Have Office 2010? Don’t Buy Office 2013 – Here’s Why

I’m coming to the end of my trial period with Microsoft Office 2013. Over the weeks it has been a reasonably solid experience with one or two quirkscausing me no end of frustration. But do I want to upgrade? Do I want to pay for a subscription or full purchase or would I prefer to stick with Microsoft Office 2010, a suite that I’ve been using successfully for several years now? Indeed, should I even think of abandoning Microsoft in favour of an open source alternative?

While I mulled these questions, I had a bit of a play with Office 2013. It soon became apparent that Microsoft seem to be playing a very interesting – and risky – game. Microsoft Office 2013 might have a new user interface and offer “new” features (see below) but all in all it is just the same package as released previously, plus a few free add-ons.

What this essentially means is that by adding free downloads from Microsoft to Office 2010,you can save hundreds of dollars.

Why You Think You Need Microsoft Office 2013

SkyDrive integration! New views in Excel and PowerPoint! Facebook integration with Outlook!

If any of those three things make you sit up and think “Hmm, I reckon I should be upgrading to Microsoft Office 2013″, then think again – if you’re running Office 2010, you already have these features included. Sure, there are a few new features in Office 2013, but on the whole these are nothing to write home about and certainly don’t justify an expensive upgrade from Office 2010 (except, perhaps, in extreme cases).

What has happened is that basically Microsoft have repackaged the existing Office suite with a new “Modern” user interface and integrated some features that were available via free downloads. Elsewhere, tools and functions that were overlooked in promotional campaigns for Office 2010 have not been highlighted.

Microsoft Outlook

For the past few months, Microsoft has been heavily promoting Outlook.com, its new online email, calendar, task management and contacts system that is available as a free upgrade to Hotmail users.

Not only is the name evocative of the famous email client, but so is the user interface – so much so, in fact, that for standard users it is more or less indistinguishable from the Microsoft Office 2013 tool of the same name.

If the basic features of Outlook.com aren’t enough, don’t worry – there are ways to get some of the added bells and whistles free, too, either in your browser or in your previous version of Office Outlook:

Weather alerts can be added in Options, where you can select and save Show weather on the calendar (in Celsius or Fahrenheit). Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter can be integrated with Outlook.com by clicking your profile image in the top-right corner, selecting Edit Profile > Connect and adding your social accounts.

If you would prefer this feature in Outlook 2010 rather than having to use the browser email client, don’t worry – Microsoft Office Social Connector can be downloaded adding Facebook, LinkedIn and several other social networks to the email client.

Outlook 2013 offers a “new” feature that displays a one-line preview of each message in your inbox. This isn’t all that new, however. Simply a default setting and one that can easily be setup in Outlook 2010 in View > AutoPreview.

Microsoft Word

A new feature for Word 2013 is the ability to drop photos into Word documents and place them wherever you want. This DTP-esque function is complemented with the ability to annotate documents freehand with text and illustrations.

Earlier versions of Word don’t offer anything quite like this, although there are alternatives. If you’re running a previous version of Microsoft Office that has Publisher in the suite, then this is one application that already offers the DTP function. Meanwhile, Serif PagePlus Starter Edition is a free DTP application that enables you to import and edit .DOC and .DOCX files, place images wherever you like for the text to flow around and a pencil tool for annotations, much like in Word 2013.

The ability to edit PDF files is another big selling point of Office 2013, and this is one of the few genuine improvements. In Office 2010, only the ability to save a document in PDF was available.

If you want to be able to edit PDFs without upgrading to Word 2013, however, you can do so using CutePDF or PDFescape – the first enables the extraction of pages form a PDF document, along with other editing tools such as rotating, deleting and cropping pages, while the second provides tools for removing and adding page elements such as text, pictures, links and notes.

One of the best features in Word 2013 is the document bookmark, which enables you to quickly jump to the last viewed or edited page in a document. However, this is another tool that is available in Word 2010, and can be activated by manually inserting a bookmark – go toInsert > Bookmark, name the bookmark, then Location > Add. You can then jump to the bookmark via Insert > Bookmark > Go To.

Similarly, Word 2013 opens documents in Read Mode by default. Although frustrating for some, this can be activated in Word 2010 via View > Full Screen Reading.

