But, who are the folks behind these dramatic changes? Who started hi5 Networks, one of the world’s largest social networks today? Who’s helping Dell become more environmentally friendly, and who’s the person behind Google’s financial success? We’ll tell you about these people and more, through the 25 most influential people in the Web hosting industry listed below.

There are, literally, hundreds of influential people in and around the Web hosting industry today, but we scoured the Web to find the most visible and remarkable people who are active in speaking engagements and/or in creative and substantial contributions to society as well as to their work. We looked to the most well-known and publicized companies like Cisco, Twitter and Facebook to discover who represented a driving force behind those companies. Below you will find owners, founders and Chief Executive Officers (CEOs), Chief Technology Officers (CTOs) and Engineers, and the Chief Marketing Officers (CMOs) who are behind the Internet’s most innovative, productive, and astounding growth in Web hosting to users today. (more…)

All those tips and more are listed below in this list of 101 color resources for Web designers. The categories are listed alphabetically as are all the links contained within each category. Although the sites are numbered, this does not mean that one site is better than others. Visit them all and bookmark the ones that will help you become the most color-savvy Web designer around. (more…)

The reason behind this lack of goodwill toward Target is that Web site accessibility is a human rights as well as a commercial compliance issue. In 2006, the UK produced the PAS 78 (see #72 below), a guide for UK businesses to follow based upon guidelines produced by the Disability Rights Commission. While this document pertains only to UK businesses, the change in attitude wrought by these guidelines has spread globally. In other words, if business Web sites don’t begin to follow accessibility guidelines now, a worldwide rush may be on to conform to these standards within the next few years or possibly face penalties for failure to comply.

Why wait? If you already lean toward the idea that accessible sites are good for humanity as well as for business, then this list will provide plenty of reference materials for you. If you don’t have a clue about the issues that surround Web site accessibility, then this list will help you to become well acquainted with the issues involved in this movement. The categories listed below are in alphabetical order, as are the sites listed within those categories. The numbers are for convenience, and they mean nothing as to the quality or preference of the sites listed below. (more…)

The downside to these tutorials is that none of them offer college credits nor do they offer certifications. With that said, it never hurts to have this knowledge under your belt for the time when you’re ready to take a full-fledged plunge into paying for your sheepskin or certification. Of course, we cannot possibly include all programming languages, nor can we include all the best sites around for tutorials — otherwise this list would number in the thousands! Instead, we found the most popular sites rated in search engines through the keywords of the language + free tutorials or the language + free courses.

The list begins with comprehensive courses offered through online college venues. From there, you’ll discover various computer programs sorted by language or by technology. Although they’re numbered, we don’t favor one course over another. In fact, if you look closely, you’ll see that we listed the courses alphabetically. Finally, unless stated otherwise, none of these programs require registration.

Comprehensive Courses | Ajax | ASP.NET | C and C++ | C# | Java | Javascript | Perl | PHP | Ruby/Ruby on Rails | Visual Basic

Comprehensive Courses

1. Electrical and Computer Engineering: Utah State University’s online venue contains different courses for advanced learners through their electrical and computer engineering program. These courses are not static, so if you don’t see anything you want now, then check back for the spring or summer additions. The courses contain a syllabus, homework assignments and solutions, and programming assignments. You can download the whole course. They also maintain a separate channel on Instructional Technology that might appeal to a person who wants to build wikis and other new media or learn about data visualization and more.
2. Electrical Engineer and Computer Science: This MIT course will take you through all the computation structures taught at this university. Take advantage of tutorials, quizzes, beta trials and more. They offer Programming Languages, Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs and Mathematics for Computer Science plus individual online course materials through this comprehensive category.
3. Computers and Computer Systems: Britain’s Open University offers a number of computer programming courses through their LearningSpace initiative. Individual courses are designed for intermediate and advanced level users and take from five to 40 hours to complete. Samples include Computers and Computer Systems, Representing and Manipulating Data in Computers, and Data and Processes in Computing.
4. Science and Technology: OER (Open Educational Resources) Commons provides thousands of free college-level computer programming courses, all sorted by subject and level. Course materials include text, audio lectures, graphics, activities and labs, assignments and online textbooks. Not all courses remain static, so a course that was offered six months ago may be not be available now. Your best options are to use the ’search’ feature or to peruse the courses offered through the Science and Technology section and filter those selections to your preferences.
5. Science and Technology: Rice University’s online Connexions network will lead you to courses that range from a comprehensive Programming Methodology that focuses on C++ to anything else you can dream up. The first link will take you to the Science and Technology search page, where you can type in a programming language to discover results.
6. Information Science and Technology: This University of Tokyo’s OCW project is an open source of courses that pertain to computational linguistics, systems, and more. Most modules at this online university contain lectures and video files that have been translated into English.

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AJAX

Also known as Asynchronous JavaScript and XML, AJAX provides a set of scripting languages that are used to create browser-based applications. These browser-based applications behave more like software applications that process a user request immediately.

7. 18-week AJAX Code Camp: Programmers and Developers couldn’t line up fast enough for this free online course in 2006 and in 2007, provided by Sang Shin and Sun Microsystems. Now, you can gain access to the materials from that course and learn about all the components contained within AJAX as well as practical applications.
8. AJAX: Mozilla Developer Center provides users with free resources and tutorials on AJAX. You can learn the basics, but you can also learn AJAX alternatives and learn how to correct AJAX mistakes.
9. AJAX: Land of Code provides great tutorials for beginners, and this AJAX tutorial is no exception. They cover the intro, basics, browsers, form, sending data and a summary. These basics are enough to get started on the AJAX highway.
10. AJAX Patterns: AjaxPatterns.org began as a collection of design patterns, which formed the basis of the book, Ajax Design Patterns, and grew into a publicly editable wiki on anything and everything Ajax. All pages (except the homepage) are now editable, no registration required. The editable pages include tutorials, books, projects and links that all pertain to AJAX.
11. AJAX Roadmap: ASP.NET provides a ‘roadmap’ for beginners to AJAX, where you can get started with learning what tools you need, how to manage server controls and client scripting, how to debug and trace and more.

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ASP.NET

ASP is more a technology, because it is not a language. This technology incorporates several scripting languages such as JavaScript and VBScript and allows for their use as it acts as a coordinator. It is part of Microsoft’s .NET platform and is the successor to Microsoft’s Active Server Pages (ASP) technology.

12. ASP: Land of Code wants to help you become familiar with implementing dynamic and interactive content on webpages with a server-side technology. They cover an introduction, basics, variables and operators - enough to keep any ASP beginner happy.
13. ASP is Fun: Yes, this is the name of the Web site, and they offer a free online course that’s as entertaining as it is concise and accurate. Plus, they offer many other resources that you may not find even at Microsoft.
14. ASP.NET Tutorial: This is a beginners tutorial for ASP .NET. All examples have been worked out in VB and with three web server controls. The tutorial is brought to everyone via ASP Alliance.
15. ASP.NET Tutorial - with ASP.NET 2.0: W3Schools provides a beginner’s venue for learning ASP, starting with an introduction and ending with a collection of ASP.NET examples.
16. Microsoft ASP.NET: Get the tools, the instruction and more straight from Microsoft. You can enjoy learning through written tutorials, videos, find a chat and other resources that will round out your ASP education.
17. Microsoft .NET SDK QuickStart Tutorials: Microsoft’s QuickStart Tutorials are the fastest way to understand what the .NET Framework technology offers leading-edge developers. The list includes various ASP tutorials including the ASP.NET QuickStart and the ASP.NET Web Services QuickStart.

