Ministry with free software

One or two people have asked me about the software I use to keep on top of things. Now I realise that this is really a minority-interest topic, so skip this if computers aren't your thing. But if you really want to know what's running on the vicar's computer, here's a list of the programs I use pretty well everyday, most of which are free:

1. I use Windows XP Home Edition for my operating system. It came bundled with the budget PC that I bought three years ago and it's adequate for my needs. What I would buy if I had the money? Probably Windows Vista, but I'd need a new machine to get decent performance from it and, at the moment I can't really see the point. I love the slinkiness of the Mac but it's in a different league cost-wise and not easily compatible with my Pocket PC. Cost: free with PC.
   
2. Firefox as my web browser. It's years since I made the switch from Internet Explorer. As well as being open-source and free, it's just so much better than IE in performance and extensibility. I use the Mouse Gestures, Adblock Plus, and RTM extensions. At the moment I'm using Firefox 3 Beta RC1, expect to see FF3 released in June. Cost: free.
   
3. I love Gmail. The best things are the vast storage capacity, the way it links messages and replies into conversations, its fabulous search facility and tagging capabilities. Cost: free.
4. For my word-processing, spreadsheets, presentations and database needs I run OpenOffice. I rather resent the cost of Microsoft Office and while OpenOffice isn't quite as slick, it runs very well. It's open-source and, yes, it's free.
   
5. To make sure I don't miss an appointment, I use Google Calendar. It's flexible and reliable and I particulary like the way it integrates lots of calendars into one view. On the same screen I can see my personal calendar, the church and Barnabas Centre calendars, the Church of England calendar and Leicestershire school holidays. Cost: free.
   
6. For contacts, I use a combination of Gmail (for email contacts) and Thunderbird. Thunderbird comes from the Mozilla Foundation (the movement behind Firefox) so it's open-source too. Cost: free.
7. To keep my to-do list in shape and to make sure I don't overlook anything crucial I use Remember-the-Milk. I tried it first a couple of years ago and wasn't that impressed. But I've since taken another look and in recent months it's really paid off. I like the integration with Gmail that means that the list of things I need to do is right in front of me.
8. I use Copernic Desktop Search to find files on my computer (though I am a bit of an anorak when it comes to maintaining neat and tidy folders). Copernic also searches for contact details and a variety of file formats, so it's a very fast way of retrieving information. Cost: free.
   
9. For snappy application launching and the keyboard shortcuts that make things faster nothing works better than the open-source Launchy. Cost: free.
10. For synchronising appointments and contacts between my desktop PC and my Pocket PC, I use BirdieSync (via Thunderbird and the Lightning calendar extension). Cost: 19.95 euro.
    
11. I keep lots of lists in Listpro, everything from a list of church keyholders to my shopping list. It's not free but I've not found anything better. Cost: $29.95
    
12. This blog is written with Blogger from Google. I did try Windows Live Writer, which has a much smarter interface than Blogger, but after the reinstall of Windows I've tried to keep the list of applications running on my PC to a minimum, to keep things as responsive and snappy as possible. Cost:free.
13. All my photographs are catalogued and edited with Picasa. Cost:free.
14. I've created a few nifty scripts to automate things from email signatures to funeral forms, with Autohotkey. Cost: free.
    
15. With such a lot of vital information on the computer, I'd be pretty lost when the hard disk fails, without up to date copies of all my data. So I keep everything backed up automatically with the wonderful Mozy. I've gone for the paid version, so I get all the space I need to save precious family photographs etc. Cost: $4.95 per month - well worth it for the peace of mind it brings.
    
16. To read PDF files I use the lean Foxit Reader, rather than Adobe Acrobat. Cost: free.
17. I run Avast antivirus, which has a relatively light memory footprint compared with Norton and other paid products. Cost: free.
    

You'll see from all this that I don't spend much money on software. It's not just that I'm mean, but there are lots of quality programs that are available for nothing. Most of them come from the open-source community, which means that you can do a lot without breaking the bank.

In the church, it's good to use formats for documents which don't oblige people to spend lots of money on software to read them. Having lived and worked successfully without the Microsoft Office suite, I'm sure that in Leicestershire alone we could save tens of thousands of pounds by using free software.