Comments on: Another day in IT paradise

It's amazing how, in the modern computing world, an average workday can go to hell with no apparent warning.

[krsna9]

Steve, you could have been looking over my shoulder, as you wrote this post. Only in my case it was a Dell xPS M1330 with Vista Business - still can't get it to print to my HP LaserJet (though my wife's new DEll Inspiron with Vista Home can - go figure!

I DID go to OpenOffice and have been a strong user of Zoho.Writer and Zoho.Sheet. Check out some of my learnings here on my blog. But I did take your advice about getting Avast! anti-virus rather than staying with the 30 day OEM trial license of McAfee!

[bbains]

I've been using OpenOffice and Gmail for several years now. No problems exchanging documents with anyone so far.

[mario83092]

I myself am a program junkie. I was, at one point, so fed up with spending so much on software that I tried to learn linux so I might have a shot at making or cracking some for free. (nope.)

Basically it's like this-
Certain programs are, yes, around $500, and some even go beyond the 1K mark. For everyday prices, I use the everyday method and just buy the prog's. But for skyrocket price stickers, I can offer some advice.

Bittorrent.
It's somewhat of a Taboo I guess on the Cnet community, because of the whole legality stuff, but for someone like you who is obviously a bargain hunter, look into it. It's great in the sense that there is no obligation for torrent hosters such as http://www.thepiratebay.org/ to cooperate with any kind of law enforcement agency, and by clicking on a torrent, it is completely legal. However the act of downloading the piece from the host(s) is the part that is considered "improper". The good thing about this is that (unlike most P2P file sharing prog's) you can read reviews from other peers who have downloaded the same programs, and if there's anything sketchy about the program or the bundle of files, your peers will say so in the discussion section of each download.

That's great, but I'll still have to use the trial version unless I purchase.
No, there you're wrong. :)
Another completely illegitimate way to bypass the trap of the corporate robbery business is a little trinket called the Keygen. (Short for Registry Key Generator). You copy and paste your version number (given to you when you chose to register) and press the button to generate, and viola- you're provided with a new, valid number in which, when copied and pasted into the registration form in the program, you now have the registered version! And if this doesn't work the first time, it may be because someone has already taken that number. No worries, it says you're incorrect and lets you retype. So just repeat the process and you're set.

But what about my I.P. address??
What about it? Unlike limewire, you can't view the IP of your downloader or uploder, let alone "chat" with them or "browse" their collection.

Don't get me wrong, I love limewire, but I only use it for downloading songs. I can't trust it for anything else, quite frankly. But Bittorrent can be used for anything- but its best applied in terms of bundles of software/files. E.G. Programs, Movies, Music Albums/Collections, Games, etc.

I hope this opens a brand new door of discovery for you.
Happy pirating. =]