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C and C++

C is a general-purpose, block structured, procedural, imperative computer programming language developed in 1972 by Dennis Ritchie at the Bell Telephone Laboratories for use with the Unix operating system. C++, which originally was designed as an extension to C, is the object-oriented development of C with classes, member functions, operator overloading, constructors etc. The first five links listed below lead to C tutorials, and the rest of this group is devoted to C++.

18. C Programming: Steve Holmes, formerly of the University of Strathclyde Computer Centre in Glasgow, offers an award-winning comprehensive overview about C programming. Realize that this is an older course, so many items may not pertain to current C structure.
19. C Programming Basics: Rice University’s Connexions offers a C Programming Basics module. At this time all that is offered is a PDF download, as discussion is sparse.
20. C Tutorial: CProgramming.com offers courses online for C and for C++ (see below). The tutorials contain quizzes, advanced tutorials, templates, and more. Anything that pertains to C Programming can be found at this site.
21. How C Programming Works: Marshall Brain wrote a very detailed tutorial for How Stuff Works that will enable any beginner to understand how C programming works.
22. Progamming in C: This free WikiBook will provide you with all the basic information you need to learn how to program in C. Learn how to use a compiler, learn programming structure, and gain advanced skills all at home and at your own pace.
23. C++ Programming: Wiki Books is attempting to provide a book on C++ Programming, but it appears that the online application is under dispute. Despite this problem, they provide three tables of content for this book that lead to actual online materials you can use now.
24. C++ Wikibooks: This link will take you to a page where you’ll find a few Wikibooks devoted to the C++ subject. The range of users to date would include beginners and mid-range developers and programmers.
25. Fundamentals of C++: Offered by Free Education on the Internet, this course is intended for serious computer hobbyists, IT students, and IT professionals. You need Windows and Visual C++ installed.
26. Cplusplus.com: This site offers tutorials for individuals with little to no previous experience in programming. Although the focus is on C++, some C materials are held here as well.
27. Learning to Program in C++: CProgramming.com offers courses online for C and for C++ (see above). The tutorials contain quizzes, advanced tutorials, templates, and more. Anything that pertains to C++ Programming can be found at this site.
28. Object-Oriented Programming in C++: This course, offered by the University of Southern Queensland’s Open Courseware program (USQ OCW), extends the student’s basic procedural design and programming knowledge into the object oriented paradigm. Key software engineering principles such as decomposition and component re-use shall also be emphasized. This program is for more advanced programmers.
29. Starting C++: University of Cambridge Department of Engineering offers a beginner’s resource for C++. Local resources include those materials used at Cambridge, while outside materials are linked to Web resources. The latter include advanced resources.

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C#

C# (C Sharp) is an ECMA-compliant programming language designed to support .NET development. It is a new object oriented language from Microsoft and is derived from C and C++.

30. C# .NET School: Programmers Heaven provides free weekly online lessons in C#. The lessons include a weekly exercise, and they provide the answers in the following week’s lesson. They also provide a message board and the author of the tutorials is available to answer questions.
31. C# Progamming: This book is a featured book on Wikibooks because it contains substantial content and it is well-formatted. The book includes an introduction, basics, classes, the NET Framework explanation, advanced topics and a full index online.
32. C# Programming for Beginners: This free book download at C# Corner covers all versions of C# language including 1.0, 2.0, and 3.0. The features added in versions 2.0 and 3.0 are covered in the Advanced Topics of this tutorial. This book is recommended for beginners and students who want to learn C# programming. It is recommended that you have some programming experience using any of the object-oriented languages such as C++, Pascal, or Java.
33. C# Station Tutorial: C# Station offers tutorials aimed at beginning to intermediate programmers or anyone who would like to gain familiarity with the C# programming language. This is a great tutorial as they state at the very beginning what any programmer will need for tools before they can begin the lessons. Few other tutorials offer this information.
34. C# Tutorial: Softsteel Solutions provides a fairly comprehensive tutorial on C# through twenty-five online lessons. Beginners start with an understanding of the .NET development and move quickly into learning the C# language and its capabilities.
35. CSharp Tutorial: VisualBuilder provides users with the main concepts behind C# as well as the chance to write a few C# programs. There currently are 42 lessons included at this site.
36. The Advanced C#/.NET Tutorial: Gopalan has been a Software Engineering Professional since 1991, and he brings his C# expertise online to help advanced students grapple with such tasks as building a complete COM+ Server component using C# and .NET. He also offers other avenues to explore including remoting, reflections, and messaging.

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Java

Java refers to a number of computer software products and specifications from Sun Microsystems (the Java™ technology) that together provide a system for developing and deploying cross-platform applications.

37. Fundamentals of Java: Offered by Free Education on the Internet, this course is intended for beginning computer hobbyists and first-year IT students. The free online textbook for this course is Sams Teach Yourself Java 2 in 24 Hours. You’ll find step-by-step instructions along with study aids that will help you along the way.
38. Introduction to Java Programming: The Sofia Open Content Initiative brings an introductory course on Java programming to anyone interested in this language. Steve Gilbert, Computer Science Professor at Orange Coast College, wrote this course for beginners.
39. Java: Land of Code has put together this basic course on Java for beginners. Learn how to create a GUI layout, applets, graphics, sound and more through the easy-to-use tutorials.
40. Java Boutique: The owners of this site provide tutorials for everyone, from the novice to experienced programmers. Learn the basics and then explode into the variety of applets and other tools that you can use online.
41. Java Programming: This material provided by WikiBooks includes more than a mere online book. You have access to online resources, chats, group discussions, more online tutorials and external tools for certifications and specifications.
42. Java Programming Tutorials: WebMonkey goes above and beyond the average Java to provide tutorials in JavaServer Pages (JSP), JHTML and more.
43. Java Training: Sun Developer Network (SDN) provides various Java technologies through a variety of online tutorials and training classes. Learn information about the fundamentals of the Java programming language to web services and the Java EE platform and more.
44. The Java Tutorial!: This is an on-line draft version of the fifth version of The Java Tutorial by Mary Campione and Kathy Walrath. Learn the language basics and proceed on to harder assignments.
45. The Java Tutorials: This site is filled with practical guides for programmers who want to use the Java programming language to create applications. They include hundreds of complete, working examples, and dozens of lessons. Groups of related lessons are organized into “trails” you can follow to become a ‘pro’ in that given avenue.

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JavaScript

JavaScript is an easy-to-learn programming language which can be built into Web pages, so that it executes from within the browser rather than on the web server. Originally developed by Netscape, this scripting language can make Web pages seem more animated and dynamic within the areas of graphics and navigation.

