23 replies to this topic

[1984]

Since we have so many threads about freeware items, i thought it might be interesting to start a thread and see what software people have paid for and like. I personally like:

Winrar
Tuneuputilities
Windows XP (of course)
Diskkeeper
Acronis True Image
Microsoft Office 2007


I have other paid for software, but these are ones that I just really like and find that I will keep coming back to rather then freeware products. I have tried freeware alternatives to most of them, but sometimes a good product is a good product, whether free or paid for or open source or whatever.

Anyone else have paid for software that they would recommend or that they have found are just so good that they havent found a freeware alternative to?

[Ultimate Predator]

I have personally found freeware, or FLOSS software for nearly all my old paid for stuff. The only thing that I still have on here is MS Office 2007 Enterprise. I know OpenOffice exists, and I like it, but it really doesn't match it for me, though eventually, it will.

[Andavari]

Microsoft Windows, because without it we wouldn't even be discussing about software made for Windows.

[CTskifreak]

Many big name games... like WoW, Warhammer 40000: DoW, Doom 3, etc.

And or course, XP

AJ

[Ultimate Predator]

Andavari, on Oct 28 2007, 05:53 PM, said:

Microsoft Windows, because without it we wouldn't even be discussing about software made for Windows.

Good point, though personally I think Ubuntu is better made, and am going to be using it as soon as my CD arrives. I have already made a partition for it, just gotta wait and see. Then I think it'll bea case of trying to sue Ubuntu as much as possible, and using Windows only when needed.

Also, even though its pay for, I would never buy it, this came free with the laptop, if it didn't, I would only use Linux.

[rridgely]

Have you actually used ubuntu or any other linux distro yet? I have for the last year tried linux distros every chance I got and here are commen issues(hardware):

Wireless on linux is still pretty bad. I have a "supported" wireless card yet I get crappy wifi reception, linux doesn't support WPA wireless encryption very well, and the connection would often drop. The card is made by atheros and I've tried it on ubuntu(all flavors), suse, and a couple of slackware based distros like vector and slax.

I also got very bad audio support. I littlerally spent 6 hours getting my audio to work because I had to piece together various tutuorials to get any sound at all. When I did get it to work it sounded noticably worse than on windows. I have an intel sound card since its internal in my laptop.

Graphics card drivers were crap and did a terrible job. I have an ati card in this laptop and I couldn't play the same games I could on windows. I tried cube I think because it was available on linux and windows and I wanted to compare.

Then you get into power management. For whatever reason I got about/barely an hour of battery life on linux where I get almost 2 on windows. I think its because linux doesn't automatically scale back things for power saving like windows will.

Then there is other hardware like mp3 players(didnt support them), printers(only could print, not scan), ect. Oh and dont think its easy to install drivers on linux. Nope bet used to the command line and following tutorials by people who do not go step by step. They just assume you know what they are talking about.

On top of all of this you would get other bugs like things randomly not showing in gnome panels after reboot(the equivelent of the start bar) and the fact that I couldn't close my laptop lid to go into hybernation. It just went to a black screen and when I opened the lid it crashed.

I have more complaints but you will see for yourself.

[rridgely]

Oh forgot that ubuntu displays text ugly(not very good fonts and no clear type) and web page buttons look like windows 95 stuff. No native media format support and the only program that does it automatically(called automatix) supposedly trashes the system so bad that it can make it unbootable. (I didnt have problems but they are supposed to happen as you install/remove stuff)

[JohnDemolition]

Ubuntu has a better implementation of cleartype enabled by default...

[hazelnut]

My best paid for software is First Defence-Instant System Rescue.


It allows me to boot into a snapshot even when windows won't boot or my other snapshots are totally screwed up.

[rridgely]

Sorry but I compared the same sites using windows and ubuntu after installing the mstcore font package on ubuntu and the sites looked noticably better on the windows computer. I tried ubuntu on my laptop and desktop and I have the same lcd montior on 2 of my desktops.

