I have been playing with a lot of free apps lately. I have gotten links to a couple of posts listing free apps and have been trying a couple here and there to see if I like them, and I am finding a lot (expect a post maybe middle of next week listing my new favs...waiting on it until I get commenting working again). It is amusing to me how much good software is out there available for free, but we still keep running back to old staples that we have to pay for.
All the playing with looking for free/legal software is reminding me of my first linux experience. The first thing after the installation and user setup was always running around and finding apps I liked that would function like the apps I used in Windows. The only thing I was ever missing was the games. And for awhile, you could use wineX or Codega (or whatever the hell they call themselves now) to get to some of them. And the normal version of wine was great for a lot of other Windows apps. But then, there were so many apps out there I would not need wine, and I was having so much fun learning how linux worked that I did not really miss the games.
Of course, right now I am using Opera in Windows to post this message. Sure, I got my legal copy of Windows XP pro for free and I am running Opera in banner mode so it is free for me as well, but both can require money one way or another. I also have Norton Systemworks and Trillian Pro running and Photoshop, Nero, and PowerDVD installed while free alternatives are out there.
So why use pay apps when all this free stuff is out there? Mostly I think it falls down to polish, familiarity, fear, and every once and awhile, features. At least, that is why keeps me holding on thus far. But that is quickly changing.
