About four months ago I got a new laptop, it’s a Macbook the first Macintosh I ever got. Made a statement to myself that I would avoid at all costs pirating software. So far I did it.

I know the mac has proprietary software, but so what? My goal was no piracy at minimum cost.

I decided for a Mac because I’m a curious student in management and computer science and as so I wanted to try the Mac OS X experience.

I’m a actively computer user, I work and play with my computer for hours a day. So it could be hard to make the change, but not.

From my previous experience with Windows XP I already used Firefox and Thunderbird so no changes here.

Internet: Firefox
E-mail: Thunderbird

Instead of Microsoft Office now I use a version of OpenOffice for Mac OS X called NeoOffice but it’s mainly the same.

Office and desktop publishing:

Mac Os X: NeoOffice

Windows: OpenOffice

My Instant Messaging program changed from Messenger and Google talk to Adium because I’m in Mac OS X but Pidgin is good as well
IM Mac OS X: Adium

IM Windows: Pidgin

Video Playback: VLC Media Player

Instead of Winamp now I use Songbird

Music Playback: Songbird

And finally if you really like Virtual Machines as I do, you’ll find that Sun VirtualBox is really trying hard and with visible improvements, so right now is a good free alternative to VMware:

Virtualization: VirtualBox

Programs with a somewhat more point oriented use are also available, like TuxGuitar an Open Source Tablature Editor that can replace Guitar Pro

TuxGuitar

So this end’s my list, just one last mention to FlightGear that really is a very nice alternative to Flight Simulator. So check it out at www.flightgear.org
I’ll just end saying to you: consider trying Linux give it a look at http://distrowatch.com/

Linux is increasingly user friendly and I’m amazed with that friendliness. Try Ubuntu or for my portuguese readers try Caixa Mágica

This list is also only possible now due to the increase in free software alternatives. So grab it! No need to pirate most of the time!

If you need a free alternative to any of your programs comment this post, and I’ll give it a try!