Does "Free" Software Mean Winning the Software Lottery

So you’ve just won the lottery. You could easily spend it all on software to improve your business operations and accuracy by purchasing a shopping cart full of wonderful software. New applications are put on the market every day. On the other hand, you could download a myriad of “free” software and spend the lottery money on yourself. OR – you can take an intelligent approach to upgrading your computer’s ability to improve your operations.

As we all know, Microsoft, Adobe, Sun, and many others have experienced experts developing excellent software to enable our computers to do wonderful things for us. We also know that the price tags on these can be really daunting for the entrepreneur/small business owner. As for “free” software, we’ve all learned there are questions too. Namely:

1. Is it really free? Will charges incur after one week or one month?
• Downloading software can be a very efficient way to acquire software.
• Really free software will not incur a fee. Be sure you know before downloading.
• Free downloads with a one-week, 14-day, or 30-day trial can be a great way to find out if a product really works for you.

2. Can free software really do the job? Is it so elementary that it is frustrating?
• Some downloads are great (See Item 4, bullets 2 & 3)
• Many free downloads are so elementary that they impede your efficiency. Before acquiring free software, ask yourself if your existing software programs might already perform the functions you need with just a little bit of training. Like, who can possibly know all of Excel’s functions unless you’re a certified expert?

3. Will it integrate with other software I use?
Also, if you can use existing programs such as the MS, Corel, or Adobe suites, they readily interact with one another.

4. Why is it free?
• To gain access to your computer, e.g., hackers. So know your source, ask folks, and read before, downloading.
• To get you to use their products, such as Avery’s Wizard which efficiently enables one to use its forms and labels.
• To introduce you to their products or on-line services. Limited free versions, such as Adobe Reader, makes one aware of the full .pdf applications that can improve your business communications.

In my next posting, I’ll list a couple of free applications that I find very valuable to my operations.