Yes, it is finally out! Firefox 3, the long awaited alternate browser has arrived and you can all download it from the Mozilla website for free. This open source browser is meant to replace your Internet Explorer and it has gotten a lot of support from Internet users. Well, I have to agree that Internet Explorer has it’s share of problems and Microsoft seems very reluctant to solve the bugs in their previous browsers and to add new features or to plug security holes in it. I remembered that Internet Explorer 6 was around for a long time and it had a lot of security holes which Microsoft didn’t fix at all. And when you compared to Firefox v2, it was slow and had problems rendering certain websites. Although I have to say, Internet Explorer 7 was much much better. This could be due to competition from browsers like Mozilla and Opera and that they are improving rapidly. Sometimes even faster than what the much richer Microsoft can achieve.

However, if you have been using Firefox, you should have realized that the browser itself isn’t exactly perfect. In fact, it has this stupid memory leak problem which has there for the entire version 2 and updates after updates didn’t solve it. Worse, some sites would crash the browser unexpectedly. This may or may not be the browsers fault, but still, if it works fine for Internet Explorer, I would expect it to work fine for Firefox. Anyhow, I had been using Firefox for about 2 to 3 years now and I have to admit, it’s one great browser. It is reasonably fast (definitely faster than IE6), renders webpages suitably well and it has a lot of add-ons available on the Internet. These add-ons are just like plugins and you can install them to add more functionality to your browser. Toolbars, speed enhancers and other useful tools can be easily created and added to your browser. Plus, they have some of the most beautiful themes for the browser.You can customize the look of the Firefox browser with these themes.

Anyways, I had just downloaded and installed the new Firefox 3 and I am quite impressed. It feels very zippy unlike the previous version which took some time to load up. The main reason why I don’t like to use Firefox is because it loads very slow. It can take up to 1 minute to start the browser. This is definitely an improvement which I can feel. Clicking on the menu bar on the top, you can appreciate the quick response. Unlike the memory leak problem in the previous version, where you had to wait till the browser recovers, you won’t need to wait when clicking. And now, webpage rendering is blazing fast. Dare I say, as fast as Opera? Maybe not as fast but I think if we do a face to face comparison, it could be very close. Other than that, there are some icon changes to the meu bar but nothing too drastic.

I will continue to use this browser and see whether it lives up to it’s expectations. I am sure a lot of people on the Internet is rooting for Firefox to dominate the browser market. Well, me too. Either Firefox or Opera would be just fine in my opinion.

No, they are not THOSE kind of shopping carts! But they are those things that people use when they buy stuff online. You know, the script that powers the online shop you frequent so often. I guess the most famous is OSCommerce. This is the one I had used in my previous projects. It’s very easy to install and configuration is just a breeze. Of course, the design needs a little to work to make it look presentable but the base is there. And it just works. However, we should not be stuck with just one shopping cart  solution. There are plenty more shopping cart scripts out there! And here is a link to a list of Open Source Shopping Cart Scripts. These scripts are open source, which means that you don’t need to pay a cent for it.

There is no longer a need for anyone to spend thousands of dollars to setup their ecommerce site anymore. Seriously, if you know a little web programming or if you are just Internet savvy, you can simply use one of these scripts and setup your online store. It took me a few minutes to setup OSCommerce and I am not web programming guru. In fact, I have just a little basic PHP coding under my belt and nothing much else. All you have to do is to follow a few lines of instructions, setup your database and start their script installer, and you are done. And I am sure it has gotten easier now.

From the looks of it, it seems that other scripts are also making headway now. Some of them looks pretty nice compared to OSCommerce. OSCommerce still looks a bit outdated and chunky to me. The problem with shopping cart scripts is that you do need to make them look beautiful to attract customers. Unlike other websites, you really need to work on the design to appeal to your customers, that’s the reason why I am not pushing for OSCommerce. The PrestaShop e-commerce solution looks very tempting and perhaps for my next e-commerce site, I will try it out myself.