The only good things I found in linux were that its free(even though I got better software including freeware on windows), and that there is no viruses(which was a problem I never had with windows anyway). From a usage stand point I found windows to do everything else better(games, multimedia, office work, making movies, ect). Linux can be prettier than windows thats for sure. I played with beryl and it was neat but it made the window manager thing unstable as it crashed on me twice.(I think thats what its called anyway. Its like windows explorer..)

[JDPower]

1984, on Oct 28 2007, 04:25 PM, said:

Since we have so many threads about freeware items, i thought it might be interesting to start a thread and see what software people have paid for and like

Though I got it free Reg Mechanic is the best reg cleaner I've used.

This was also a thread about this a few months ago:

http://forum.piriform.com/index.php?showto...ercial+Software

[TonyKlein]

I'd have to say ClipMate: http://www.thornsoft.com/ It's the Swiss army knife of clipboard extenders...

A couple of close contenders:

Notetab Pro (although the freeware version is almost as good): http://www.notetab.com/
Registrar Registry Manager: http://www.resplendence.com/registrar
Diskeeper Pro Premier (I love how it defrags in the background): http://www.diskeeper...ier/premier.asp
Acronis True Image: http://www.acronis.c...ucts/trueimage/
Mailwasher Pro: http://firetrust.com.../mailwasher-pro
Website Watcher: http://www.aignes.com/ - extremely versatile, saves me so much time!

[1984]

JDPower, on Oct 28 2007, 02:08 PM, said:

Though I got it free Reg Mechanic is the best reg cleaner I've used.

This was also a thread about this a few months ago:

http://forum.piriform.com/index.php?showto...ercial+Software

hmmmm i even posted in that thread! my memory is getting fuzzy these days i guess.

[Ultimate Predator]

rridgely, on Oct 28 2007, 06:12 PM, said:

Have you actually used ubuntu or any other linux distro yet? I have for the last year tried linux distros every chance I got and here are commen issues(hardware):

Wireless on linux is still pretty bad. I have a "supported" wireless card yet I get crappy wifi reception, linux doesn't support WPA wireless encryption very well, and the connection would often drop. The card is made by atheros and I've tried it on ubuntu(all flavors), suse, and a couple of slackware based distros like vector and slax.

I also got very bad audio support. I littlerally spent 6 hours getting my audio to work because I had to piece together various tutuorials to get any sound at all. When I did get it to work it sounded noticably worse than on windows. I have an intel sound card since its internal in my laptop.

Graphics card drivers were crap and did a terrible job. I have an ati card in this laptop and I couldn't play the same games I could on windows. I tried cube I think because it was available on linux and windows and I wanted to compare.

Then you get into power management. For whatever reason I got about/barely an hour of battery life on linux where I get almost 2 on windows. I think its because linux doesn't automatically scale back things for power saving like windows will.

Then there is other hardware like mp3 players(didnt support them), printers(only could print, not scan), ect. Oh and dont think its easy to install drivers on linux. Nope bet used to the command line and following tutorials by people who do not go step by step. They just assume you know what they are talking about.

On top of all of this you would get other bugs like things randomly not showing in gnome panels after reboot(the equivelent of the start bar) and the fact that I couldn't close my laptop lid to go into hybernation. It just went to a black screen and when I opened the lid it crashed.

I have more complaints but you will see for yourself.

I've tried it around other peoples, but not on my laptop, no. I will wait and see what happens. If it works, it will further my beliefs. if it doesn't, then yes, I will change. But from what most people say, it sounds great.

[Caldor]

Anydvd by slysoft nothing else compares and they cracked mkb4+

[rridgely]

Ultimate Predator, on Oct 28 2007, 04:23 PM, said:

I've tried it around other peoples, but not on my laptop, no. I will wait and see what happens. If it works, it will further my beliefs. if it doesn't, then yes, I will change. But from what most people say, it sounds great.