Finally, multimedia options for Word documents have been improved in 2013, but they’re not all that bad in Word 2010, either. While Word 2013 supports importing images and videos from Bing, YouTube, Flickr and Facebook, Word 2010 users can still embed JPG and PNG images via Insert > Picture – the image URL should be inserted into the File name box.

Meanwhile videos on your hard disk drive can be added to Word 2010 using Insert > Object > Create from file. If you want to add an online video you will need to download it first – this shouldn’t be too difficult as there are many ways in which you can download a YouTube video!

Microsoft Excel

With Excel 2013, the bonuses from a Microsoft sales department point of view all concern features that already existed in Excel 2010, namely filters and slicers.

You can easily add filters to your tables in Office 2010 via Data > Filter. To acquire more advanced options, meanwhile, you will need to first create a PivotTablet (this is done by selecting a cell in your worksheet and selecting Insert > PivotTable.) You can then filter your data using the PivotTablet arrows, and this can in turn be formatted into a chart viaPivotTable Tools > Options > Pivot Chart.

It is from using the chart that you can enjoy the filter options, which can be viewed by clicking the chart. Elsewhere, slicers can be added via Insert > Slicer > Existing Connections > Show,where you will decide how the slicers should appear. Slicers enable you to filter PivotTable data, and are a particularly popular function among heavy spreadsheet users.

Microsoft PowerPoint

Two key features are being used to promote PowerPoint 2013. Presenter View is a tool for displaying speaker notes and enabling the annotation of slides as you conduct your presentation – but this is possible in PowerPoint 2010 with the Use Presenter View option in the Slide Show tab.

A feature of PowerPoint 2013 that isn’t available in 2010 is the ability to Present Online, an online streaming tool for your presentation. However, by signing up to Prezi, you can take advantage of a free service that enables online sharing and live presentation streaming.

Free Alternatives For OneNote

As good as OneNote is, it hasn’t made any considerable leaps and bounds in functionality since the last release. Indeed, you might prefer to avoid using anything other than the 2010 version as in most cases this will probably do what you want.

However if you want a better level of flexibility for searching notes and online sync, then you should probably be considering Evernote, the hugely popular app that is available for pretty much any platform you can think of. As an alternative, you might also want to take a look atGoogle’s new Keep app, which is based on the same premise.

On top of all of these options, there is also OneNote MX, the excellent Windows 8 version of the application which is arguably the most touch-optimised aspect of Microsoft Office. This is available free in the Windows 8 Store.

SkyDrive Integration Is Already Here!

One of the biggest selling points for Microsoft Office 2013 is the inclusion of SkyDrive integration – the only thing is, Microsoft seems to have omitted to inform its customers that this too was already available for free.

All you need to do is head to the SkyDrive download page and install the application, which will connect with your existing SkyDrive account (every Microsoft account has access to cloud storage). One installed, it will add a SkyDrive entry to Windows Explorer and whenever you click the Save as option (in Office or any other application) you will be able to save directly to the cloud, where your data will be available to view from another PC, through the web browser or via the SkyDrive mobile app.

Don’t Pay More Than You Have To

We’re not about to start prescribing financial advice concerning your software purchases or anything else, but you really should have a good think about upgrading to Office 2013 before you sign up to anything. Microsoft’s Office suite has served millions of people well over the years, but the differences between the new package and the old one – certainly in terms of regularly used features – are negligible.

Some of you might remember the observations back in 2009 (when Office 2010 was previewed) that the new release wasn’t all that different from the previous one. In my opinion, there were features worth paying for in Office 2010 even if you had Office 2007; this time around, however, it simply doesn’t make sense.

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From Pirate Darling To Dropbox Alternative: BitTorrent Sync Lets You Keep Your Files Synchronized Across Machines

The days of having to shuttle files between machines on USB sticks seem like a distant memory from a simpler time. Today, it’s all about the cloud. Want to access your files from more than one machine? Nothing could be simpler: Just stick them in Dropbox (and hope there isn’t anotherauthentication bug), or Drive (courtesy of our corporate overlords at Google), or SkyDrive(developed by the benevolent behemoth that is Microsoft). To put it differently, cloud-based file sync services are easy to use and work well, but your privacy may or may not be their first priority. Not to mention the fact that these services always come with a storage quota. You can try to maximize the free storage space, but a quota is a quota. If you’re longing for an alternative, you should check out BitTorrent Sync.