46. Introduction to JavaScript: Scroll down a bit to begin a beginner’s lesson on the history and applications of the JavaScript language from Intranet Journal. At the top of the page you’ll notice some other JavaScript resources offered by this online venue as well, so even seasoned JavaScript programmers can use this journal as a tool.
47. JavaScript: This course assumes the basic knowledge of HTML programming, but it still provides the basics, including validation. Then the “book” will take you into initial tutorials and then into Core JavaScript. Standards and practices, debugging and more are all part and parcel of this wiki resource.
48. JavaScript Kit: This site is less of a kit and more an online venue for JavaScript tutorials. They appeal both to the novice and to the expert, as there are so many samples and lessons here.
49. JavaScript Primers: This 30-step course provided by HTML Goodies, provides non-programmers with the goods to create JavaScript scripts on the fly. You’ll walk away from each step with a new ability!
50. JavaScript Programming: WebMonkey comes to the rescue again, with tutorials that range from introductions for novices to advanced tricks and treats for the professional JavaScript programmer.
51. Learning JavaScript: TrainingTools.com provides a complete course on JavaScript, from an introductory lesson to advanced creations like Creating Windows on the Fly. This is a great course, as they take a script and modify it to accomplish several goals.
52. The JavaScript Weenie: This is an excellent resource for the JavaScript junkie, provided by the Web Developer’s Journal. Not only do you have access to tons of tutorials, but you also can tap into discussions, articles, archives and other resources. This is a nice tool for any student or beginner.

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Perl

Perl, otherwise known as Practical Extraction and Reporting Language, is a programming language frequently used for creating CGI programs on Web servers.

53. Learn Perl in 10 easy lessons: This set of lessons is posted at Linux Forums. Users go straight from a brief introduction to Perl to working in code.
54. Mother of Pearl: This site is a free how-to devoted to all things Perl. The tutorials aren’t all neatly lined up like a book’s table of contents, so you’ll need to search through the lessons to find what you need.
55. Perl CGI Tutorial: This tutorial will lead you through the steps involved with setting up a Perl CGI (Common Gateway Interface) Web page. You can also find a Cookie and database tutorials here.
56. Perl Lessons: This tutorial on the Perl programming language is largely based on the Introduction to Perl by Greg Johnson. It’s a great tool for beginners to learn this language. The course has lessons, goals, and samples to work with.
57. Perl Programming: WikiBooks provides users with a comprehensive overview on basics, straight to in-depth Perl ideas, CGI and Apache and more. Readers also get sample code to get started on their lessons.
58. Perl, SQL, and Web Publishing Security: The material located on this site came from an informal summer course taught through Networking & Systems at Haverford College in June, 2005. The intent of this summer training was to expose the broader computing center staff (along with others) to advanced publishing topics, the cPanel interface, and to demonstrate what is necessary to manage, support and secure dynamic web sites.

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PHP

PHP represents the longer “PHP Hypertext Preprocessor.” PHP is an open source, interpretive, HTML centric server side scripting language. It’s especially suited for blogs and other Web developments and it can be embedded into HTML code as well.

59. Beginners PHP: These tutorials are provided by Free Computer Tutorials. The lessons are simple to understand, easy to use and read, and they’re a great resource for anyone who wants to learn PHP slowly and at a convenient pace.
60. Good PHP Tutorials: Discover page upon page of information about PHP programming, from novice introductions to advanced tutorials. We included this site although it’s not clear who runs the back end, because the tutorials were so comprehensive. They also have tutorials and tips that focus on other programming skills such as Python, Ruby, and more.
61. PHP: Land of Code offers a step-by-step tutorial on every aspect of PHP server scripting. This is a great tool for beginners and a wonderful reference for advanced programmers.
62. PHP Buddy: This site is focused solely on PHP tutorials, snippets, novice tools and advanced articles. No matter your skill level, this site will prove to be a great resource for anything PHP.
63. PHP.NET: This is the PHP Web site, but you don’t need to bow and genuflect before you enter. Scroll down a bit and look at the right hand column where you’ll find a range of tutorials that will rock your world.
64. PHP Programming: WebMonkey delves into PHP with tutorials, cheats, interactive learning tools and more for everyone from the novice to the advanced PHP pro.
65. Programming: PHP: This WikiBook is fairly straightforward, as it tells you what you need to know and accomplish before you can tackle PHP. Learning the language is the first step, following by more advanced subjects such as templates, libraries, frameworks, and security. You also can grab some snippets on your visit.

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Ruby/Ruby on Rails

Ruby is a dynamic object-oriented programming language that combines syntax inspired by Perl with Smalltalk-like object-oriented features. It also shares some attributes with Python, Lisp, Dylan, and CLU. Its creator, Yukihiro Matsumoto, a.k.a “Matz” released it to the public in 1995. Ruby on Rails is a web application framework released in 2004 that aims to increase the speed and ease of web development. Often shortened to Rails, or RoR, it is an open source project written in the Ruby language.

66. Ruby: This is THE Ruby site, where you can use downloads, read documentation, access libraries, and join the community with your questions and answers.
67. A Ruby Learning Hub: Satish Talim is a programmer, author, trainer and speaker who has been teaching Ruby for the last two years and Java since 1995. His free online course started on 7th Jan. 2008 and was for anyone who wanted to enhance his/her knowledge and programming skills in Ruby (stable version 1.8.6). There are 2190 participants. The 4th Batch of the free online Ruby programming course starts 1st March 2008.
68. Ruby Learning: RubyLearning.com is a thorough collection of Ruby Study Notes for those who are new to the Ruby programming language and in search of a solid introduction to Ruby’s concepts and constructs. This is another Satish Talim course.
69. Ruby on Rails: This site offers tools, instructions, novice help and advanced advice. This is the site that many people are using for Web development answers to the Ruby on Rails questions.
70. Ruby on Rails: This is the WikiBook on the subject. This free book has been culled together from a variety of sources including the Rails API Documentation and articles where permission has been granted to republish in modified form. It also includes brand new content created by Ruby on Rails users.
71. Ruby Programming: This WikiBook shows how to install and get started with Ruby in your environment. Basic Ruby demonstrates the main features of the language syntax. The final section covers a selection of slightly more advanced topics. Each section is designed to be self contained. Finally, the Ruby language section is organized like a reference to the language.
72. Ruby/Ruby on Rails programming tutorials: This tutorial will cover many areas of the ruby and rails programming language. If you think a part of this tutorial is incorrect please feel free to edit it! These lessons are brought to you by Meshplex tutorial database.

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Visual Basic

VBScript is a scripting language used in Microsoft’s Internet Explorer web browser and browsers based on Internet Explorer’s engine. First developed in 1991, this language has evolved to VB6, which currently is scheduled to enter Microsoft’s “non-supported phase” starting March 2008. Why is it included here? Because it is one of the foundation languages for programming with an easy to understand syntax. It’s a good way to get started in understanding programming.

