Professional Free Software for Architects!

1. ANTI VIRUS 

The first thing that you want to do is to install a reliable and affordable or free Anti Virus Package on all your MS Windows machines. Download the software by going to AVG Software.

2. OFFICE SUITE

The next thing that you need is a powerful and universal Office Suite package. Here you have two options; StarOffice 5.2 and Open Office 1.0.

Both StarOffice and Open Office are fully Microsoft compatible plus they also read just about any other file format on the planet. They are powerful and incredibly good packages and you will forget that you ever used anything else within a week. You can install them in as many computers as you like and you will not be breaking any laws. Do it now. Go to http://www.openoffice.org and download Open Office 1.0 for MS-Windows or for GNU/Linux.

Sun Microsystems has discontinued its free downloads of StarOffice 5.2 but you can get them from licensed distributors such as Cyberlink South Africa. A Star Office CD will set you back R100.00 (US$15) including postage and handling. (They don't sell the software but they do charge for the media and delivery.) Write to staroffice@cyberlink.co.za for details.

3. CAD

It is time to dump that old, old addiction and time to move with the times. You need to invest your time and effort on a package that does everything that you want and does not cost an arm and a leg - or anything at all.

There is only one package that meets that description; TurboCAD. So you don't have $495 to buy the latest version? The people at IMSI - who own TurboCAD - understand that a young Practice does not have the immediate capital to invest in software - even reasonably priced software - so they offer an excellent 2D version (Version 4) completely free and with no strings attached. When you can afford to upgrade simply come back to this site and click on a TurboCAD banner! (punt, punt.)

Get this amazing package, which comes with full documentation and tutorials, by going here.

4. ACCOUNTS

I use GNU Cash running on Mandrake GNU/Linux. Take a look.

Find out why these are the right options for the Practice. Click here.