Ahh…I am here yet again to introduce to you another open source software. For this time around, it’s  a archiving program. Basically what an archiving program does is to compression or combine different files into one smaller file like our good old Winzip software. I am sure everyone knows what that software does. And it’s name is PeaZip. Why is it called PeaZip? Well, I have no idea. Perhaps it is because it is small in size like a pea? However from the Windows version of the installer, it is about 3.3MB, so it isn’t exactly small in size.

Anyways, this is an open source software and that means it is available freely with source code. And features wise, it is very impressive. It supports a wide range of archiving formats like zip, gz, arc and many more. Moreover, it can open iso, rar and even ace files. You will need to get a plugin to open ace files though. It seems to support nearly every file format which I myself know about, so you should be fairly safe to use this software to access your archives, no matter what format they are in. PeaZip also has some very good security options. It supports various encryption protocols like AES256, blowfish, Twofish256 and Serpent256 encryption. It also protects some archives against corruption by employing “recovery records”.

You can also make use of PeaZip to create, edit and restore the archive’s layout. This helps in speeding up archiving or with backup operations. PeaZip can also handle multiple archives at once. This will make accessing multiple files a breeze for the user.

PeaZip works under both Windows and Linux.

Well, here is an early look at the next version of OpenOffice. This could be very interesting for those of you who are very nerdy and uses OpenOffice instead of most of us humans use - Microsoft Office. Well, sure the latest version of Microsoft Office is giving a lot of users problems with their ribbon thingy but I think once the users start to get used to “Ribbon”, everything should be okay, even for the most fussy of users. And I think that Microsoft Office 2007 is a big step up from the previous versions of Office. Tons of great features and functions, which I think is a good upgrade for most users. And most of my users agree, the newly added features are worth it to pay for the upgrade price. I think for this once, Microsoft has really put in some effort in producing such a polished product. Well, for someone who hates Microsoft, I am pleasantly surprised. Oh, just damn the Ribbon!

For those who are using OpenOffice, you would be glad to know that OpenOffice version 3 is in active development. Yes, I am always a fan of open source software, which means this is also at the top of my list. The reason why I am not using OpenOffice is because most of the staff in my office are incapable of using anything other than Microsoft Office. Too bad, since OpenOffice 3 looks really good. And it is free (as in open source). One plus point is that it’s interface looks a lot like Microsoft Office 2007. The major problem in introducing any new software into an office environment is always resistance by the staff. And when you are forcing the office staff to learn something new or at least try a different software, you will bound to face opposition. And not to mention, everyone is using Microsoft Office without “much” complains.

For me, I am a realist. There is no point introducing a software into your company when you know that a lot of the users will not be using it anyway. They have Microsoft Office installed already. And truth to be told, most of the staff are not very IT savvy and will probably hate the IT department to death if we did really went ahead and forced everyone to use OpenOffice which they are unfamiliar with. Free? Well, sometimes free is always good. My boss thinks that such free software are always unreliable and are made by people who wants to steal information and do evil things.

Ahhh…yet another good open source alternative. Well, this is cannot be called a software, perhaps more like a script for websites. Basically, what you do is to code a few lines into your web code and it will act as a mp3 audio player. Exactly like those you see on various websites but this is in flash. No worries, it’s not a resource hog and it’s pretty small in size. And in the looks department, it looks pretty nice. Not too  “flashy” so to speak but yet presentable to most visitors. I think it will look good on “minimalist” websites like mine.

This Flash MP3 Player comes in different sizes from small to well, medium. Even the largest takes up only a small portion of your web layout. The largest also allows you to play multiple music tracks. It allows your users to choose which music tracks to play and allows them to adjust their volume. It feels to me that it is very clean and very stable. I tried a few on other websites and all seems to work perfectly. Of course, it also depends on the MP3 file you are showcasing on your website but it was able to play all the stuff which I threw at it. And coding it to your webpage is very simple. Just link to it like any other flash file and do your configurations in an xml file. Easy. Of course, the easiest is the “mini” version of the MP3 Flash Player, it just allows you to play a single audio file and the colours and look can be easily customized. Nothing for you to configure either.  But I think playing just one track is going to be tedious after while, why not give your visitors something more? The “multi” isn’t that much bigger and it has a ton of cool features too. If I ever wanted an embedded player, I would certainly choose the “multi” version. But it really depends on your webpage and it’s layout. If it doesn’t fit, you will have to choose another style.