73. Fundamentals of Visual Basics: Free Education on the Internet provides this course intended for serious computer hobbyists, IT students, and IT professionals. Windows and Visual Basic are required for this course that ranges from a basic introduction to advanced applications.
74. “How Do I” Videos — Visual Basic: Microsoft provides dozens of videos designed for all Visual Basic developers, from the novice to the professional. New videos are added regularly, so check back often.
75. VBScript: Land of Code provides a beginner’s guide to everything you’d ever want to know about Visual Basic. Learn about variables, loops, arrays, conditions and strings in step-by-step tutorials.
76. Visual Basic: This book is written from a VB6 perspective although much of what is said is also valid for VB5 and VB4. This book does not cover VB.NET which is in fact a radically different language. This book seems to ain at beginners, but it seems more appropriate for mid-range programming skills.
77. Visual Basic 6: This site is dedicated to helping you learn and advance in VB6, mainly because many businesses still use this language for applications. You’ll find Visual Basic tutorials and Visual Basic source code samples for all levels from beginner to advanced. The VB6 forum is waiting for your questions, and the latest articles can help you stay up-to-date on VB6 issues.

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You may smoke, drink way too many energy drinks, eat too much or you don’t eat enough just to cope with all your work-related woes. But don’t sweat it - we’re here to help with 101 tips and resources geared specifically to a male or female Webmaster’s physical and mental health problems. Although the following list provides great information, these sites don’t take the place of a health professional. If you fear the worst, don’t hesitate to see a professional about your worries. If you are in medical crisis please contact your doctor, therapist or dial 911 (or equivalent local emergency number in your area).

The list below is categorized by topics listed in alphabetical order. The links are also listed alphabetically. The numbers mean nothing other than to let you know that we’ve provided 101 tips and resources to help you become the healthiest and happiest Webmaster around!

Addiction | Carpal Tunnel | Diabetes | Dieting | Eating Disorders | Emotional Problems | Ergonomics | Exercise | Self-Help | Sexual Issues | Stress

Addictions

The following resources deal with addiction as a disease, and they cover a wide area although some sites are specific as to the type of addiction. No matter if you’re a smoker who wants to quit, or a family member of a drinker who doesn’t want to quit, or if you find yourself in bed with your computer mouse after you’ve checked your email for the umpteenth time, you can find information about your issues at any one of these sites.

1. Addiction Recovery Basics: Although the 12-Step program may sound corny to you, many people who use this program for recovery from their addictions will tell you it’s the only program that worked for them. If you need more help with your obsession, no matter what it is, you might give this idea a shot.
2. Alcoholics Anonymous: AA online is the 12-Step site for recovering alcoholics. The site also is available in French and in Spanish. As you go down the recovery path you may discover local chapters of AA online. Family members of alcoholics can find help at Al-anon/Alateen.
3. Internet Addiction Recovery: Learn how to deal with your computer compulsions at this site, where you’ll find information about Internet addictions at work and in your private life. They also have a test for you to determine if you’re truly addicted to your computer.
4. Narcotics Anonymous: Although similar to Alcoholics Anonymous in concept, drug addicts have different issues that need to be addressed. Hence, NA rather than AA. Family members of a drug addict can find help at Nar-Anon.
5. Science Daily Addiction News: ScienceDaily offers groundbreaking news about addictions across the board, no matter if it pertains to smoking, cocaine, or overeating. This online journal touches all bases so you can learn more about why you can’t refrain from your addiction or why you never developed one.
6. PscyhCentral Internet Addiction Guide: This one-page guide offers many resources on Internet addiction, including opinions on whether an Internet Addiction Test is valid or not.
7. Psychology Today Addiction Center: This online treatment center deals with addictions that range from alcohol abuse to sex and love. Learn the signs and symptoms that lead to full-blown addictions.
8. The New Science of Addiction: Although the science of addiction isn’t new, the information about how people become addicted to certain objects and actions is constantly under scrutiny. From this line of study, it appears that genetics may have something to do with addictive behaviors. Find out more about this line of thinking at this site.
9. The Work Addiction Syndrome: Never mind being addicted to the Internet. What if you’re addicted to work in general? What a ghastly thought! This article lays out some parameters that define the workaholic.
10. Tobacco Addiction: If you can smoke at work (and if you work at home you might), you can see the damage that tobacco does to your body if you look inside your computer’s tower. The works inside will covered with a sticky brown substance that will slow it down or kill it completely. This report goes further, as it explains precisely what tobacco does, and how a smoker can find help to kick the habit.
11. Workaholics Anonymous: Here’s one self-help solution for the person who’s addicted to work. Meetings aren’t available in all states, but you can contact them to find someone that can help you get on the road to recovery.

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Carpal Tunnel

Do you have carpal tunnel syndrome? Are you sure? If you have this ailment, do you know how to alleviate the pain? If you’re not afflicted, do you know how to prevent it? The following sites may point you in the right direction to answer these carpal tunnel questions:

12. Mayo Clinic’s Carpal Tunnel Syndrome: This site explains carpal tunnel syndrome, its symptoms, treatments and prevention in an easy-to-understand tutorial.
13. MedlinePlus’s Carpal Tunnel Syndrome: MedlinePlus provides a resource-heavy explanation about carpal tunnel, including tutorials in Spanish.
14. Carpal Tunnel Exercises: This is a very simple site that holds an exercise you can do to help prevent and ease the pain of carpal tunnel syndrome.
15. Carpal Tunnel Surgery: WebMD offers a concise explanation of what you might go through if you choose surgery to relieve your carpal tunnel syndrome.
16. Carpal Tunnel Syndrome & Tarsal Tunnel Syndrome: Learn more about what carpal tunnel is and isn’t all about from MedicineNet.
17. Carpal Tunnel Syndrome Fact Sheet: “You’re working at your desk, trying to ignore the tingling or numbness you’ve had for months in your hand and wrist. Suddenly, a sharp, piercing pain shoots through the wrist and up your arm…” Although this page begins like a novel, their information about how to avoid this problem and how to treat it is factual.

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Diabetes

You may not have diabetes now. But, if you sit in front of a computer all day, don’t exercise, overeat or eat incorrectly and if you have a family history of diabetes, you may meet this disease head on sooner than later. Although diabetes has, historically, developed in people over age forty, it is increasing among younger adults and in adolescents. For your information, the type of diabetes that most inactive and/or overweight people develop is Type II.

18. American Diabetes Association: This is your first stop to learn more about how to treat diabetes and, most importantly, to learn how to avoid it. For instance, the tips on what to eat and how to exercise represent healthy choices even for healthy individuals..
19. Diabetes at Work: This site focuses on the impact of diabetes in the workplace. Even if you’re self-employed, you might find information here to help you to avoid or to manage this disease.
20. Diabetes Public Health Resource: This site offers information for the public and for professionals about diabetes, including research, statistics, and educational publications.
21. dLife: This site focuses solely on what it’s like to live with diabetes, both at home and at work. You can learn about both types of diabetes along with blood sugar management, food and nutrition, and receive support and inspiration from other diabetics.
22. National Diabetes Education Program: This site offers solutions on how to prevent or delay Type II diabetes as well as information on how to treat it.
23. National Diabetes Information Clearinghouse: Discover information about diabetes, treatments, complications and more at this easy-to-use site.
24. WebMD Diabetes Health Center: Another great site that provides overall information and specifics for each type of known diabetes.

