what rich uses right now

I haven't written anything in a while describing my current computer setup or the apps I'm currently using, so I figured it was time for an update.

Hardware

• Custom case (Full-size ATX tower)
• BIOSTAR 945GC Micro 775 LGA 775 Intel 945GC Micro ATX Intel Motherboard
• Intel Core 2 Duo E4300 Allendale 1.8GHz LGA 775
• 2GB RAM
• 16x DVD +/- Burner
• Western Digital Caviar SE WD2500JS 250GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive
• EVGA 256-P2-N541-T2 GeForce 7600GS 256MB 128-bit GDDR2 PCI Express x16 SLI Supported Video Card
• BenQ FP202W 20-inch LCD monitor, 1680x1050, DVI
• Sony SDM-S73 17-inch LCD monitor, 1280x1024 VGA
• Crappy $15 Microsoft black computer keyboard
• Microsoft USB IntelliMouse
• REALLY crappy (heh) $10 (for real) Altec Lansing speakers

Software

(This is not a complete list but lists most of what I use)

Operating System: Microsoft Windows XP Professional Edition Service Pack 2 (very soon to be SP3)

XP Theme I use: Zune (modified)

Music player: WinAMP v2.81 (very very old version but works well)

Video Player: Windows Media Player 11

DVD Player: Cyberlink PowerDVD 6 (older version but works fine)

Instant Messenger: Digsby

"Clean-up" Utility: CCleaner

Multi-Monitor Wallpaper Utility: Display Fusion

RSS Reader: FeedDemon

FTP Clients: FileZilla and UltraFXP (vaporware but I still use it)

Mapping: MapSource, POI Loader, Google Earth

Disc Image Writing: ImgBurn

Virtualization: VirtualBox

Image Editing: Paint Shop Pro v7 (very old version), GIMP

Application Launcher: Launchy

IRC: mIRC

Primary Web Browser: Mozilla Firefox

E-Mail: Mozilla Thunderbird (IMAP)

Text Editing: Notepad++

Office Suite: OpenOffice

PDF Creation: OpenOffice, PDF Creator

Photo Archiving: Picasa

Window Resizer: Sizer

Voice Conferencing: Ventrilo

Blog Post Editor/Publisher: Windows Live Writer

File Archive Utility: WinZIP

Yes, I use a crapload of software - but it does all get used. 🙂

Concerning OpenOffice specifically, I'll say this:

If you don't use Microsoft Outlook, dump Microsoft Office now. Seriously. Outlook is the only reason to use MS Office to begin with because there is nothing that can compare with it (I've known many that "live inside" Outlook and can't part with it - and for good reason.)

I now use ODF (OpenOffice's standard document extension) exclusively. I do not use DOC anymore. Both my boss and myself have made the switch 100% to OpenOffice. It works and it's free. So like I said, unless you use Outlook, dump MS Office and switch. There's no reason not to. The learning curve is nil.