OSS mainstays: Non-profit IT pt.1

At Athens Area Habitat, I can vouch that the money we receive is used very ethically.  When people donate their hard-earned money, we work over-time to make sure we build as many homes as possible with it.   Every internal and promotional project with a “your budget is zero dollars” mentality.  We are, however, a full-on business with extensive IT needs and a professional brand to maintain.  Nobody but me at the office has anything beyond basic computer skills SO it falls to me to figure out how to accomplish enterprise level operations with basically no money whatsoever.  It was the need to get a whole lot done for very little money that initially spurred my investigation of open source software.  The amazing thing that I discovered was that the open source solutions available were often competitive, if not better than their full-price counterparts.

As a quick guide, here are the programs I use on a daily basis to get everything done that I need to get done.  They are all completely free and come highly recommended.

Graphics:

GIMP: substitute for Photoshop.  Will do absolutely everything you require and expect from a graphics editor.

Inkscape:  This program is an exemplary vector based drawing program.  I prefer it head and shoullders above illustrator.

Scribus: Solid page layout software.

Open Office:  You’re screwed, Microsoft.  This suite sponsored by Sun is the posterchild of open source success.

Ubuntu:  A free OS.  Use this for a few weeks and you’ll understand what computing is really about.  Free yourself from the corporate structure already.  Anyone who gives a dime to Apple or Microsoft is the victim of a scam.

Those are my staples.  To be fair, there are some gaps when it come to OSS.  There’s no real alternative to Flash, Dreamweaver, or Final Cut as far as I’m aware.  If anyone has a good suggestion, I’m open to it.