Hi everyone!
It has been a very long time since I wrote on my personal blog, so just wanted to come back and add another time capsule to it.
Today I want to talk about free software I have found to be useful for productivity tasks that people in content development as well as general professionals may find of great value.
1. Word Processing/Spreadsheets/Presentations and the like:
I usually don't have too much to do in office applications, but lately was just getting tired of the gimmicks of Microsoft in building moats around their software, leeching money for basic productivity.
I chose to switch to LibreOffice, and for my needs, it has everything. Add to that the fact that its free and updated often, you don't have to worry about living with old software, or burning a hole in your pocket.
LibreOffice contains 7 applications that cover practically all important general office tasks - Writer for word processing, Calc for spreadsheets, Impress for presentations, and Draw for diagrams. In addition to these, LibreOffice also provides Base, a front-end application for opensource multi-user databases such as mySQL or postgreSQL; Math to store formulas you need to use in your documents often, and Charts to put your statistics into pictorial form.
2. Script writing:
If you are a beginner in script writing, you will often struggle to write a script in the proper format that would be acceptable to those you want to send your script to. While there are many good options for script writing software, both paid and free, I found Scenarist to my liking for being easy to use but powerful at the same time, and with no strings attached.
3. Video playback:
While there are many free players available out there, I LOVE VLC Player, for the wide range of formats and codecs it supports and the minuscule resources it takes even for playing very rich, large format videos.
4. Video Editing:
After looking at a few different offerings for many years, I have settled on Shotcut for my video editing needs. It is a small piece of software, but very user friendly and well formatted. If you are looking for a software to do basic editing for YouTube videos or for short films, this software will give you great value.
5. Photo Editing:
While anyone who has worked in Photoshop for years like me would find it difficult to replace it with anything else, I am trying my hand at GIMP to see if it can be good enough for basic photo editing and 2D graphics. Results have been encouraging so far, though I haven't thrown away Photoshop just yet.
6. Vector Graphics:
While I don't have much use for vector graphics, knowing a dedicated software to make some has proved useful in the past. I am familiar with Corel Draw for my vector graphics needs from before, and am trying my hands at Inkscape, to have a great free option. The results so far are not disappointing, and Inkscape has a wide support base, making it easy to find solutions to common needs.
7. 3D Graphics:
I learned to make 3D graphics with Maya, and experimented with earlier versions of Blender 3D for the past few years. However, Blender 3D has always been something for the committed power user. This is changing big time with Blender 2.8, along with great sculpting features in 2.81. If you are a 3D graphics person of any hue, you must give it a try.
8. Coding:
Most code editing applications with the exception of a few are free, however, VS Code from Microsoft stands out among them for being one of the best free applications for software developers. Although Atom gives it a tough competition, when it comes to working with large projects, VS Code really shines with speed and integration.
These are a few of the software that I use commonly, and I am not the expert in any of the above tasks. I just find these software great value addition for my productivity. Do you like the above suggestions? What other free software have you used for your day-to-day tasks? Let me know in the comments if you have used the above software, but found better alternatives.
It has been a very long time since I wrote on my personal blog, so just wanted to come back and add another time capsule to it.
Today I want to talk about free software I have found to be useful for productivity tasks that people in content development as well as general professionals may find of great value.
1. Word Processing/Spreadsheets/Presentations and the like:
I usually don't have too much to do in office applications, but lately was just getting tired of the gimmicks of Microsoft in building moats around their software, leeching money for basic productivity.
I chose to switch to LibreOffice, and for my needs, it has everything. Add to that the fact that its free and updated often, you don't have to worry about living with old software, or burning a hole in your pocket.
LibreOffice contains 7 applications that cover practically all important general office tasks - Writer for word processing, Calc for spreadsheets, Impress for presentations, and Draw for diagrams. In addition to these, LibreOffice also provides Base, a front-end application for opensource multi-user databases such as mySQL or postgreSQL; Math to store formulas you need to use in your documents often, and Charts to put your statistics into pictorial form.
2. Script writing:
If you are a beginner in script writing, you will often struggle to write a script in the proper format that would be acceptable to those you want to send your script to. While there are many good options for script writing software, both paid and free, I found Scenarist to my liking for being easy to use but powerful at the same time, and with no strings attached.
3. Video playback:
While there are many free players available out there, I LOVE VLC Player, for the wide range of formats and codecs it supports and the minuscule resources it takes even for playing very rich, large format videos.
4. Video Editing:
After looking at a few different offerings for many years, I have settled on Shotcut for my video editing needs. It is a small piece of software, but very user friendly and well formatted. If you are looking for a software to do basic editing for YouTube videos or for short films, this software will give you great value.
5. Photo Editing:
While anyone who has worked in Photoshop for years like me would find it difficult to replace it with anything else, I am trying my hand at GIMP to see if it can be good enough for basic photo editing and 2D graphics. Results have been encouraging so far, though I haven't thrown away Photoshop just yet.
6. Vector Graphics:
While I don't have much use for vector graphics, knowing a dedicated software to make some has proved useful in the past. I am familiar with Corel Draw for my vector graphics needs from before, and am trying my hands at Inkscape, to have a great free option. The results so far are not disappointing, and Inkscape has a wide support base, making it easy to find solutions to common needs.
7. 3D Graphics:
I learned to make 3D graphics with Maya, and experimented with earlier versions of Blender 3D for the past few years. However, Blender 3D has always been something for the committed power user. This is changing big time with Blender 2.8, along with great sculpting features in 2.81. If you are a 3D graphics person of any hue, you must give it a try.
8. Coding:
Most code editing applications with the exception of a few are free, however, VS Code from Microsoft stands out among them for being one of the best free applications for software developers. Although Atom gives it a tough competition, when it comes to working with large projects, VS Code really shines with speed and integration.
These are a few of the software that I use commonly, and I am not the expert in any of the above tasks. I just find these software great value addition for my productivity. Do you like the above suggestions? What other free software have you used for your day-to-day tasks? Let me know in the comments if you have used the above software, but found better alternatives.
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