Thunder Bay Information Technology Solutions TBayIT - A Guide to Information Technology for Non-Profits

Use Software Alternatives

Many products have third party alternatives that can cost a fraction of the cost and can complete many of the same functions. In some cases the alternatives are easier to use depending on your requirements.

Here are a some examples:

DocuDesk DeskPDF
Just because you need to make PDF's doesn't mean you have to buy Adobe Acrobat for $500 dollars. There are many third party products available that make PDF's such as DocuDesk which produces a program called DeskPDF available for only $20. This program allows you to convert anything you can print into a PDF - and for the price difference it's a great value for your dollar.
• Click here to visit www.DocuDesk.com

Grisoft's AVG Antivirus
AVG Antivirus has been available for some time now as a free anti-virus application. Although some say it isn't as effective as it's competitors it has shown reliability with many installations I have tested. Even if you are looking to pay for a network antivirus program, AVG has a great licensing model and allows for remote administration.
• Click here to visit www.GriSoft.com

Ad-Aware and SpyBot - Search and Destroy
Malware, spyware, adware, or whatever you want to call it are those pesky programs that make there way into your computer slow things down and compromise security. Both LavaSoft Ad-Aware and SpyBot are excellent programs in the battle against spyware and both programs are free to use.
• Click here to visit www.LavaSoftUSA.com (Ad-Aware)
• Click here to visit www.Safer-Networking.org (SpyBot)

If you are curious to learn more about Spyware or Phishing and how to protect yourself, follow these links:
• TBayIT's Spyware Resource Page
• TBayIT's Phishing Information Page

Download Open Source Software

OpenOffice.org
Microsoft Office can be pricey to license for a large organization with many users. OpenOffice.org provides a complete office suite free of charge which is compatible with all documents made in Office (.doc, .xls, etc) and best of all, it's free to use. You will however, have to learn a new program but the developers have made this application easy to use and has many online resources including tutorials and help resources.

Linux
Microsoft Windows vs. Linux has always been a huge competition which Microsoft was obviously been the winner. However, Linux continues to pick up momentum with many of the new distributions which are more stable and just as easy to use. It can be trickier to setup and run a complete Linux environment and I recommend you have somebody on hand who is knowledgeable at doing so. The advantages include massive cost savings and stability. The user-interfaces now available with Linux are slick and just as easy to use as Microsoft systems.

Mozilla Firefox
We all are familiar with the potential security flaws in Internet Explorer. Hackers purposely target Internet Explorer as it is the most widely used browser available. Keep yourself safe from 99% of spyware and viruses by not using it. Mozilla Firefox is just as user friendly and offers better usability and security. Mozilla is open-source and free to use.
• Click here to visit www.Mozilla.org

Mozilla ThunderBird
Mozilla also offers an alternative to Outlook Express that is significantly more secure and just as easy to use. If you compare the interfaces between the two programs they look very much the same. Once you start using this program you will be thankful you did.
• Click here to visit www.Mozilla.org

mySQL
If you need a powerful backend database program, the mySQL database has industry proven stability and scalability. It can be compared to Microsoft SQL Server and is widely used on the Internet and Intranets across the world. Although there is no direct front-end such as Microsoft Access, you can use open source programming languages such as PHP to develop stable applications to handle all your data requirements.

These are just a few examples of how you can save significant dollars by using donated software or downloading open source software. Open source software is an untapped resource that is available to anyone who is interested. I always recommend searching for open source counterparts to the mainstream titles before purchasing. Often times you may have to learn a new application but in the end you will find it better and more stable then it's counterpart.

TBayIT Discounted Systems
Since we are big supports of the non-profit sector we offer discounts across the board on all of our web based systems. These include our content management system for updating your web site, our email management system (MailFile.ca) for sending out newsletters, our online collaboration software (DigitalBoard.ca) and our Data Management Utility (for managing client information and generating statistics for social service agencies). We also offer a discounted web hosting plans for non-profit organizations.

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