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Dieting

Sitting in front of a computer all day can lead to an urge to eat and drink far too much. Before you know it, you can’t sit in front of that monitor without something in your mouth. This is called “developing a bad habit,” a learning behavior that can harm you if you don’t nip it in the bud. Additionally, a sedentary lifestyle can affect your metabolism, which can also affect your weight. The following sites and programs can get you back on track with a balanced diet and lifestyle. Be careful about using diet plans that bring the food to your door - you could become addicted to these programs because they’re just too easy to use…

25. 6 Ways To Improve Your Diet At Work: No matter if you work at home or in an office, this list contains some simple tips you can use to help you maintain that diet at work.
26. Dieting and Metabolism: Unfortunately, you cannot count calories and expect to lose weight. You also need to get active. Renee Cloe, a personal trainer, explains the rationale behind the metabolism mystery.
27. Dieting Calculator: First, you need to determine if you’re really overweight or if you just need to exercise. This calculator will help you determine your caloric intake and shows parameters for various lifestyles.
28. Fad Diet: “Dispensing horrible advice since 1998!” Being overweight is a problem for your health, but get over it - you can laugh about your current situation, because it’s reversible if you work at it. This site will help with the laughter part, as sometimes laughter is…well, sure…the best medicine.
29. Free Dieting: Outside of offering tons of tips about dieting, this site’s main contribution is the comparison of free diet plans both on the Internet and through books.
30. Jenny Craig: If you want to learn how to portion your food, this is one way to begin your lessons. The food is mainly wheat-based, however, so if you’re allergic to wheat or if you’re a celiac, then you dare not try this program. Otherwise, try their low-calorie chocolate cheesecake for desert!
31. Nutrisystem: This eating plan is different than Jenny Craig in that Nutrisystem don’t focus on females and they offer a wider variety of eating plans. For instance, they offer a male diabetic plan and a vegetarian option for both genders. Many foods in this plan also do not contain gluten (or wheat). Once again, the idea behind this systematic approach to eating is to re-learn how to eat and to learn correct portion sizes.
32. The Calorie Counter: This tool provides one way to count your daily caloric intake. The chart is easy to read and the different types of food contained in this database is amazing. You don’t need to register to use this tool.
33. Tips for a Healthy Diet: If you ever wanted all the basic diet information you’d ever need on one Web page, this is it. Take a look around the site, however, to find more interesting information about emotional and physical health and well being.
34. Weight Loss, Dieting, and Obesity: This site seems outdated, but the links aren’t. The information gathered here can help you make an intelligent choice about the type of diet you might need along with information about other factors that may lead to weight gain.
35. Weight Watchers: Turn your food into points and make a game out of losing weight. The difference between this plan and other plans is that there is no prepackaged food and you attend meetings. Some experts have claimed that the meetings are what work for this program, as they provide motivation. With that said, if you’re shy or if you’re bogged down with work, you can do the Weight Watchers Online program.

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Eating Disorders

Some weight issues may not be physical in origin. If you have developed an eating disorder thanks to emotional issues, then some of these sites may help you out.

36. Anorexics and Bulimics Anonymous: The people drawn to this group of individuals want to gain “sobriety” in eating practices and help others to gain a foothold in ’sober eating’ as well. “The only requirement for membership is a desire to stop unhealthy eating practices.”
37. Eating Disorders: The National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) provides a one-page rundown on eating disorders that’s easy to understand. This is a ’starting point’ for anyone who is unfamiliar with eating problems.
38. Finding Balance: This is the first video-on-demand Web site that deals with eating problems and body image issues. Visitors can interact with this site through self-tests and find more information through books, links, and their panel experts.
39. In Memory of Polly Williams: If you don’t think eating disorders can lead to death, think again. Polly Williams, made famous from her appearance in Lauren Greenfield’s Emmy-nominated documentary Thin, died from an overdose of sleeping pills on February 8, 2008. At age 33, she could no longer deal with a life filled with anxiety over her eating disorders. A study has shown that depression that stems from eating disorders can be deadly, especially for women.
40. National Eating Disorders Association: NEDA is dedicated to expanding public understanding about eating disorders and promoting access to education, advocacy and research. Their hope is to help prevent some eating disorders while offering solutions for other eating problems.
41. Overeaters Anonymous: While many folks who join this effort may not have eating disorders, many individuals who develop problems seek help through this organization, which is based upon the original 12-Step program for recovery.
42. Something Fishy: This Web site is dedicated totally to eating disorders. The materials on this site emphasize that eating disorders are not about food and weight, but symptoms of something deeper going on inside the individual. Although this site was initiated by a working couple, they recently have relinquished ownership to CRC Health Group, an organization that deals with eating disorders.
43. Women’s Health Eating Disorders: This information is from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office on Women’s Health. They list the various types of eating disorders along with symptoms and offer resources through links at the end of the article.

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Emotional Problems

If your job promotes isolation in a cubicle at a busy office or at home, it may not take long for you to develop some emotional issues. If you’re naturally shy, isolation will enhance that shyness. If you tend to become depressed, isolation may enhance that problem. Even if you’re surrounded by people at work, chances are you seldom share those inner fears. Too much disclosure can harm a career, after all. And, if you lose your job (like many techies did following the 2001 dot com bust), the emotional issues can be rife. The following sites contain information about a variety of emotional problems, how they might originate, how they progress, and what you can do to help yourself (or others).

44. Depressed Anonymous: This site is older, but it seems that the links are in working order. Based upon the 12-Step recovery program, DA brings information about local groups where you can meet (and still remain anonymous if you want), online information about depression, and more. Their philosophy is that mutual aid empowers people and that it’s a therapeutic healing force.
45. Depression.com: You know you can’t simply “snap out of it” when you’re truly depressed. And, while most of the symptoms are easily diagnosed - even by the sufferer - the recovery isn’t that simple. Some depressions are thought-induced and others may have physical origins. This site will help you understand depression and help you find help.
46. Dual Recovery Anonymous: You may have been diagnosed with “co-morbidity, co-occurring illnesses, concurrent disorders, comorbid disorders, co-occurring disorder, or dual disorder,” but basically what you’re dealing with is “double trouble.” In this case, a simple 12-Step recovery program is just one part of your self-help process. This site will lead you to more ways to cope with ongoing emotional issues.
47. Emotions Anonymous: EA is another self-help group that focuses on 12-Step recovery, but their mission is to deal with a range of emotions, not just depression. If you have to ask about other emotions, try anger, broken or strained relationships, grief, anxiety, low self-esteem, panic, abnormal fears, resentment, jealousy, guilt, despair, fatigue, tension, boredom, loneliness, withdrawal, obsessive and negative thinking, worry, and compulsive behavior just to name a few.
48. Emotional Health Anonymous: If you feel the previous two groups won’t work, try this one. The bonus to this site is that they lay out the twelve steps, their mission, and their activities in an easy-to-read format. They’re very specific about dealing with emotional issues that aren’t related to substance abuse.
49. National Alliance on Mental Illness: If you know you have an emotional problem, but you can’t seem to nail the symptoms to a disease, then visit this site. NAMI defines a broad range of emotional disorders and provides information on how to get professional help or directions on how to obtain self help.
50. Obsessive Compulsive Foundation: This foundation deals specifically with people who develop obsessive-compulsive disorders and the emotional issues that surround recurrent, unwelcome thoughts and behaviors. If you suffer from these afflictions, you’re not alone. One in 40 adults and one in 200 children suffer from OCD at some point in their lives. This means that at any one time in the United States, at least 5 million people experience OCD symptoms (which include nail biting!).
51. Shake Your Shyness: Did you know that some celebrities fight shyness? And you thought you were special! In reality, nearly fifty percent of the adult population in the U.S. is believed to be shy and shyness is on the increase at the rate of approximately ten percent over the last decade or so. Does the onset of the computer age have anything to do with this increase? We don’t know the answer, but this site may provide clues along with some sane advice and links to a multitude of other sites that zone in on shyness.
52. Social Anxiety Support: SAS deals with social anxiety, a problem that’s a tad more severe than run-of-the-mill shyness. SAS provides a place where people who develop social phobias can learn how to reconnect with others. So, if you feel that you may be judged, scrutinized or humiliated by others and this feeling has led to total isolation in your social and work life, then visit this site to learn more about your real and imagined fears.
53. Wrong Diagnosis: If you visited the previous sites, be aware that self-diagnosis is a risky venture. You may think you’re depressed when you really have problems with an inactive thyroid - or visa-versa. This site will help you either relieve some of your worries or point you in a more refined direction. And, as with any other problem that affects your physical or emotional health, you might use self diagnosis as a stepping stone and then visit a professional for the final word.

