#16--Open Source: A Sappy Love Story

Open Office is great, especially with how much Microsoft Office 2007 annoys me ("but it's prettier!"). File compatibility bugs are pretty much all worked out, it is integrated cross-platform, and for all intensive purposes, capabilities are functionally the same.
Sure, we all want the CS4 Design Premium Suite.
Options:

• Download it illegally and go to jail where you won't be able to use it and your friends won't think you're so cool anymore.
• Pay for it, you rich punk. ($1,799 before tax, upgrade for $599)

OR you can go to osalt.com (Open Source as Alternative) to research what open source options are out there to patchwork together your own suite. You can even name it something cool, if you want. So download Gimp, Cinelerra, CinePaint, Jahshaka, KToon, and OpenLaszlo. Call it "LLM Suite 3000+" (patent pending and making it to the playoffs since 2009).

Right now in school, I am working specifically with MySQL 5 and Apache (both open source) to build web-based databases that will interface with HTML through PHP. It's amazing what you can do for free.

The subculture around open source is fascinating, too. It's a movement that hasn't been fully recognized. These people are like punks before it died, but they're smarter.