There are plenty of great free software applications and services available on the Web.
In some cases, payment removes advertising and enables more features. Some require a subscription or a one-time payment.Sometimes the payment is merely a donation to a one-man operation that wrote the code.
Here’s a few quick lists of what I’m using, inspired by this discussion on Weblog Tools Collection:
Keep in mind that my recommendations are for the consumer or individual versions of each service. Some products are available in corporate or enterprise versions for a fee.
Free software and services that I would pay for, along with links to each service’s “about” or home page:
- Craigslist, if only to get the spam and junk postings off the classified portion of the service.
- del.icio.us, my second favorite social bookmarking service. I’m waiting to see what happens to Yahoo, the company that owns del.icio.us and also owns my next choice..
- Flickr, for the Pro account features.
- Google Earth, to get enhanced features on the Mac application.
- MacUpdate, for enhanced features on this Mac software update service.
- PayPal, so I could have a business account.
- Skype, for unlimited calling.
- StumbleUpon, my favorite social bookmarking service, to get some extra features as a sponsor.
- TextEdit, my favorite text editor for Windows.
Here’s a list of free software and services that I wouldn’t pay to use, because the ROI just isn’t that great:
- avast, my favorite virus scanner for Windows and Mac.
- Firefox, the best web browser for the Mac and Windows.
- Gmail, because the keep adding more storage space to my free accounts anyway.
- Twitter, a microblogging service that supports SMS and a variety of web and software clients
- Twitterific, a Mac twitter client. I can live with the occasional ad.
- WinZip and other file compression programs.
- WordPress, the software I use to run the billso.com web site. It’s fabulous, free, and there’s no real reason to pay for it. Many WordPress developers earn consulting income from clients who need
