Software for your laptop can be pretty expensive especially if you have the need for applications to edit videos, retouch your photos from summer or even writing an English paper. But there’s a way to get the software you that you need to get the job done, legally, and it’s open source.
What exactly is open source? Open source software (OSS) is any computer software application that makes its programming code available for anyone to view, modify, and build new applications from.
But what does that mean to you, the average college student? Free or extremely cheap software! Mozilla Firefox is probably the most well known OSS application out there, but there are others, such as Gimp, Aptana and Open Office.
Gimp is a great alternative if you cannot afford Adobe Photoshop to edit and retouch photos of your cat. The tools are limited, however, when compared to Photoshop, but you can still adjust colors, take out unwanted elements and apply filters.
Aptana rivals the industry standard and expensive application for web design and development, Adobe Dreamweaver. Aptana lets you create and edit HTML, CSS and Javascript files the same way you would in other web design applications without the distracting interface.
The markup is color coded, which helps prevent any potential typos, and Aptana even lets you test your website in a web browser for troubleshooting. Once you are done, you simply upload your files using an open source FTP (hint: Cyberduck), and you are good to go.
In case you already purchased your one-and-only discounted copy of Microsoft Office at the UCBA Bookstore and lost or deleted it, Apache Open Office is a phenomenal alternative. Open Office comes with six applications: Writer (like MS Word), Calc (like MS Excel), Impress (like Powerpoint), Base (like MS Access), Draw (for crisp vector drawings), and Math to create and edit mathematical formulas.
Many of these applications can be downloaded via the MacApp Store or at their respected websites. Resources are out there for you to succeed in school without buying expensive software.
Wednesday, June 25, 2025