Outfitting your computer with the latest software can be expensive. Time and money aren’t things to be wasted. With sky rocketing prices for desktop applications, you need to arm yourself with the right alternatives.
Fortunately, there is a great alternative out there: the Internet. As hard as it is to believe, just by surfing around online, you can access most of the desktop app functionalities you need without shelling out a cent.
To prove it, here’s a list of 25 online alternatives for the most popular desktop applications that you use, want and simply must have when working online.
| Application | Online Alternative | Description |
| Microsoft Office 2007 | Google Docs | Google Docs includes the same creation applications for creating word documents, spreadsheets and presentations as MS Office. |
| Adobe Photoshop CS3 | Splashup | Splashup is an online photo image editing app that contains similar photo editing tools found in Photoshop CS3 and can integrate seamlessly with popular photo sharing services. |
| Microsoft Visio 2007 | Gliffy | Gliffy has the basic functionalities to create and share quality flow charts, complex diagrams or technical drawings. |
| Adobe Acrobat 8.1 | iConv | Create PDFs from a variety of formats by simply uploading your file. No registration, installation or cost required. |
| Apple 1 Password Manager and Form Filler 2.5.7 | clipperz | With clipperz, you create direct log in links for your online accounts. Just log in once to clipperz to access them. |
| Apple Aperture 1.5 | Flickr | A popular online photo management and sharing site. With a free basic Flickr account, you can upload photos via email or the upload webpage. |
| Microsoft Office Outlook 2007 | Gmail | Gmail accounts have tons of space, instant messaging, built in search technology, no banner ads, and available in 40 languages. |
| Vista | YouOS | YouOS is a virtual OS that you can customize without the hefty price or desktop trappings. A combination of OS functionality and web access, it still has the same look and feel of a desktop. |
Adobe Dreamweaver CS3 Adobe Flash CS3 Professional | app2you | This neat web service allows you to create your own simple web application without any coding or web designing experience whatsoever! |
| Desktop calculators | InstaCalc | InstaCalc is an advanced web based calculator. Send a link of your calculations to others or embed a calculator into your own website. Other features include unit conversions and programming commands. |
MS Outlook HP fax machine Printing paper | FaxZERO | With this internet faxing service, you can send digital documents within Canada and US for free. Just upload the document and you’re set. |
SharpReader (Windows) NetNew Wire (Mac OS X) Straw (Linux) | Netvibes | Netvibes is a nifty RSS reader and web home page. Stay connected to everything online at all times--catch up on blogs, facebook, to-do lists, news and weather. |
| Website Analysis Software | Google Analytics | This online tool allows you to keep track of your website and how it’s being accessed. Track content views or the amount of time spent on the site. |
MSN Messenger Google Talk ICQ AIM Jabber Yahoo! | meebo | A web portal for instant messaging, meebo lets you have the same online chats, but without the download. Access Google talk, msn, Yahoo!, jabber, ICQ and AIM from any computer. |
| All desktop tools | Sosius | Sosius has all the essential desktop tools online: calendar, file management, rss feeds, projects, file management, databases, and collaboration and messaging tools. |
| Desktop Task Lists | Ta-da List | This is an online to-do list that you can easily access and share with others while online. You can even check your lists on an iPhone when you’re on the go. |
| Desktop Task Lists | Backpack | Like Ta-da List, Backpack is a to-do list web tool, but more dynamic and complex. Create pages of to-do lists with images, set up text message alerts or even share your pages with others. |
| Microsoft OneNote 2007 | Stikkit | Stikkit is a simple online alternative that creates "little yellow notes that think". The notes are sharable and accessible anywhere. |
| Apple MindManager 7.0 Mac | Bubbl.us | This web application allows you to brainstorm online when you need to map out projects or make long term business plans. |
| Microsoft Money Plus Premium | Wesabe | Part financial application and part user community, Wesabe combines both to provide you with communal tips and forums so you can keep track of your spending habits. |
| MS Excel 2007 | chartAll | chartAll.com is a free online web service where you can create, store and publish simple charts from your own data sources. Charts can be customized with colors, themes, and fonts. |
| MS PowerPoint | Preezo | As the website says, “Preezo is an Ajax web application that gives you the power to create and share professional quality presentations over the web without software or plugins. Goodbye, PowerPoint. Hello, Preezo!�? |
| Adobe LiveCycle ES | Wufoo | From job applications to customer surveys, Wufoo lets you create forms quickly and easily with an HTML interface. |
Excel spreadsheets Invoices Financial software | PayPal | PayPal acts as the go-between that connects you and online recipients. An online must-have when making business purchases. |
USB storage devices Hard drive storage space | DivShare | Simply upload and share your media and document files online to free up storage space on your computer. |
Who says saving money is hard? Just by looking at the desktop applications you can do away with, you can save a bundle. Most desktop applications can range anywhere from $100 to $1, 000. Compare that to the price of using online applications: $ 0.
So the next time you think of buying another desktop app, think twice—think “online�?. Because the more you ditch the desktop, the more you save!
Bonus Tip: For heavy users of PDF who don’t want to keep their data in PDF, Investintech offers PDF to Word Converter solutions in its products such as Able2Extract and Able2Doc. The PDF to Word focused solution is a robust one that performs conversions quickly, easily and above all, accurately.
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