This new service from BitTorrent harnesses the power of the distributed file-sharing network to keep your own private files in sync. It’s not like torrenting your files, though: BitTorrent Sync works with secret keys that let you selectively choose what to share with whom, and even supports expiring, temporary keys. Let’s walk through installing the service and sharing a folder.

Installation: Next. Next, Done!

Installation couldn’t be simpler. It’s not even a next-next-next affair, really, as it only has two steps. Two things are worth noting: BitTorrent Sync is utterly clean of any ads or any other dubious content (and it does not come with a BitTorrent client), and the only sort of special treatment it asks for is making a hole in the Windows firewall:

Initial Configuration

Once installed, run BitTorrent sync to begin the configuration process:

We’ll get to secrets in a moment. For now, pick Standard Setup (the default), and click Next. BitTorrent Sync will then ask you for a folder to sync:

It’s worth noting that you can use BitTorrent Sync to synchronize any folder, not just its own special folder.

Once you pick a folder, BitTorrent Sync will produce a secret for it:

This is a long string of characters which you can then use to connect to this folder from any other device. This is a key difference between BitTorrent Sync and other file-sync solutions: There are no user accounts, and you won’t be asked to create a password for yourself at any point in the process. Rather, each folder has one or more secrets, and that’s what you use to connect to it.

The Tour

Once you pick your first folder to sync and get a password, BitTorrent Sync will show a quick three-step tour:

The first step of the tour shows the control panel, while the next explains you can sync an unlimited number of folders, and files of any size. Finally, BitTorrent Sync shows how you can quickly copy the secret for any shared folder, to share it with family or friends:

Once you finish the tour, you’ll find yourself in the BitTorrent Sync interface proper.

Adding Folders For Sharing

One of BitTorrent Sync’s cool features is that you can add new folders from anywhere on your computer. The Shared Folders tab has an Add button which you can click for this dialog:

Once you add a folder that already contains files, BitTorrent Sync will take a few moments to index its contents. You will already be able to copy its secret and share it with other BitTorrent Sync users. Once I entered the secret for this folder on another computer running BitTorrent Sync, the other computer’s name showed up in the BitTorrent Sync window, and files started going through instantly (they were on the same LAN, but this should work over the Internet as well, assuming you’ve let the installer configure your Windows firewall).

Your Secret: It Really Is a Secret

One thing really bears another mention here: When BitTorrent Sync gives you a secret, it means it. It is a secret. Anyone who possesses this magic string of letters will be able to gain access to the folder you’ve shared, no questions asked. Yes, you will see an unexpected device name in the Devices tab, but that will be too late: By then, the hostile party may already be in possession of your files.

Advanced Secret Tactics

What if you want to allow access to a folder, but not risk anyone deleting or modifying its contents? And what if you only want to share a folder for a limited time? BitTorrent Sync has you covered: Double-click the folder, switch to the Advanced tab, and you’ll get the following:

Here you can see the folder’s existing secret, its read-only secret (for allowing permanent read-only access), and generate one-time secrets. A one-time secret can only be used once, and expires after 24 hours. That’s pretty awesome.

A Very Promising Start

BitTorrent Sync gets a lot of the basics right. Setup is a snap; you can share any folder; you don’t have to create user accounts; and the underlying file-transfer technology is, shall we say, extensively field-tested and proven. Whether or not it catches on as a mainstream means of synchronizing files — only time will tell. But this initial test shows that there’s a lot going for it.

Will you be trying BitTorrent Sync yourself? Let me know how it went in the comments!

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How To Install The Ubuntu Touch Preview On Your Nexus Android Device

Ubuntu is developing on a touch-focused interface for smartphones and tablets, with plans to ship Ubuntu smartphones in 2014. If you’re interested in trying it right now, there’s good news: You can install the preview release of Ubuntu Touch on a Nexus device (the Galaxy Nexus, Nexus 4, Nexus 7, or Nexus 10).

Warning: This is an early version of Ubuntu Touch. It’s been called beta, but it’s actually alpha. Many things don’t work and some apps are non-functioning placeholders containing mock-up graphics. Installing this preview release will also wipe your Nexus device’s data, so ensure you back up any important data before continuing.

If you’re still interested in trying out Ubuntu Touch and experiencing a preview of what the final Ubuntu Touch operating system will be like, feel free to continue. But be aware of what you’re getting into!

