

Since Mozilla’s Thunderbird is basically on life support at this point, the world of “freeware alternatives to Microsoft Outlook” has taken a hit.

Comodo frequently asks users to make security decisions, however, whereas the Microsoft software works more behind the scenes.Įmail: Zimbra Desktop Zimbra Desktop does email, but also a lot more. With it, you can get the best of the aforementioned Windows Defender and Microsoft Security Essentials in a single app: Anti-spyware, firewall, and antivirus capabilities, automatic sandboxing for locking out unknown files before they can do damage, and a locking capability that keeps your critical Windows files from being affected by problematic apps.
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Just don’t expect the apps to do a great job of reporting to a centralized authority about viruses found or updates needed.Īnother powerful app worth checking out is the free version of Comodo Internet Security. While different kinds of businesses might need more robust security options than Microsoft’s free solutions provide, there’s absolutely nothing wrong with keeping Microsoft’s highly functional (and highly free) antivirus app in your back pocket for any systems that need basic protection. Specifically, the worries that newly created documents or spreadsheets-whose extensions end with the letter “x”-won’t work with LibreOffice and, even if they do, they won’t quite look the same. It’s fair to say that one of the biggest challenges businesses face in abandoning the tried-and-true-(and-pricy) Microsoft Office suite for a freeware office package like LibreOffice is compatibility. Productivity suite: LibreOffice LibreOffice is composed of several modules, like Microsoft Office. And don’t even get us started about how great it is to run Linux on low-powered systems that would wither and choke at the mere sight of Microsoft’s main OS. We’d also argue that it’s going to be equally frustrating to try and stuff Windows 8’s modern UI into the business environment. While it’s often joked that Linux is near-impossible to use, Canonical and a host of open-source enthusiasts have put a lot of work into making Ubuntu extremely user friendly. The Linux software selection is different than the Windows app lineup, but every piece of software mentioned in this article-with the obvious exception of Microsoft’s security suite-run just fine on Ubuntu. Ubuntu is a pretty darn good operating system, too, provided your workforce doesn’t mind abandoning the familiarity of the traditional Windows desktop for more uncharted waters.

The cost of Windows licenses adds up quickly, whereas open-source Linux costs nary a dime.

Operating system: Ubuntu Linux Ubuntu: Clean and fairly simple. That being said, the utilities outlined here are amongst the cream of the free software crop, so you shouldn’t have to roll up your sleeves and dive into a technical support forum too often. While premium software typically comes with frequent updates and a helpful support staff that’s just a phone call away, gratis software can be a bit more rough around the edges-especially when it comes to documentation, ease-of-use, and nuanced feature support. A word of warning, however: Free software isn’t always the deal it appears to be.
