Aristocratic Rockstars Don't Pay for Software
Posted by Clara
Aristocratic Rockstars love things that are free — you can often find us scrounging the free section of craigslist, lustfully eying the curb on trash night, or showing up at university-sponsored grad student parties. But one of the coolest things to get for free doesn’t require risking bedbugs or theoretical monologues — in fact, you can get it without getting up from wherever you are right now — it’s software!
In the software world, there are two kinds of freedom—free as in speech (the ideological freedom I have to say whatever I want in this post, or to access the source code of the program I’m using) or free as in beer (the monetary freedom of the booze at the aforementioned sponsored parties). The sweet thing is that these two kinds of freedom often go hand-in-hand.
There are plenty of examples of free and open software (like popular web browser Mozilla Firefox!) that’s become popular even among a non-tech-savvy crowd for its ease of use and general, well, awesomeness. But if you find your lack of technical expertise all that’s between you and a more advanced embrace of freedom, don’t panic! You almost certainly know someone among your friends or family who’s knowledgeable enough to help you get started, maybe in exchange for a little free beer (and installation is almost always the hardest part of new software, so that initial setup help is probably all you need). Or, you could look things up and develop a little more tech-savvy yourself; it’s easy for some people to get really into, and dudes and ladies really dig when other dudes and ladies can compile their own kernels (er, at least I hope they do).
Some links to get you started:- If you’re on the fence about switching operating systems, here’s some reasons LifeHacker readers chose to switch
- If you’re still tied to Windows but don’t want to spend money or endure spyware just to use your computer, check out 30 pieces of free software for Windows, many of which are great replacements for expensive programs you might otherwise buy
- And to purchase brand-new computers without paying the “Windows tax”, try ZaReason, where you can buy inexpensive PCs with flavors of Linux pre-installed