What’s Ubuntu Touch?

Ubuntu Touch is a touch interface for Ubuntu Linux designed for smartphones and tablets. Ubuntu plans on shipping Ubuntu smartphones beginning in 2014.

The most interesting feature of Ubuntu Touch is probably the way it can potentially integrate all hardware form factors into a seamless experience. The operating system can power smartphones, tablets, desktop PCs, and even smart TVs, adapting its interface to each different type of device. That’s the concept, at least. For a more in-depth explanation, watch Ubuntu’s official demonstration video below.

Prepare Ubuntu On The Desktop

We’ll be using Ubuntu on a PC to install Ubuntu Touch , as that’s the officially supported method. If you don’t have Ubuntu installed, you should be able to boot from an Ubuntu live CDand perform this process from the live Ubuntu environment without even installing Ubuntu on your computer.

To install the required software, open a terminal and run the following commands on your Ubuntu system:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:phablet-team/tools

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install phablet-tools android-tools-adb android-tools-fastboot

Unlock Your Device

To install another operating system on your Nexus device, you’ll need to unlock its boot loader. Note that this step will wipe all data on your device. (If you’ve already unlocked the boot loader to install a custom ROM or root your device, you can skip this section.)

To unlock the device, first power it off completely. Next, power it on by pressing the Power, Volume Up, and Volume Down buttons all at once. It will boot into fastboot mode.

Connect the Nexus device to your computer with a USB cable, open a terminal, and run the following command:

sudo fastboot oem unlock

Confirm that you want to unlock your device, then press the Power button to boot the device. Go through the typical Android setup process until you reach the home screen.

Device Preparation

Now you’ll need to enable USB debugging on your device. The instructions here assume your device is running Android 4.2.

First, open the Settings screen and select About phone or About tablet. On the About screen, tap the Build number field seven times. You’ll see the message “Congratulations, you are now a developer” appear on the screen.

Return to the main Settings screen and select the now-visible Developer options option. Enable the USB debugging option on the Developer Options screen.

Next, run the following commands on your computer:

adb kill-server

adb start-server

Connect the Nexus device to your computer and you should see a confirmation pop-up on your device. Agree to the message. (If your Nexus device has an older version of Android, you may not see this popup.)

On the About Phone or About Tablet screen, locate the build number you tapped earlier and write it down. You’ll need this number when you reinstall Android later.

Install Ubuntu Touch

If you’ve followed the instructions above, you should be able to install Ubuntu Touch by running the following command:

phablet-flash -b

This command will erase everything on your Nexus device, download the latest image of Ubuntu Touch, and install it on your device. After everything is done, your device will automatically reboot into the Ubuntu Touch environment. Be patient while the process completes.

(If you see an error message saying there isn’t enough space, uninstall some apps or remove some files from your Nexus device and try again.)

Reinstalling Android

There’s a good chance you’ll want to reinstall Android after playing with the Ubuntu Touch preview. To do so, visit the Factory Images for Nexus Devices page on Google’s website. Locate the factory image that corresponds to the build number you wrote down earlier and download it.

Extract the downloaded file, open a terminal, and cd into the extracted directory.

Connect your Nexus device to your computer and ensure it’s powered on.

Next, run the following command:

adb reboot-bootloader

After your device reboots into fastboot mode, run the following command:

sudo ./flash-all.sh

(If you see an error, be sure that you’ve extracted the factory image and that you used the cd command to enter its directory.)

This will reinstall Google’s official Android image back onto your device. After the process is complete, your Nexus device should reboot into Android.

If you have any trouble, you may want to consult the official installation guide on the Ubuntu Wiki.

Have you played with the Ubuntu Touch preview yet? Are you looking forward to Ubuntu phones, tablets, smart TVs, and PCs? Leave a comment and share your experience!

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How Do I Install Ubuntu on a New Windows 8 Computer?

The introduction of personal computers withWindows 8 preinstalled with them also introduced a controversial under-the-hood modification – Secure Boot. Secure Boot is a technology which is included in any new computer that has Windows 8 preinstalled and the official sticker. It is meant to check that you have a certified operating system installed on your computer before it tries to boot it. This prevents the system from running any “non-certified” (or non-trusted) operating systems, lowering the risk that malicious code runs at boot time.