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Ergonomics

If you sit in front of a computer all day long, you may develop joint and muscle problems, back pain, posture problems and more. The following sites explain the issues and offer solutions.

54. Computer Posture: Are You Sitting Comfortably?: This one-page informational sheet contains photos that illustrate correct and incorrect computer posture as well as links to more information about ergonomics.
55. Ergonomics.org: This site is dedicated to the exchange of information between the fields of ergonomics and the Alexander Technique. The latter program deals with all issues surrounding the lack of healthy work situations.
56. Guidelines to Improve Posture: Spine-health.com provides information on how to improve your posture in front of the computer. You can also snag some tips on best posture stances while walking, driving, standing and more.
57. Improve Your ‘Hunched over the PC’ Posture’: The Dumb Little Man brings ways to improve the stress of sitting in front of the computer all day. Although these exercises won’t improve your posture, they will help to relax and energize you and make you more aware of your posture as you continue to work.
58. Office Ergonomics Training: This site contains office ergonomics information aimed at ergonomics committee members as well as office workers in general. Learn ergonomic tips and tools that will make your Webmaster’s job much more comfortable.
59. Posture for a Healthy Back: This one-page article details how to improve the chances to develop and maintain a healthy back. We like the image of the guy in the car, a drawing that looks somewhat like a young Jay Leno.
60. Safe Computing Tips: This site is dedicated to safe computing and focuses on providing information about office furniture that will help your physical health and safety.
61. Seated Posture Tips: ErgoSum Consulting provides tips and images to show you how to sit in that office chair correctly. You’ll learn that it’s not healthy to “sit up straight,” but that it’s better to support that lumbar region. Otherwise, you’ll end up in a great deal of pain.
62. Three Simple Exercises to Improve Posture: St. Luke’s in Iowa offers three simple exercises that you can do at home or in a work cubicle to improve your posture.
63. U.S. Department of Labor Ergonomics: Most of the information at this site is based upon OSHA (Occupational and Safety Health Administration) research and solutions about ergonomics. It’s probably one of the most comprehensive sites around on ergonomics, especially in the workplace.
64. Workstation Setup: This site provides a step-by-step overview on how to set up an ergonomic workstation. The online exercise that teaches ergonomic essentials will take about 45 minutes to absorb. This is a fairly easy-to-use yet comprehensive self-help tool that may prevent physical injury down the road, no matter if you work in an office or at home.

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Exercise

Ever hear of a Webmaster who won the triathlon? We didn’t think so. Webmasters can develop serious health problems from inactivity, but you don’t need to practice for serious competitions to get in shape. If you take fifteen to thirty minutes a day to exercise, your health benefits will increase dramatically. In addition, lack of exercise can ‘muddy’ the brain. So, take a walk or do a few stretches in the office to wake up that grey matter and to keep your metabolism running strong.

65. 15 Minute Travel Workout: Even if you never travel, this exercise routine is great for folks who don’t own exercise equipment. The animations show you what to do and the written instructions tell you how often to do each set.
66. Core Exercises: If you don’t know about core exercises, CNN’s Health Library contains some information that will help you along. Just remember that the core includes your back, not just your abs. You need strong stomach and back muscles to truly balance that core. Their link will take you to the Mayo Clinic, where you’ll find photographs that illustrate top core exercises you can do just about anywhere but the mall or a busy parking lot.
67. Dr. Kravitz Travel Workout: Here’s another workout that doesn’t need equipment and that will provide some variety to the first routine listed above.
68. Easy Cardio At Home Workout Tips: This short list of easy ways to develop a cardio routine at home is ideal for the person who works out of a home office and who has space for some exercise equipment. Some of these ideas are ideal for the public office, too, as long as you have access to equipment such as treadmills.
69. Exercise for Weight Loss: The Mayo Clinic provides a concise guide on how many calories you can burn during your lunch hour or in that hour after work and before dinner. If you don’t have an hour, the Mayo Clinic doesn’t give up on you. They also provide an article entitled, “Aerobic exercise: What 30 minutes a day can do.” and another one entitled, ” How to Burn Calories While You Work.”
70. Fitness 101: The Absolute Beginner’s Guide to Exercise: MedicineNet provides beginners with advice and tools to begin an exercise program. You might read this before you go to the gym or hire a personal trainer so you can at least appear somewhat knowledgeable about what you’re getting into.
71. How to do Office Yoga: In these free videos you can learn simple techniques for yoga stretching that you can do in confined spaces.
72. Learn to Dance: So what if your legs turn to water when you’re in public? You don’t have to speak, because you can learn to dance! Dancing burns calories, it’s fun, and you may meet that special geek while you burn up the dance floor. This site provides online lessons, an inexpensive DVD, and a dance directory to discover whether you live near a studio or not. Better yet, you can Bust a Move or you can learn how to dance with Napolean Dynamite (flippin’ sweet!).
73. Office Workout: About.com provides some simple exercises you can do at your desk. Although these exercises may not help you lose weight, they’ll boost your metabolism, help your posture, and keep you on your toes!
74. Personalized Online Fitness Training: Unsure about where to begin with your fitness program? Well, you can begin by walking more, but if you’re serious about developing a set of Webmaster abs, then you might try help from these folks.

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Self Help

All the twelve step programs listed above are geared toward emotional and psychological self help. The programs listed below also focus on self help, but from a physical perspective. We didn’t say that self-help was free, however. Some of the sites below offer help for a price, but the prices we viewed were very tolerable considering the alternatives (personal trainer fees, etc.).