Thats the problem... its just what people say. Dont get me wrong, I love free things and will always try free things before I buy anything BUT... I will also not tolerate things not working just because they are free if I can avoid it. All you see on "tech sites" is how fabulous linux is and I have tried it (and know other computer literate people who have tried it) and it wasn't the honeymoon people make it out to be. I lost support for most of my hardware and peripherals. I noticed the software wasnt as great as people were saying. Sure firefox, openoffice, all the ones I had used on windows were fine but where is my good media player(Winamp, WMP11, Foobar>amarok), burning program(k3b is not as great as its made out to be), and various other programs.

The funny thing is that most of the good linux programs are on windows anyway. The week I used ubuntu I was using most of the same programs I did on windows I just had a crappy media player(amarok) and hardware issues. I dont want to rag on linux but I personally think its just a bunch of hype at the moment that it doesn't live up to.

I dont do anything major on my computers(music, internet, work, ect) but I found that I was either using the same programs on both oses or had better options on windows. Plus now that I have office 07 I dont ever want to do without it. Oh and on top of the software thing I couldn't use my mp3 player, all in one printer, ect.

-----

Back on topic:
I use office 07, nero 7 which came with a dvd burner I just replaced, and thats about it. I stand by the notion that you can install windows and get a fully stocked pc for free.

[JDPower]

rridgely, on Oct 29 2007, 05:14 AM, said:

I stand by the notion that you can install windows and get a fully stocked pc for free.

That's exactly my opinion. Proof of that being that, with the exception of one game, there currently isn't a single paid for software on my computer.

I will give an honourable mention to Total Recorder which I've used in the past and never have found a freeware alternative to it.

[Caldor]

The basic truth is that *nix has a strong foothold in the server area but desktops have to do so much more than servers...Many servers dont even run x.11. Have you seen how many unresolved bugs Ubuntu has on its launchapd? Over 36 000 bugs. Sure some will be duplicates and others will be user error but the fact remains it is not a robust and reliable *desktop* experience. Geeks get into it and the zealots spread their views about how its a replacement for Windows or for Mac OS X, when its really not.

I dearly hope that the *nix utilisation will grow from less than 1% to over 20% into the future and I think when that critical mass happens and non geeks start venting their frustrations about the many many silly things in Linux distros on desktops do in fact need to be improved it will reach the point where it is a viable alternative. Competition is good and it keeps Microsoft on its toes.

The problem with Mac OS X is that it is a closed hardware platform and that limits the effective use of it. My wife has a maxbook pro which isnt as out of date as the Mac Pros but it still cost more and gave less than an equivilant Vista laptop.

[Ultimate Predator]

rridgely, on Oct 29 2007, 05:14 AM, said:

Thats the problem... its just what people say. Dont get me wrong, I love free things and will always try free things before I buy anything BUT... I will also not tolerate things not working just because they are free if I can avoid it. All you see on "tech sites" is how fabulous linux is and I have tried it (and know other computer literate people who have tried it) and it wasn't the honeymoon people make it out to be. I lost support for most of my hardware and peripherals. I noticed the software wasnt as great as people were saying. Sure firefox, openoffice, all the ones I had used on windows were fine but where is my good media player(Winamp, WMP11, Foobar>amarok), burning program(k3b is not as great as its made out to be), and various other programs.

The funny thing is that most of the good linux programs are on windows anyway. The week I used ubuntu I was using most of the same programs I did on windows I just had a crappy media player(amarok) and hardware issues. I dont want to rag on linux but I personally think its just a bunch of hype at the moment that it doesn't live up to.

I dont do anything major on my computers(music, internet, work, ect) but I found that I was either using the same programs on both oses or had better options on windows. Plus now that I have office 07 I dont ever want to do without it. Oh and on top of the software thing I couldn't use my mp3 player, all in one printer, ect.

-----

Back on topic:
I use office 07, nero 7 which came with a dvd burner I just replaced, and thats about it. I stand by the notion that you can install windows and get a fully stocked pc for free.

To each there own. Still gonna wait and see.

[q231]

For Me..

TuneUp Utilities 2007(recently bought one )
Microsoft Office Enterprise 2007(recently bought one too )