The idea itself is reasonable, but it completely ignores the fact that personal computers are able to run more than just Windows – there’sLinux, BSD variants, and plenty more. Ever since the specification came into effect, Linux developers have been working hard to support it so that people can continue installing their favorite Linux distributions.

Since manufacturers tend to stick with Microsoft’s specifications, you won’t find a lot of computers that don’t have Secure Boot. If you happen to have a computer which doesn’t include Secure Boot, then you’ll have it a lot easier by following the regular installation procedure. However, if you’re stuck with it, here’s what you’ll need to do.

Try It Normally

Since Ubuntu 12.10 and the release of 12.04.2, the distribution has added support for Secure Boot. While this support is supposed to work for most systems, it may not always be the case. The best way to find out is to try to boot the installation media and install Ubuntu onto your hard drive. Be sure, however, that you’re using the 64-bit media, as it is the only one which works with UEFI Secure Boot (this rule applies to any operating system, not just Ubuntu or Linux as a whole).

If you can’t boot the installation media or you can’t boot into your new installation, then something has gone wrong. As Secure Boot is a brand new technology, experiences can vary for everyone, with failures remaining largely unexplainable.

Disable Secure Boot

If attempting a regular installation with Secure Boot enabled worked out for you, great! If not, you may need to try something else. The specification by Microsoft states that, in order to be Windows 8 certified, it needs to allow the user to disable the technology. Therefore, you should be able to boot into your system’s BIOS and find the setting for Secure Boot and disable it. Any Windows partitions that you keep on the system will still run normally, but it just theoretically reduces the security of your system by a bit.

Turning off this feature should allow Ubuntu to be installed and run without any issues. Just remember to boot off your installation media in UEFI mode instead of BIOS mode in order to remain uniform, as Windows 8 will already be installed on your system in UEFI mode.

Re-Enable Secure Boot If Desired

From here, you’ll have two options – either keep Secure Boot off and work on your system with the slight increase in security risk, or attempt to turn Secure Boot back on. You’re more than welcome to try turning it on if you choose to do so, as you can always turn it back off if Ubuntu fails to load.

Fixing Your Booting Options

If you still have Windows alongside Ubuntu, you will most likely need to update your boot configuration so that it can correctly identify Windows, especially in a Secure Boot environment. You can easily fix any issues with the Boot-Repair utility.

You’ll first need to add the PPA (personal repository) as well as install it before using it. You can do all of this, as well as launch the utility, by running the command :

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:yannubuntu/boot-repair && sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install -y boot-repair and then run boot-repair to launch it.

From here, you can click on “Recommended repair”, or go into the Advanced options and make sure that the Secure Boot option is enabled (only if you chose to re-enable it again). Hopefully, after another restart, you should be good to go!

Conclusion

Sadly, Secure Boot support isn’t perfect, so you’ll need to have some luck to see if you can get it to work correctly with the technology enabled. Otherwise, you’ll have to make some sacrifices and disable Secure Boot, but I don’t find this to be too difficult of a decision as I’ve been just fine without the benefits of the technology. There’s always the question of whether the complications created by a security measure are really worth it for your own personal use.

Have you successfully installed Ubuntu with Secure Boot enabled? Do you own a system on which you’d like to try installing Ubuntu on? Let us know in the comments!

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Windows 8: A Review From A Linux User’s Perspective

It has been a few months since Windows 8 came out, so a lot of enthusiasts have messed around with it and found out what it’s all about. Many people have feared that Windows 8 would be an entirely new experience, and that our traditional workflow would be disrupted. Some people have even claimed that Windows 8 may cause them to abandon the operating system family and switch toLinux so that they can run up to date code without upgrading Windows. However, is any of this really the case?

I bought a copy of Windows 8 Pro to try for myself to reach some answers on my own. With answers in hand, I give you a review of the new operating system from a Linux user’s perspective.

Interface

One of the biggest complaints about Windows 8 is the new interface, or specifically the Start Screen. It scares a lot of people, but it’s easy to figure out after a bit of fiddling. Windows 8 introduces two different kinds of applications — your legacy programs that you’ve always used, and the new Windows 8 apps, which run full screen. This split allows you to use your computer in two different ways, or mix the two for a custom experience. If you want to remain on the traditional desktop, just avoid the Windows Store and install your applications as usual. You can find all of your applications in the Start Screen, which you can arrange however you want. In my opinion, the functionality of the Start Button is still there. You’ll just need to use the Windows key on your keyboard more often rather than gravitating to where the Start Button used to be. Worst case scenario, you can always get the Start Button back.

