KISS — Free Business Tools

WORDS: KARLIN LILLINGTON

OK, enough already! No one wants to hear the D word or the R word — ‘downturn’

or ‘recession’ — even one more time this side of a massive economic recovery.
So let’s forget them. Going on the hunt for free business tools on the web really

has nothing whatsoever to do with ‘R’ or ‘D’. As the average very smart Irish businesswoman knows (and we all know the average Irish businesswoman is very smart indeed), looking for online bargains has everything to do with minding business costs, making the web work for you, and having a bit of fun, too.

1. Operating system:

So where to start? Quite honestly, on the information technology side, a small business in particular could get by with virtually everything needed to run its operations — excepting the hardware — using free software, even free operating systems.

The free operating system is Linux, which, bizarre as it may seem, was built by a core group of unpaid programmers, helped out by thousands more around the world, simply for the goal of creating a very solid, secure, free operating system to rival Microsoft Windows.
Go to Linux.org to read more.

But if you are considering downloading and using it, consider a version (or ‘distribution’, in Linux-speak) like Ubuntu — Ubuntu.com — which is more user-friendly than many of the others. Installing it is the hardest part and requires a good level of comfort with the more technical side of a PC or Mac. Some PC manufacturers now offer Linux as an operating system option rather than Windows — and you can also have both operating systems on a single computer if you wish (but again, seek help if trying this).

2. Websites:

Some other freebie programs that can keep a business happily up and running

are noted below.

If the whole notion of using, much less depending, on free software seems a bit risky, consider that computer programming, along with the internet, both have a history of this type of pro bono messing around with code and coming up with great programs and services. You do, however, need to exercise some caution. If you find something that sounds good, google it and see if it is indeed an established free program and ideally, has been reviewed. Also make sure you are getting a clean, malware-free program (sites like Cnet.com’s downloads section at Download.com, and Tucows.com offer versions you
can trust).

As always, you should back up EVERYTHING before tinkering with a PC and adding new software, whether it be something as major as a full operating system to the smallest little add-on program. Any time you add in new software there’s always a small risk of things going very wrong so never, ever assume you don’t need a backup of your drives.

3. Software:

If you need a suite of business productivity software, there are quite a few options. The free OpenOffice, from openoffice.org, is a top notch, full alternative to the Windows Office suite. It can read and manage Word and Excel files and you can create documents that can be read by people using Microsoft’s products.

Read more of the Keep It Simple Stupid — Free Business Tools in the March 2009 issue

of WMB, on newsstands now.