Anyways, this flash script is open source and you can download it to check out it’s code. Flash should be supported in a good number of web browsers. In fact, I think all modern web browsers should already have support for flash and if they don’t, ditch it and get a better one, like…well….dare I say it…..Internet Explorer 7 or Opera! Hahaha, I am sure a lot of web users will kill me if they know that I am promoting Internet Explorer, but I am serious. Firefox is getting nowhere for me. So Internet Explorer is my next best option.

Heard of this software called WinPooch? Bet you haven’t heard of it before right? And this is a crime. Seriously, this is such a great open source software that it should be mentioned everywhere we go. WinPooch is all about security. It’s an anti-spyware and anti-trojan software and it does real-time protection which a lot of other free software doesn’t. This way, your system can be free of spyware and trojans all the time. Please note that I am not saying that it is prefect, what I am saying that it provides a powerful shield for you against these types of nasties on the Internet. WinPooch uses the API hooking method to stop spyware and trojans from entering your system. It monitors the programs running in your system and gives the user full control of their software behaviour. Of course, I would combine this with other anti-spyware programs.

Oh, and it becomes an antivirus software as well if you associate it with ClamWin. ClamWin is based on Clam Antivirus (the open source email anti-virus system) and it works on Windows. However, the problem with ClamWin is that it doesn’t do real-time scanning. It is a big security hole because viruses can enter anytime and anywhere. It is definitely better to prevent viruses from infecting your system rather than trying to remove viruses from your system. Thus, if you use WinPooch with ClamWin, it does real-time scanning for you, stopping viruses from infecting your system there and then. Getting rid of viruses can also be a very time consuming task.

This free software really makes a different, especially when combined when ClamWin. I always wanted to see how Clam Antivirus would work as a desktop service instead of an email scanning system. The great thing about Clam Antivirus is that it is updated regularly, and leveraging on this superb scanner, we can now do real-time protection using WinPooch. WinPooch is designed for WinNT/Win2000/WinXP. I don’t know whether it will work for Win Vista.

Wow, I am getting more and more impressed with the open source community nowadays. Just look at the number of very powerful and very useful software available in open source. No longer is open source just for geeks, they are now available everywhere and for everyone! Anyways, I would like to introduce to you guys a notepad replacement tool. It’s called Programmer’s Notepad. Not a very imaginative name, but hey, what do you expect from geeks?

Although it is called Programmer’s Notepad(PN), it’s main function is actually for web programmers and designers. The first version catered mainly for html and web programming. However for version 2, it began to support different programming languages and can understand them as well. It makes programming and coding much easier. It can support html editing and even a preview for both Internet Explorer and Mozilla. You don’t even need to launch your browser, PN previews it for you. Furthermore, PN can support large file sizes which a lot of similar software cannot. Other features include automatic indenting, advanced word wrapping, support for Unix and Macintosh file types, bookmarking, powerful search features and much more. However, note that the latest version of Programmer’s Notepad doesn’t have the HEX editor feature yet. You need to use the previous version of PN.

However, I think my favourite is still PSPad Editor. It’s just too convenient to use. And if I am going to switch to use PN, then I will have to relearn all the menus and shortcut. And Programmer’s Notepad doesn’t seem to have a lot of users. Plus, going to it’s forum. it’s quite empty too. Perhaps PN needs more time and more exposure in order to get more users and encourage more people to use PN.

