Commercial apps

Posted March 17, 2006
Filed under: Tech |

I’m always writing about open source and free software, but I use commercial apps a lot too. Thought I’d spend a minute meditating on the commercial software that I rely on:

  • Microsoft Office: Still the standard, although OpenOffice is catching up. Even though there’s probably 95% compatibility between OpenOffice and Microsoft Office, people still freak out whenever I say I wrote the document in OpenOffice, mostly because they’re afraid of computers. Plus MS Office is quite a bit faster… All I really use is Word and Excel, though I’d say I use OpenOffice about 60% of the time.
  • AppleWorks: Sometimes I use it. I like it for its simplicity.
  • SAS: Great statistics app, especially for working with large datasets. I wish they’d make an OS X version.
  • Stata: Another great statistics app, makes econometrics really easy. I can run all sorts of weird logit models without having to search the web for complicated tutorials. R has all the same functionality, but it’s a little harder to access.
  • OS X: Best OS ever. Open-source fanaticism aside, the operating system is a good place to spend some money, and OS X works seamlessly. I also use all of the other applications that came with OS X, such as Mail and iLife.

That’s about it. Any time I use a commercial application regularly, it means that either (a) I use an application of that type regularly, so a small improvement in interface or speed is worth a lot to me, or (b) the application has functionality that open-source alternatives just don’t. That being said, in a pinch, I could live without all of the above.

Update: Can’t believe that I forgot Ecto, the application that I used to write the post… There are various free/open-source blog editors, including Deepest Sender, Performancing, Qumana, Bleezer, w.blogger, etc. But I had trouble with them all, so I bought ecto, which was well worth the money. Before I always thought “who needs a blog client, the in-browser editors are so good,” but since WordPress.com rocks so much, I run multiple blogs on it, and having a client means I don’t have to constantly log in and out. Mail.app solves the same problem for me on Gmail.