The new interface seems pretty different compared to traditional conventions, but I do think that people will grow to like it. People simply need to adjust to the slight changes when it comes to the Start Screen — everything else is essentially the same. It was a similar story for the Unity desktop interface on Ubuntu. After it was improved and bugs were fixed, more and more people started to like it.

Besides the interface and performance changes, there isn’t too much to tout about that immediately affects everyone. Windows 8 packs new multi-monitor support, a new task manager, and some Windows Explorer improvements. These improvements are fine (even if you don’t like those applied to Windows Explorer), but they don’t add any extra value compared to Linux. Multi-monitor support has already been decent (excluding the poorer quality of the graphics drivers), the task manager has always been informative, powerful, and visually appealing, and Nautilus/Dolphin have continuous refinements added to them.

Performance

Performance is another important aspect of the new operating system. It has definitely improved when compared to Windows 7, and the quicker startup times from the hibernated kernel. However, I believe Linux operating systems are still faster. They take the same time or less to boot from an unhibernated kernel, and runtime performance is also noticeably smoother. The only measurable improvements that Windows brings comes from the better graphics drivers while playing games. Linux is still more resource efficient as well, using quite a bit less RAM even with the full, relatively memory-hogging Ubuntu experience.

Storage

Some people may enjoy Windows 8’s new Storage Spaces feature. It allows people to combine multiple hard drives into one drive that appears in My Computer. Windows then uses all of the space that you configured across all hard drives, and you just continue using your system without worries. Linux has been doing this successfully for quite a while with LVM, and the imminent stable release of Btrfs will provide a modern replacement for the technology at a file-system level. Both LVM and Btrfs are easily configurable during installation or via utilities inside the operating system.

Battery Life

Another important factor is battery life. Windows continues to provide strong battery life, but Linux has always been touted as excellent in this category because of its high efficiency. Despite what people have said, my old computer always had a slightly better battery life under Windows, but with my new laptop, the tables have turned. I’ve noticed that Windows 8 keeps my laptop rather busy, so that the fan repeatedly turns on for a few moments to get rid of some hot air, something that doesn’t happen under Linux. I hate trying to give out statistics for something like battery life because it always changes, and depends on the software that you install.

Security

Security is the final issue where Windows 8 has made some strides. It has implemented Windows Defender deep into the operating system, as well as some anti-virus precautions. However, it is still extremely vulnerable and an anti-virus solution is highly advisable. Under Linux, this isn’t the case — there isn’t any threat of viruses, and a tight firewall will keep out any potential hackers.

Conclusion

Overall, I don’t really see a lot of issues with Windows 8. There are improvements all across the board, and the only major complaint, the new interface, is something that only takes an hour of getting used to. Once I played around with it for a while, I felt comfortable using it. Yes, it was new, and people don’t like change, but there really isn’t much of a difference. Just take a deep breath and think logically. When compared to Linux, Windows 8 is showing a lot of similar struggles in the interface department, but otherwise they both have pros and cons. I still prefer Linux over Windows, but for people who wouldn’t dare switch away from Windows or who rely on Windows-only software, I have no problem recommending Windows 8. As for those still considering Linux, here’s some help on making Linux a Windows replacement.

What do you think of Windows 8? How do you think it stacks up to Linux? Are you running it right now? Let us know in the comments!

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For Literary Penguins: 4 Great Writing Tools [Linux]

A great amount of productivity comes from writing tasks, whether it be for school assignments, articles for your blog, or much more. While full-featured office applications tend to be the norm for such tasks, it may sometimes be a good idea to go in the opposite direction and use some simpler or specialized tools, depending on what you’re working on. Often, this can either help you focus more on the work that’s ahead, or simply improve your overall workflow to save some time.

However, many of these writing tools for Linux are far less known than their larger office brethren. In order to shine some light in this area, here are a few applications which can be effective for this kind of work.

Tomboy

Every great writing assignment needs lots of information and organized thoughts, and there’s nothing better to jot all of those ideas and information than with a note-taking application likeTomboy. The small but effective productivity program can help you get everything together before you start working on your assignment. It offers plenty of features within each note, such as great formatting tools, lists, and Wiki-style links to other saved notes that updates automatically if the note’s name changes.

