of different formats. Not everything works perfectly in the translation, but it does make your documents portable without using e-mail or USB drives. Also, there’s only the one version of each file, which is a relief for people who create complex documents that require constant revisions. If your hard drive crashes or you spill water on your laptop it doesn’t mater — your files will remain safe and sound on Google’s servers.

As well as free productivity software, Google offers free webmail with up to 2 GB of storage, free photo archiving and editing with Picasa, and a Calendar application that is actually pretty solid. Add in the world’s most powerful search engine and Google Maps, and everyone has access to in incredibly powerful suite of applications for exactly zero dollars. All you have to do is go to Google Mail ( www.gmail.com ) and open your account.

By way of comparison the cheapest home and student version of Microsoft Office is about $180, while Corel WordPerfect Office X3 is about $120.

Obviously these programs are a lot more powerful than what Google offers, and come with additional programs you might find useful, like Microsoft’s Entourage or Corel’s video and photo editing software. If you’re printing labels or envelopes, Google Docs can’t really help you.

But if you don’t need Entourage, and have other software for videos and photos, you can save yourself a lot of money by turning your life over to Google’s free applications.

As a matter of fact, there’s a lot of free software out there that can do just about everything. There are also free operating systems, if you’re not adverse to using Linux — which probably more than 10 million people are not.

Here’s a short list of the places you can go to pick up free software to do just about everything:

www.projectplaylist.com/musicsearch — I only recently found out about this website. It lets you find and listen to millions of songs and playlists that are already available for free on the Internet. According to their own explanation of how it works, music is gathered from “music blogs, trade-friendly concert archives, artist websites, record label websites and other public sources.” All of it is legal to listen to, although there’s no way to download it for keeps except through iTunes. But if iTunes’ 30-second sample isn’t enough to decide whether you want to buy a song, then Project Playlist can help you make up your mind.

www.maclife.com/vault — If you are one of the growing number of people using a Mac these days, MacLife has a wide selection of programs in their vault. The database includes applications for purchase, shareware, freeware, donationware and more. It’s easy to search for the type of programs you want, and a lot of the content is free.

www.tucows.com — This irreverent download site provides downloads of literally thousands of programs, many of which are free. Steer clear of free demos when possible unless you’re already in the market to buy.

www.downloads.com — Similar to Tucows, but a lot more serious.

www.pcworld.com/downloads/# — Similar to Tucows and Downloads.com, but often with reviews and recommendations made by PC World editors and contributors.

www.thefreesite.com — The beauty of this site is that it’s stripped of demos and the kind of shareware where you get half the program for free and the other half when you pay. The list of free things is also long and varied, ranging from music to security software to java applets for your website.

www.freetv.com — Most networks are offering programs online for free, with commercials included, but rather than go from network to network to find out what’s out there you can visit this site and see what’s available. Great place to find links to foreign television networks.

 

Website of the Week

SuperDeluxe   www.superdeluxe.com is like You Tube, but with an emphasis on funny.