I LOVE FREEWARE!!! I recently co-founded a small business and was in need of a graphic program to create a logo. We didn't have a lot of start-up capital and so we were in need of FREEWARE! I found 2 applications that were key in making our logo and adding graphics to our website. The first application I would like to boast about is Inkscape. You can find this wonderful software at http://www.inkscape.org/ .

This is basically an alternative to Adobe Illustrator. It may not have absolutely all the bells and whistles that Illustrator has, but it can get the job done. It got our business up and running with a logo and graphics. There are tutorials all over the web, even You Tube videos on Inkscape.

The second application I would like to boast is GIMP. You can find this awesome software at http://www.gimp.org/. It is a great photo editing software used as an alternative to Adobe Photoshop. Just as I mentioned with Inkscape, it may not have all the bells and whistles as Adobe Photoshop, but again, it will get the job done. There are also many tutorials, and videos on the web concerning GIMP. All graphics on this Blog have been developed with GIMP.

These 2 FREE applications can work hand in hand while trying to create and or edit graphics. I hope you find these applications useful, at least you will save close to 2 grand, I believe between Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator, the customer would be 2k out of pocket. ENJOY!

Okay so it's been sometime since I blogged, I'm slacking, what can I say......I recently had an issue with Adobe Captivate 3 in which I could not use the native or built in preview to preview my project. I could view it in Internet Explorer, but for some reason the native viewer would not work. I looked all over the web for a solution and found absolutely nothing. After calling Adobe support, between not understanding a word the support staff was speaking and being forwarded in circles I got frustrated. I got so frustrated that I rebuilt the computer, luckily we had a Symantec Ghost image, so the rebuild was not so bad. Once the PC was rebuilt I loaded up Adobe Captivate 3, created a small video clip and attempted to preview in the native viewer. To my surprise, it didn't work. I was dumbfounded, and then I decided to make sure I had the latest version of flash player and shockwave were installed, and still no luck. It turns out that the latest version of Adobe Flash Player, version 10.xxxx is not compatible with Adobe Captivate 3. Shocker! Their developers must speak the same language as their support people and nobody understands what they are saying, so the developers for Captivate 3 and Flash cannot understand each other, hence the two applications don’t play nice together. Either that or the QA department has gone on strike. You would think that Adobe products would be compatible and backwards compatible. Low and behold if you downgrade Adobe Flash player version from 10 to 9, the issue will be resolved.

Would you like to convert any file to PDF format but don’t want to pay hundreds of dollars for Adobe Acrobat Professional? PDF ReDirect is a free windows tool that can convert any file such as a Microsoft Word Document, or maybe an Excel Spreadsheet into PDF format. After you install you will notice a PDF ReDirect printer in your list of print queues. When you are ready to convert your file, just click File ? Print and choose the PDF Redirect printer. Then you will choose your destination folder in the left pane, and choose a file name in the bottom pane, then click save. Its very easy to use and as usual it is completely free. Download your copy at http://www.exp-systems.com/PDFreDirect/Downloads.htm?1.

Calling all Nubie Web Developers! In case you haven't heard, XAMPP for Windows is an Apache distribution that basically installs and configures your web server. This is covered under the GNU licensing model. Let me tell you, it is not easy to install an Apache web server and it gets harder if you want to add MySQL, PHP and Perl. It comes with the following:

• Apache HTTPD 2.2.9 + Openssl 0.9.8h
• MySQL 5.0.51b
• PHP 5.2.6
• PHP 4.4.8
• phpMyAdmin 2.11.7
• FileZilla FTP Server 0.9.25
• Mercury Mail Transport System 4.52

Now in my experience, (I am a "Jack of all trades" master of none because I like to dabble in a lot of things) designing websites and setting up web server, it is very hard to install the web language of your choice such as PHP and configure it with Apache, then you add MySQL in the mix and you are out of luck. This is all setup and configured for you so that when you are done with your 5 minute installation you just upload your PHP, or HTML site and away you go! Download your copy today at http://www.apachefriends.org/en/xampp-windows.html.

After looking at all these windows freeware tools, we need to have a little bit of fun. A little bit of freeware for windows fun that is..... Thanks to Buziol Games Soft for creating the ever so awesome Mario Bros. game, freeware version for Microsoft Windows. This installs on just about any version of Windows, including Vista, plus has both full screen mode and minimized screen mode for "when you are at work"....oops did I say that out loud? I don't think I will be able to pry my wife away from my PC now! This is great, the graphics are very decent, the sound is great. The actual download is at http://www.download.com/Mario-Forever/3000-7435_4-10344976.html. It appears that their website is not yet complete, but they are posting updates. So strap on your wrench and help Mario defeat that evil Bowser guy and save the princess.

How many of you would like to record radio streams, or edit an MP3, or maybe record some music across several different tracks, edit it, and then publish and export to MP3 or WAV file? Audacity provides all this functionality to you. It is also great for converting cassette tape to MP3. Or if you are old enought to remember Vinyl Records and 8 tracks, you can convert them to MP3 and or WAV files to be burned to CD or copied to your MP3 player. Audacity has an easy user interface, many different effects to add flare to your recording. You can download Audacity @ http://audacity.sourceforge.net/. If you are going to be exporting to MP3 you will need to download the lame_enc.dll from http://www.dll-files.com/dllindex/dll-files.shtml?lame_enc. Once you download you can place the DLL in your favorite DLL storage area, then when you export your first MP3 from Audacity, it will ask you if you want to locate the lame_enc.dll, then you just point the path and presto you will be making MP3s. Now there is a derivative of Audacity called CleanSpeech which is a free alternative to other audio editors that are oriented for preparation of music, sermons, lectures or any type of recording. It is derived from Audacity, with simplifications and enhancements aimed at improving the clarity of speech and streamlining preparation by an automated process. Here are a couple scenarios where CleanSpeech is appropriate: 1. A church has backlog of sermons they want to make available for distance listening such as SermonAudio @ http://www.sermonaudio.com/main.asp. 2. Schools have backlog of recorded classroom lectures they want to upload to their website for distance learning. You can download CleanSpeech @ http://audacious.sourceforge.net/.

Looking to customize your new Vista PC?

Themes4Vista.com is a great place to start. You can begin by downloading a free theme and changing the look and feel of your desktop. There is a patch that is necessary to change your theme, but it is provided to you directly from the Themes for Vista site. You can also download Gadgets for your desktop. Gadgets can spruce up your desktop, or provide PC information, maybe the time or a calendar, but they are a definite must have. This site also provides free screensavers. Screensavers are the icing on the cake when it comes to desktop customization. I used to be an old "plain jane" kind of desktop user, your typically nerd that had no background and screen saver was set to "none". However memory is so cheap now, and even though your system memory might get a little more utilization, its just an excuse for you to go out and upgrade your RAM. This is a great website providing things at my favorite cost, FREE. Download your free themes and gadgets at http://themes4vista.com/ for your Vista PC today!!