You can also organize notes into different notebooks to keep notes for different tasks separate. It’s also a great way to keep a simple to-do list. Also, if you don’t like the fact that Tomboy depends on the possibly-patent-infringing Mono framework, you can also take a look at Gnote, which is a C++ clone without all the legal issues. Once you’ve got everything well prepared, you can begin to start writing!

PyRoom

Sometimes, the best way to write up a paper or other assignment is to remove all possible distractions. So, make sure to close the door to whatever room you’re in and use a distraction-free writing application such as PyRoom. This nifty program doesn’t pack many features, nor is it meant to – besides some simple formatting options, you see nothing on your screen besides a simple box. All desktop elements simply disappear so that you aren’t distracted by it anymore. Yes, the Internet is still there, but you’ll have to close PyRoom every time in order to reach it, and such an inconvenience makes straying from your assignment much less enticing.

The interface is completely driven by keyboard shortcuts, but instead of listing them all out right here, just remember that hitting Ctrl + H will open up the list of other keyboard shortcuts – you can start memorizing them from there. Gnome users should be happy to know that the application uses GTK binaries, so it should be a quick download and installation. Users of desktop environments based off other graphical toolkits might find PyRoom to be a heavier download because it’ll pull all of those dependencies.

Additionally, if you don’t like PyRoom, you can also give TextRoom a try. Although it doesn’t have a lot of differences with PyRoom, some immediate differences include a bar at the bottom of the screen which include the current time and the word count of the document.

Plume Creator

If the writing task you’re tackling involves creative writing, or something that is best suited in a novel form, then an ideal solution is an application called Plume Creator. This program allows you to organize your writing into chapters and scenes, as well as keep track of characters, places, and items. These organizational tools are found in a panel on the left side of the window.

You can also enter fullscreen mode with Plume, which also offers a great distraction-free environment so you can better concentrate on the task at hand. You can also add a synopsis to the novel, as well as notes at the scene, chapter, or novel levels.

Sync Your Files

Of course, you can’t forget to have a good synchronization solution at your side to have the latest versions of your files across all your computers. In addition, the web interface of solutions such as Dropbox allows you to access your files anywhere in the world and work on them, which is great for whenever you get a spark of inspiration.

Plus, there’s plenty of additional uses for Dropbox. As a Linux user, the top two choices would be Dropbox and Ubuntu One, but the choice is ultimately up to you.

Conclusion

With these writing tools for Linux in hand, you should be well prepared to accomplish your next writing assignment. No matter the specifics of the task, either of these should be able to aid you in one way or another. And if not, there’s still plenty of other free applications available under Linux which may be able to do the job for you. In fact, there’s plenty of great free software on MakeUseOf’s list of the Best Linux Software.

What writing tools do you prefer on Linux? Do you have a workflow that is efficient for you? Let us know in the comments.

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What Are The Best Linux Web Browsers?

Linux desktops offer many of the same web browsers you can use Windows and Mac, with Chrome, Firefox, and Opera all available for Linux. We’ll take a look at the best browsers you can use on a Linux system, including some lesser-known browsers that aren’t available on Windows or Mac.

We’ve covered the best browsers for Windows before, and much of comparison holds true on Linux, too. Most of the big-name browsers are here, with only Microsoft’s Internet Explorer and Apple’s Safari staying out of the Linux web browser wars.

Chrome, Firefox, and Opera all sync your browser data on Linux, too. If you already use one of these browsers and want to sync your data across platforms, you have an easy choice.

Chrome & Chromium

Google’s Chrome browser has taken much of the power-user web browsing market by storm and now makes up a plurality of the page views on the web. Google Chrome is excellent on Linux, too — it should be, as Google’s Chrome OS is essentially just the Linux version of Chrome running in a special environment. Google has incentive to make the Linux version of Chrome work well.

The Linux version of Chrome works just like Chrome on Windows, offering all the sameChrome extensions, Google account sync, and multi-process features. Chrome also includes its own Flash plugin. Chrome will be the only way to get a modern, updated Flash for Linux in the future as Adobe ends support for Firefox’s plugin architecture.