75. Calorie-Count: Register to use this site sponsored by About.com. Look up foods on your phone, learn how to burn calories, and create a diet that fits your lifestyle. The only thing Calorie-Count can’t do is make you stick to your new routine.
76. Diet and Fitness Today: An online resource for diet and fitness including weight loss, low fat recipes, vitamins and minerals, nutrition, health and fitness. You also have access to health calculators, a special body fat percentage section to estimate your body fat based on bmi, skinfolds or body dimensions. They also have a new section devoted to fitness vacations.
77. Diet.com: It never hurts to tap into as many “diet” self-help Web sites as possible before you jump into a regular self-help routine. This site is the first we’ve seen that addresses the issue about people who may not want to be thin - being overweight does have its advantages, after all. You can hide behind fat, use it as an excuse to avoid public outings, etc. Other topics covered here include fitness and you have access to forums, recipes, challenges, and more.
78. Dr. Weil: Talk about a geek leading the geeks…this is a perfect place for Webmasters to learn certain life skills. Dr. Weil promotes a lifestyle that incorporates both eastern and western medicines and practices. This site covers everything from learning how to breathe correctly to eating right and to news about supplements that will help fill in the rough spots.
79. eDiets: Although this site focuses more on diets than on fitness, the activity angle is here along with ways to build a diet for your lifestyle. Once again, this is a diet that includes food delivered to your door. If you work at home and find little time to take care of yourself, this is one way to kickstart your get-well routine. This site combines all the best of Weight Watchers (weekly online meetings), SparkPeople forums and discussions (see below), and the food delivery weight loss system. You can choose among diabetic plans and wheat-free plans as well.
80. FatSecret: Well, it’s not a secret, really. But, these folks may unlock the help you need to feel better about your self image and to gain better health. You can browse around before you register, and this site is not affiliated with any diets or diet companies that are referenced on the site. Everything is free, so this is a great place to begin to learn what your motivations are and the level of commitment you’re willing to provide for yourself.
81. SparkPeople: If you’re a woman you may feel totally at home here, although this site doesn’t discriminate. It just seems that more women have found this place as a means to help them get and stay in shape. You can build menus or have them built for you, including calorie counts and information on how to quickly burn those calories. Register to gain access to forums and more to help build your physical fitness support group.
82. Fitness.com: This global fitness community offers forums, recipes, reviews on fitness equipment as well as equipment for sale and more. Register to use the “MyFitHome” tools to help you gain and maintain a healthy lifestyle.
83. FitDay: Use the free online journal to keep track of calories and keep track of weight loss goals. If you like their free version, the download version is inexpensive and integrates with your computer system.
84. Revolution Health: Revolution Health is one of the few sites that addresses both physical and mental health. This is a portal that provides online tools and calculators, fitness articles and videos, and food and nutrition information. If you’re courting diabetes, they address this issue. If you worry too much, you can find information about that problem as well.
85. WebMD: Yes, you can learn about all sorts of illnesses here, but you can also develop a health and fitness program through their Fitness 101 offerings. This site provides information from mild diets and walking to extreme fitness and strength training. Best of all, it’s free.

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Sexual Issues

Whether you have a healthy sex life or not is up to you to decide. Many people don’t realize that their sexual problems are, indeed, problems until someone else breaks the news. On the other hand, you may believe you have sexual issues, and these issues may be real or imagined. Either way, the following Web sites will help you learn more about your problems and lead you to groups, online forums, and more to get on the road to better and healthier sex life.

86. HIV Anonymous: HIV Anonymous is run by the HIV Anonymous World Service Organization (HIVAWSO). Their goal is to assist people with HIV or AIDS and their loved ones in taking control of their spiritual, physical, mental, and emotional health by providing current, comprehensive information in one source. They are a touchstone for HIV support groups, patients, and organizations through a volunteer network.
87. No-Porn.com: This site has helped men and women from all backgrounds to recover from pornography addiction since 1997. They utilize hypnosis among other tools to help individuals break the porn bond. Unfortunately, there are few other recovery efforts online, but tons of information from Christian-based organizations, government studies, and news stories. Simply type, “Pornography addiction” into any search engine to learn more.
88. Sex and Love Addicts Anonymous: Like AA, this program’s recovery efforts are based upon a 12-Step recovery program. So, if you’re addicted to love or if you’re obsessed with sex and both issues are clouding your judgment and hurting a career, you might want to stop into this site and say “hi.”
89. Sexaholics Anonymous: “The only requirement for membership is a desire to stop lusting and become sexually sober.” If you answered, “yes,” to one or more of these twelve questions, you may need Sexaholics Anonymous. This site hosts information for anyone who thinks that sex is disrupting his or her life.
90. Sexual Conditions Health Center: Not all sexual issues are caused by psychological problems or by previous traumas. Sometimes, just day-to-day stress will mess up a good thing. WebMD provides a comprehensive overview on sexual health, and helps individuals define what “healthy” conditions really mean.
91. Sexual Compulsives Anonymous: You probably figured by now that anytime you see the word, “anonymous,” you’re dealing with a self-help 12-Step recovery program. It’s no different here, but the topic is far different…the people who visit this site want to stop having compulsive sex.
92. Survivors of Incest Anonymous: Children harbor healthy, natural needs for love, attention and acceptance, and they often paid high prices to get those needs met. This site is intended as a serious resource for survivors of incest and child sexual abuse. It’s based upon the 12-Step recovery program, and it contains localized and global resources.

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Stress

If you don’t know it already, you might want to know that work-related stress can kill you. But, then again, that news might add more stress to your life. But, any major life changes also add stress. We’ve lined up some resources below that will explain stress in all forms and solutions for relieving some of that anxiety, both physically and emotionally.

93. Human Resources: This About.com site deals with human resources issues, including sress in the workplace. The ‘related topics’ below this article will lead you to more resources about this issue.
94. Major Life Changes: This list is a handy tool to keep available at all times. Anytime you’re faced with major changes, you experience physical and emotional stress. This list will help you make choices about how many stressful situations you’re willing to juggle at one time. For instance, if you’re expecting a child, it might not be the best time to consider relocation, a new job, or decide to head back for that college degree.
95. Major Life Change: Chaos Could Be a Good Sign: Although this article is brief and to-the-point, life coach Laura Young looks at the positive side of stress. When you deal with crises (we mean multiples), you can develop inner strength and confidence in your abilities. Read on to learn more positives!
96. Stress at Work: NIOSH (National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health) provides a comprehensive yet concise list of tools and information where you can learn all angles about work-related stress and relief from that stress.
97. Stress Management: This is another About.com site that focuses on stress management in all areas of life. This is one of the most comprehensive sites we’ve encountered on this topic, as it provides a blog, articles, and tools to help recognize and deal with stress issues.
98. Stress Relief: Relaxation techniques such as deep breathing, visualization, progressive muscle relaxation, meditation, and yoga can help you activate this relaxation response to stress. This site shows you how to plan for and achieve a level of relaxation that may help you to cope with everyday stress triggers.
99. Stress Relief Exercises: Unlike exercises for physical strength, these tools will help you learn how to relax so you don’t hurt your body or shorten your lifespan.
100. Top 10 Steps to Making Life Changes: This PDF file was created by life coach Steve Davis, and he provides some sound advice on how to alleviate many stressful situations. For instance, if the bank forecloses on your apartment building, the stress won’t be half as bad on you if you have money set aside to handle a blow like this.
101. Work-Related Stress: Health & Safety Executive (HSE) provides a four-pronged approach to work-related stress. Learn how to ‘tackle’ stress, about management’s role in this issue, about ‘good practices,’ and advice for individuals.

