A few of my favorite (free) things
I thought I’d publish a list of a few of my favorite tools that I use. They are all free or have free versions and I note which is which for each individual tool.
Dropbox (www.dropbox.com): Cross-platform, cloud-based file synchronization
What It Is – Dropbox lets you keep whatever you want synchronized between multiple systems. It doesn’t matter what systems they are either as Dropbox supports Mac, Windows, and Linux as well as mobile devices (iPhone native; Android & Blackberry via browser). I use the free version which provides 2GB of online storage. The paid versions get you more storage, but the functionality is the same.
Why I Care – I have certain sets of files that I want to be the same across all systems. I also want these files to be backed up and secure in the event that “something” happens. Dropbox lets me do this without any effort. It also gives me an easy way to get files from one computer to another without resorting to e-mail or FTP. I just put the files in the special Dropbox folder on my machine and the files will be available everywhere I install the client.
Evernote (www.evernote.com): Cross-platform, cloud-based note taking tool
What It Is – Evernote is note taking software. I don’t think it’s as good as OneNote from Microsoft, but it’s pretty darn close. Evernote is, as I’ve noted, cross-platform and cloud-based. This lets me run it on Mac and Windows (sorry, no Linux that I’m aware of). It also runs on several different mobile platforms (currently iPhone, Android, and Blackberry). Evernote syncs your notes to their servers. Anything sync’d is then available anywhere you can run the Evernote client. Think of it as Dropbox, but just for notes. Here again, I use the free version which allows for 40MB of uploads per month (remember, this is mostly text so that’s a ton of space). The paid version gets you 500MB of storage per month as well as additional features (more attachment types allowed, priority image recognition, no adds, etc).
Why I Care – I was hooked on OneNote in Windows. Hands-down, I feel it’s the best note taking software out there. My problem is that it doesn’t run on the Mac. Now that my MacBook pro is my primary machine, I really needed to find a suitable replacement. I’m still learning all the tricks here, but Evernote is definitely a strong product. I like that I can get my notes just using my iPhone. This keeps them handy when I either don’t have the laptop or I don’t want to fire it up. I can also take notes on the iPhone and they’ll sync up. I find this particularly useful for grabbing those flash ideas or the random to-do’s that pop into my head.
Mozy (www.mozy.com): Cross-platform, cloud-based backups
What It Is – Mozy is a cloud-based backup service. It takes files on you computer and automatically makes backup copies on the Mozy.com servers. 30-days worth of backups are kept. If you need to restore one or all of your files, it can be done via a web browser from any PC with the Mozy software. There are several editions supporting both the PC and Mac platforms. The free one gives 2GB of storage for backups. The personal paid version gives unlimited(!) online storage for $4.95 per month. There’s also MozyPro for corporations or server-class operating systems, but I don’t use those so I won’t go into them.
Why I Care – Everything we do these days is digital: music, photos, communication, finance, etc. Much of this is irreplaceable if a disaster happens. I’d hate to lose so much because a $75 hard drive gives up the ghost. Then there’s Wendy working out of the house. I don’t want to think about her losing another person’s family photos. Mozy takes care of backing everything up for us off-site, automatically without us having to do it.
VirtualBox (www.virtualbox.org): Cross-platform OS virtualization tool
What It Is – VirtualBox is an open-source OS virtualization tool. This is a competitor to software like VMware Workstation, VMware Fusion, and Parallels. This lets me run one OS within another without having to reboot (which tools like BootCamp would require me to do).
Why I Care – First, I like to play around with other operating systems. VirtualBox lets me do this without having extra hardware on hand. All I really need is some disk space. Everything else can be done in software; I don’t even have to have a physical OS install CD, an ISO image will do. Second, no matter how much I want it, there are going to be applications that I just can run on my Mac (most notably Project and Visio from Microsoft). I can run these over Citrix without any issues, but if I’m not able to VPN in to work, I can just fire up a Windows virtual machine and I’m good to go.
Of all these tools, I consider Mozy.com a must-have. With pretty much everything done on the computer these days, there’s just too much for us to lose.
I think both Dropbox and Evernote are great tools for even the average user. If you have multiple devices where you’d like to have the same information, they’re great. Remember, I said “devices” and not “computers”. These both work with the major mobile platforms so smart-phone users should definitely take note.
VirtualBox is really for computer enthusiasts or IT people. I used VMware Workstation for years on the PC and it was pretty good. It’s got (or had) some features that VirtualBox didn’t such as nested guest snapshots. For the most part, though, I think they’re interchangeable. The areas where VirtualBox has an advantage are price and performance. VirtualBox is free for personal use on the Enterprise version and totally free for the open source edition (but you have to compile it yourself). Performance wise, VirtualBox has always felt snappier than VMware workstation has. I’ve never taken the time to quantify that, but it’s certainly the seat-of-the-pants feel.
That’s about it. As I find more cool things, I’ll post ‘em.
We took pictures every day for the first year of Olivia’s life. Those pictures were stored both in a directory on my Windows box and in an online gallery on my Linux box. One day my wife says to me “The pictures in the online gallery are all messed up.” Sure enough, they were, so I went to my foolproof backup on the Windows box. Heh, those were foobared too. I was able to restore all except for about two weeks worth. Unfortunately, those two weeks also included our first trip to the zoo with Olivia. Sadness. It was then that I decided my backup strategy was totally retarded to say the least and I found Mozy@Home. I signed up for a 2 year deal at $5/month, but then also found some coupon online for more off. I think I paid like $50 for two years of unlimited backups. The service is truly awesome. Having that level of peace of mind is well worth the money.