Chrome is also very speedy on Linux. A 2009 discussion from Google’s official Chrome development list asked “why is Linux Chrome so fast?” and had a Chrome developer observing that “the Linux version of Chrome feels ridiculously faster than Windows and Mac.” Chrome for Windows and Mac may have caught up in the years since, but the Linux version is still as speedy as ever.

You can get Chrome from Google’s website. Many Linux distributions also include the Chromium browser in their software repositories. Chromium is the open-source version of Chrome, and it contains most of the same features, although patent-encumbered and closed-source features like H.264 video playback and the integrated PDF viewer aren’t present.

Firefox

You’ll still find Mozilla Firefox installed by default on most Linux distributions. Firefox for Linux is a solid browser and is just as powerful as Firefox for Windows, offering the most powerful browser extensions you can get. Of course, most users don’t need this level of extension power and would be fine with Chrome.

Let’s be honest: Firefox isn’t as fast as Chrome on Windows. It won’t surprise you to hear that Firefox isn’t as fast as Chrome on Linux, either. Historically, Firefox has had some serious performance problems on Linux. Luckily, Firefox’s performance on Linux is no longer as bad as it was back in the Firefox 3 days. Firefox for Linux is reasonably speedy, but it just can’t catch up to Chrome – if only because of Chrome’s multi-process architecture.

Firefox is a solid browser on Windows, and it’s a solid browser on Linux, too. If you prefer Firefox on Windows, you’ll probably also prefer Firefox on Linux. But if you prefer Chrome on Windows, you’ll prefer Chrome on Linux, too.

Opera

Opera is a cult favorite among browsers, and its small user base is often very outspoken and passionate about their choice of browser.

There’s not a lot to say about Opera for Linux – it works just like Opera for Windows. If you want speed, stick with Chrome. If you want the most powerful browser add-ons, stick with Firefox. But if you want a browser where many of the features that require extensions are already integrated into the browser – Opera includes integrated BitTorrent, email, RSS, and even IRC features – Opera may be the browser for you.

Opera is the only closed-source browser on this list (although, to be fair, a few small parts of Google’s Chrome are also closed-source). You can download Opera for Linux from Opera’s website.

Epiphany – GNOME’s Browser

Epiphany is the GNOME desktop’s default browser. It renders websites with WebKit, which is the same rendering engine Google’s Chrome and Apple’s Safari browsers use.

The most striking thing about Epiphany is its extreme minimalism. If Chrome has a minimal interface, Epiphany has almost no interface at all. It’s a minimal portal to the web, keeping with the GNOME desktop’s appetite for minimalism everywhere. It does support extensions, but only a handful of Epiphany browser extensions are available.

Most people will want a more powerful browser interface, particularly one with a wider variety of extensions and sync features. But, if you really want a minimal interface that gets out of your way as much as possible, Epiphany may be the browser for you.

Midori is another browser that’s fairly similar to Epiphany, offering a lightweight, minimal interface that’s also written in GNOME’s GTK interface toolkit. Both are available in most Linux distributions’ software repositories.

Rekonq Or Konqueror – KDE’s Browser

Konqueror is the KDE desktop’s default browser, but Kubuntu and other KDE Linux distributions are choosing to include the newer Rekonq as their default browser.

If you use the KDE desktop environment on Kubuntu or another Linux distribution, either of these browsers may be worth a look. They’re both written in QT and use the same technologies as the other programs that come with KDE. Each is more integrated with the KDE desktop than the other browsers here, if that matters to you.

Konqueror still uses the KHTML rendering engine by default. Apple started with the open-source KHTML engine and used it to create WebKit, which is now used by Chrome, Safari, and most mobile browsers. Rekonq chooses to use WebKit by default, leaving behind the older KHTML engine.

Neither browser has as many extensions as you’ll find in Chrome or Firefox, nor do they have any syncing features. But if you really want a browser integrated with the KDE desktop, they may be worth a try. These browsers may be preinstalled if you’re already using the KDE desktop, but can be installed from most Linux distributions’ software repositories.

Other Browsers

These aren’t the only browsers for Linux. Some users may also be interested in Dillo, an extremely lightweight browser for very low-power computers, but it supports few modern web features. You can even use a browser like lynx or w3m to browse the web straight from the Linux terminal – no graphical desktop required.

Which browser do you prefer on Linux, and why is it the best for you? Leave a comment and share your insight!

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