Real Geeks Use Free Software
You heard me right. Real geeks use free software. Why? Because most of it (and I do mean most) is written better than the commercial paid for stuff. “How can this be true?”, you asked. Well, to put it simply, much of the free software that is out there and available today is open source software. “Well, what is open source software?”, you then asked. Open source software, defined in layman’s terms, is basically just software that is written by an organization, group, or an individual who generously and sometimes, altruistically, chooses to reveal the code to the software. In other words, the code is not hidden and therefore it can be hacked, manipulated, and improved regularly. See, hacking is not always bad. In fact, more often than not, hacking is a good thing. Imagine if every time you wanted to make an improvement on your home or car, you could only do this by calling a corporately licensed repairman who charged you an arm and a leg just to service your request. And the reason you had to do this is because you didn’t have the ability to do it. And the reason you didn’t have the ability, is because you didn’t have the knowledge. And the reason you didn’t have the knowledge is because the knowledge was never given to you and could not be found at any bookstore, library, or on the Internet. And so you were held hostage to your own ignorance. That is much the same way that Microsoft and other licensed software providers operate today. And so those who want to make changes and improvements to any of Microsoft’s software for the benefits of all people, cannot do so because Microsoft refuses to reveal their code. They call it a trade secret. I call it a conspiracy. Knowledge should always remain free.
Anywho, enough ranting. Open source software, because it is continually being hacked and improved by a community of users, usually remains the premium software. It is often more stable, less prone to bugs (or if bugs do exist, they are patched very rapidly) , more secure, and more user friendly just for starts. The downside of open source software, is that there is not usually a place that you can go for immediate support, not that the places you currently go for support for commercial software are worth the cost of buying the software anyways. This is usually the drawback. But then again, this is why you have us. GeekTeks continues to remain separate in their resolve to help the average person with their software issues. While other computer repair service providers (cough-like the GeekSquad-cough) tend to push their clients away if they refuse to buy their commercial pushed software in favor of other software, GeekTeks does not. We want to help the average consumer save money on software. We believe by doing this, maybe, just maybe, you might spend a little bit more on our very inexpensive services (comparatively speaking).
Look at it this way. You buy a computer at (God forbid) Best Buy. You find a really great deal. You’re stoked. But as they ring you up, they start scaring you about all of the evil software that is going to get you if you don’t buy and have them install the security software that they are currently pushing. It is then that you realize you do need security software. But if you buy their commercial pushed product, your great deal is not so great anymore is it? But you figure, you’re going to need it anyways so you might as well go ahead and buy it. Now hold on a second. Stop and think. Do you know that there is plenty of free virus and spyware protection available. There are free firewalls and spam filters. There are free parental controls and phishing filters. So all that stuff that Best Buy was going to charge you to buy and install is really not necessary. In fact, I can almost guarantee that the money you would have spent on their pushed commercial products, would be double or even triple the cost it would be to call us and have us install all of our known free security software at our current going rate for remote support. So by paying for our services to install free open source software that we know of, you are actually saving yourself not only money but you are getting a better software product for all of the reasons mentioned above and then some.
So then why doesn’t the GeekSquad take this approach? That one is easy to answer as well. GeekSquad get’s huge kickbacks from selling their products. Software products are no different. You see, Best Buy is in the business of selling products, not services. Services are just a side item for them and not where their real money is made. Their real money is made in selling products. And thus, that is what their focus is. Along with their products, they will offer their services. Just because they’d rather not have that business go elsewhere and additional income will be generated. GeekTeks, on the other had, focuses 100% on services offered to our customers. We have no ties with large companies and therefore our recommendations are not polluted with alterior motives. Our focus remains exclusively on satisfactory service to our customers. And to help us keep this focus, we often recommend free and/or open source software. That is why I say, “REAL GEEKS USE FREE SOFTWARE”. There is no hidden agenda here. We want to meet your service requests and needs head on by providing you, our customer, with %100 service and price satisfaction.
There is lots of information available on the web in regards to open source software. CNET put together a quick video on the topic.
I’d encourage you to watch it here:
Click here or on the video thumbnail.
And here are a few links to web sites which will direct you to the best open source software available for use today.:
http://ubuntulinuxhelp.com/top-100-of-the-best-useful-opensource-applications/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_open_source_software_packages
http://www.digitaldarknet.net/thelist/index.php
http://mashable.com/2007/09/23/open-source/
http://www.opensourcewindows.org/
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