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From the Desk of Becki Noles...

October has been an awesome month!  I just returned from the VA Conference and I am pumped!  It was so exciting to gather with other Virtual Assistants.  In the area in which I live, there are very few of us.  In fact, the only one I am familiar with is Katie Smith, who is located about 20 minutes from our home office. 

Dale, Heather and I were so impressed with the VA Conference that we have decided to give one lucky VA Training participant a scholarship to attend next year's conference.  The lucky winner will receive conference registration, airfare and hotel accommodations for VA Conference 2006.  The winner will be drawn from participants in the program between September 2005 - July 2006. 

The next session of VA Training will be starting January (click here for more information).  So it's time to think about kicking the New Year off right!

I look forward to hearing from you.  If you have any questions or comments, please drop me an email.

Becki ;)

Featured Resource
 

 
Making Dollars Out of Cents: 101 Tips for the Frugal Marketer
by: Heather Jacobson

To read all about it and get your copy Click Here!

Open Source Software Favorites
By: Becki Noles

It's no big secret that I have an opinion about just about everything under the sun, so let me begin by saying that I am not the biggest fan of monopolies.  In our area we have one electrical company, one telephone company, one cable provider, one gas company and the list goes on.  We are literally stuck with the service or lack thereof and the skyrocketing prices that are heaped upon us each and every year.  Yes, we do have the option of VOIP, which we personally take advantage of for our business line, or satellite television, but the point is there are monopolies at work here. 

In the software world, one monopoly comes to mind very quickly...Microsoft.  Don't get me wrong, I love their products because they are easy to use and they are mainstream, but I am a strong supporter of Open Source software solutions.  Today I am going to include a few of my favorites and it is my hope that they will become some of yours.

Web Browser

Mozilla Firefox - http://www.mozilla.org/projects/firefox/
We've all heard that using Internet Explorer by Microsoft is a bad thing.  If you haven't, just pick up your local paper or watch a local news program.  Hackers are forever finding ways beyond Microsoft security in order to infect your computer with spyware, adware and malicious "junk".  Firefox is a great alternative to IE.  However please note that this browser does take some getting used to.  If you are a web developer or a very experienced "surfer", there are a number of "extensions" available to you here.  If you are a web designer, the Web Developer extension is a must have.

MS Office Alternative

Open Office - http://www.openoffice.org/
First developed by Sun Microsystems, this package has it all.  Best of all, you can open Microsoft documents and save your documents as Microsoft documents.  One of the best features of this software is that you can turn your Impress (similar to PowerPoint) into .swf (Flash) files.

Photo Editor

The Gimp - http://www.gimp.org/
The Gimp software package is very similar in nature to Adobe Photoshop, in both look and feel.  It goes without saying that Adobe blows this product out of the water, but it definitely warrants a place as a possible alternative (depending upon what your needs are).

Blogging Platform

Word Press - http://www.wordpress.org/
Word Press is our blogging platform of choice.  Granted there are many products on the market today, but none with the versatility of Word Press or WP for short.  WP requires that you to upload the software onto your webhost.  However one of the great things about WP is the fact that it is already preloaded onto many webhosts and made available to you by a quick one-click install.  (Our webhost of choice is Dreamhost.)  WP is extremely customizable and you can even create your own template provided you know PHP.  If PHP isn't your language, you can find over 330 customizable WP templates here.

This is just a small sample of the Open Source programs available on the market today and ones that I use and personally endorse.  If you use a fabulous Open Source program that you just can't live without, please drop me an email to tell me all about it.  I LOVE new toys!

About the Author:

Becki Noles is the Visionary of Virtual Accuracy and its subsidiaries. Her businesses support the coaching community by offering marketing, branding, streamlining coaching practices including administrative, executive and technical support. For more information visit: http://www.VirtualAccuracy.com or http://www.AssistanceForCoaches.com.

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