Ahhh….yet another one of those disk wiping utilities. But this is not for the regular user but for mostly IT professionals and bigger IT departments. The reason is that this is a “simple” software which you use to just wipe out the entrie data on an HDD. Yup, it actually works on a bootable floppy disk or a USB thumb drive and all you have to do is to boot from your floppy (or UBM Thumb Drive) and press Enter. It will then proceed to wipe out ALL the data on ALL the available disks on your system. Although it is simple to use, it’s a very powerful software. You can do unlimited wipes and it’s very difficult to recover from it. Good if you are looking to dispose your HDD(s). I think everybody should wipe their HDD clean before they sell or give away their old HDDs. It’s going to be very difficult to recover those information once you have done the wipe. In fact, unless you have a ton of money, it’s next to impossible. If you are worried, just do several passes for the disk wiping.

Anyway, Darik’s Boot and Nuke supports a lot of IDE, SATA, SCSI disks. That would mean that you don’t have to worry about disks (or disk controllers) not being able to be detected when you do the wipe. And Darik’s Boot and Nuke also supports all Windows Partition (like FAT, FAT32 and NTFS) as well as all Linux partitions (like ReiserFS, EXT and UFS).

However, do note that this software wipes the entire disk, it is not like the other software which allows you options to wipe certain areas or only certain partitions. So be very careful when you attempt to use this software. It’s not for the faint hearted. Don’t make this software Darik’s Boot and Puke, okay?

Partimage Is Not Ghost (hence PING) is a software meant for backing up partitions or entire HDDs. It’s just like Norton Ghost (or Symantec Ghost) but with a few difference. First of all, it’s free and open source. And secondly, it is based on Linux. So what you get is a bootable CD (or DVD) and it works independent on your operating system . So if you are using Windows or Linux, it doesn’t matter. What it matters is that you have a CD-ROM Drive and HDDs to backup.

This powerful software allows you to do backup through a Microsoft Network. So just like Symantec Ghost, you can backup or restore partitions through your network easily but without the need for expensive software. And best of all, since it is based on Linux, you get a lot of support for different network cards, making it much convenient to do restoring and backing up through the network. You don’t need to worry about drivers and stuff. It also supports CD and DVD Burning, allowing you to do your backups on CD and DVD media. And from PING’s documentation, it seems that they also allows backup or BIOS data. I am not sure how that works, but it should be a good thing. PING also claims to support more file systems than their competitors, so you shouldn’t have to worry about what type of filesystems your system is running.

If you are looking for a open source alternative to Norton Ghost, you should really give PING a try. All you need is a burner and you are really to backup your entire office’s PCs. Probably take you one quarter the time you would if you have to do Windows installations every 6 months or so. Just don’t ask me why they named their software like that. Anyways, I am always keen to hear about new and exciting software, so if you find any out there on the Internet, give me a little heads up so that I can do a review on it.

Yes, it’s really a very solid media player I ever used. It plays about every video file I tried. Although it doesn’t look like much, it is a very stable product that works very well. In fact, it looks like the yucky old Microsoft media player. Perhaps that’s why they called it Media Player Classic (MPC)? I mean, when I play videos, who cares how the media software looks, right? I just want to watch the video. How the software looks is not important to me. Sure there are a lot of people who take a look at this software and say that it looks old. But surely, those are just eye candy and when you are watching movies, you won’t be looking at that. Oh, yes, it’s free (open source) too. And you don’t need to worry about resources, it takes very little of it. And it’s just about 2MB to download! If you are looking at functionality, Media Player Classic is your man. If you are aiming for looks, there are a huge number of players out there for you to choose from.

You can even use MPC to play quicktime (mov) and realmedia (rm) files! Just download the related codecs (which could be rather big) and your MPC will be able to play them. Not a lot of players can play these two types of files. And it plays DVD Videos too! Even Microsoft Media Player requires you to purchase a third party codec to play DVDs, but not MPC. It plays without any additional software. If you are looking for subtitle support, MPC has it too. Good for watching those foreign movies eh? It is surprising that such a small compact piece of software can have so many features! I am always surprised to see people willing to trade functionality for looks and then start complaining when their player acts up. It’s actually quite amusing to see that when it happens.

Media Player Classic is for Windows only. There is a version for Windows 98 and Windows Me as well. Please give it a try. I am sure you will realize that nothing beats MPC.