Windows Software

The most recent update to the Mozilla Thunderbird (download for Windows or Mac OS X ) mail client shoves the former fledgling out of Mozilla's nest. The goal, if unstated, is clear: get as many people as possible to try the app, and hope that the appeal of a lighter client with similar power to Outlook and Outlook Express will pull some users away from Microsoft's ubiquitous software.

For home use, Thunderbird 2 should be a no-brainer. Many of the newer features incorporate Web mail services, which can now work offline as well as on. Threaded post reading and … Read more

Computer users may not be hitting any piñatas or streamers to celebrate security software publisher PKWare's 20th birthday, but the software-publisher is hoping that a free full-version giveaway of its security program SecureZip for Windows will make users grin all the same.

The Register reports that "the release of a free version of the product marks the 20th anniversary of the firm and comes at the start of the Infosec conference in London this week."

Best known by CNET Download.com users for the original ZIP-file compression app PKZip, PKWare specializes in enterprise software. It … Read more

(Read about other alternatives for Adobe Creative Suite in the first part of Roll your own Adobe CS3 for free.)

Okay, so you can get the basic functionalities of Photoshop, Illustrator, Acrobat, and Dreamweaver without the gut-punch to your wallet. What's that you say? How about Flash?

Synfig Studio is a great answer to the replace-Flash question. Like Flash, it's a 2D vector-based animation tool, and it's one of several programs I found that tries to conquer that particular programming mountain, and does an admirable job of it--especially for freeware.

Synfig takes a bit of effort, but if you're reading this blog post then you can probably handle it. There are four install files that need to be installed in order: Gtkmm, Gtk+, Synfig Core and Synfig Studio. (Apparently, I can't handle it, since it took me two tries to get a successful installation.) There's also what seems like several metric tons of documentation and tutorials on the Synfig wiki, which is befitting for any app with Linux roots that has been ported to Windows.

Neither Flash nor Synfig make for quick studies without a guide, but both are learnable. Whether Synfig is truly capable of competing with Flash for complex multimedia animations remains to be seen. Is anyone out there giving it a try?… Read more

So, you need to finish up a design project that requires the image-editing capabilities of Photoshop along with the vectorized lines of Illustrator, and it needs to be animated in Flash with documentation in a PDF. However, you blew your budget on bling and a sweet alpaca-skin bongo set.

Take your head out of the microwave. There is indeed a way to save your project and your wallet from the $2,500 price tag of Adobe Creative Suite 3. You just have to be a bit...creative.

Photoshop is arguably the most powerful and certainly the most well-known of the Adobe set. Heck, the term "photoshop" is now a slang verb that describes altering an image. The program's popularity is well-deserved, with an array of features that is mind-boggling. Unfortunately, that incredible feature set comes with associated bloat, and Photoshop is quickly becoming the military tank of image editors: yes, it gets the job done, but no, the job description should not include cruising down Highway 101.… Read more

Bridging the gap between podcasting and music discovery is SpotDJ, a Web service and iTunes plug-in (download SpotDJ for Windows or Mac) that lets listeners record audio clips, or "spots," about their favorite songs or musical artists.

The site has the grassroots appeal of letting amateur DJs like Greg expound upon the libertarianism of Oingo Boingo while also providing inside information from artists themselves, from The Donnas to Taylor Hicks. I recently was lucky enough to be given a tour of the service by CEO and co-founder Kevin Barenblat.

Essentially, SpotDJ analyzes your iTunes or iPod playlists and … Read more