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The following fifty proprietary programs are listed in no particular order within broad categories along with their open source alternatives. In some cases you could probably write your own book on frustrations with the proprietary programs shown here. In other cases, you’ll discover that the open source alternative isn’t quite up to snuff yet. And, in other cases still, you’ll learn that some proprietary programs are real gems, but that the open source advocate can replace those gems with equally shiny objects from the open source repertoire.

Basics

1. Windows Vista OS to Ubuntu OS: This is Microsoft’s operating system (OS), and even Microsoft fans have become disillusioned with this product. Open source OS alternatives have expanded; but these OS often are difficult for the average user to install, learn, and operate. Why deal with it when Ubuntu has become so easy to use that even the most computer illiterate can jump into this operating system with very little time spent on a learning curve? In fact, users can purchase a Dell computer with Ubuntu already installed. Remember, however, that when it comes to using open source software that the open source community often focuses on applications that can be used through Windows, Mac, Linux, or Unix with the majority seemingly devoted to Windows.
2. Internet Explorer Browser to Firefox Browser: Sure, Internet Explorer (IE) is free; but, that’s because it comes packaged with Windows’ operating systems. Free is far different from open source software, where users have more control over how that software works. While you might feel more comfortable with a proprietary operating system, you can still use an open source browser like Mozilla’s Firefox, an exceptional product that expands its use with ‘add-ons‘ created by avid users.

Office Suites

3. Microsoft Office to OpenOffice: If the price makes you feel that Microsoft has worked you over, then switch! If you compare Microsoft’s Office with other products, then you’re looking for something that includes an email client, a word processor, a spreadsheet tool, and a multimedia presentation application. The only product that provides a competitive edge against Microsoft is Google (that includes Gmail, Google Docs, Google Presentation and more). But, some would argue that Google isn’t truly open source. So, the next best bet alternative would be OpenOffice, an open source project that includes everything you’d find in Microsoft Office except the email client.
4. Mactopia to NeoOffice: Another Microsoft office suite, but this time meant for MacIntosh computers. Try NeoOffice instead. NeoOffice® is a full-featured set of office applications, including word processing, spreadsheet, presentation, drawing, and database programs for Mac OS X. This suite is based on the OpenOffice.org office suite, but it has integrated dozens of native Mac features and can import, edit, and exchange files with other popular office programs such as Microsoft Office.

Office Tools

5. MathWorks MATLAB to Scilab: MATLAB is a highly used application for numerical computing. It provides a programming language that allows users to work with numbers in any possible way imaginable through visualization. Scilab is the open source alternative to MATLAB, and it provides visualization of numerical data just as MATLAB does. Scilab is partly compatible with MATLAB, and both tools are suited for Windows, Linux, and UNIX.
6. Microsoft Access to Kexi: Microsoft Access is a versatile tool for creating database-driven applications and to maintain office or personal data. Access contains an embedded database engine, but it also connects to other databases through ODBC. On the other hand, Kexi allows users to design forms to gain access to and to create data, just like Access. Kexi also contains an embedded database engine and it can import data to Microsoft Access databases. Plus - Kexi is open source, whereas Access belongs to Microsoft.
7. Microsoft Word to OpenOffice Writer: If you want to break that office suite down and begin to replace the suite item by item, then you can start with this product first. Writer is the word processor component of the OpenOffice.org software package that is similar to Microsoft Word, and with a roughly equivalent range of features. Writer can be used across a variety of platforms, including Mac OS X, Microsoft Windows, Linux, FreeBSD and Solaris. Writer also includes the ability to export Portable Document Format (PDF) files with no additional software, and can also function as a WYSIWYG editor for creating and editing web pages. One plus over Word is that Writer carries functions and number formats in its tables from Calc, OpenOffice’s spreadsheet application.
8. Microsoft Excel to OpenOffice Calc: Another Microsoft product, Excel still carries its productivity pluses as a spreadsheet, but it no longer carries an air of absolute necessity. Google’s Docs can bring an online, sharing atmosphere to your spreadsheets now. As for a truly open source product that can replace Excel, try OpenOffice.org Calc. This tool provides full spreadsheet functionality incl. a huge number of statistical and scientific functions, pivot tables and charts.
9. Microsoft Visio to Dia: Visio actually is a great application that allows users to go from complicated text and tables that are hard to understand to diagrams that communicate information at a glance. The only thing that spoils the context is the fact that this software is that it’s not open source. Instead, use Dia, a GTK+ based diagram creation program for Linux, Unix and Windows released under the GPL license. Dia was ‘roughly’ inspired by Visio, which should make this tool easy for transition.

Productivity

10. Blackboard to Moodle: Blackboard has been the CMS (Course Management System) ‘industry standard’ for educational purposes for many years. This program allows instructors to build courses, manage student workloads, and more. But Moodle has gained significant ground as an open source alternative to Blackboard, as it helps educators to create effective online learning communities in a scalable package that costs nothing to use.
11. Box to Cabos: If you’re into file sharing, you’ve probably heard of Box.net, if not used them. Not only can you share files, Box allows you to store your files securely online, allowing you to access them from any computer, phone or mobile device for a fee. Cabos, another file sharing program that’s open source, provides simple sidebar user interface, firewall to firewall transfers, proxy transfers, Universal Plug and Play, iTunes + iPod integration, “What’s New?” searches, international searches, and more. All you need is Windows 2000 or later. Mac OS X 10.2.8 or later. Mac OS 8.6 or later. Granted, you don’t have the file storage capacity, but at least you can share files with Cabos without that extra storage capacity.
12. Microsoft Project to Open Workbench: Microsoft allows users to control project work, schedule, and finances, and effectively communicate project data to other users. But, it costs to do that with Microsoft. Instead, use open source Open Workbench to accomplish exactly the same project details for free. When users need to move beyond desktop scheduling to a workgroup, division or enterprise-wide solution, they can upgrade to CA’s Clarity™ system, a project and portfolio management system that offers bidirectional integration with Open Workbench.
13. Mindjet to FreeMind: Mindmapping is a way to share ideas among individuals and groups for productivity. This type of activity takes time, but it saves time. So why should you pay for a product when you can save money by using FreeMind? This latter product will accomplish all the Mindjet does and more. That “more” is the fact that FreeMind is open source.

Graphic Programs

14. Adobe Illustrator to Inkscape: Adobe’s vector drawing system is one of the best in the industry. However, like Photoshop, the price can be prohibitive for some designers and artists. Try Inkscape instead, an open source vector graphics editor similar to Illustrator, CorelDraw, or Xara X. Inkscape uses the W3C standard Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) file format and it supports many advanced SVG features (markers, clones, alpha blending, etc.). Finally, the streamlined interface is easy to use to edit nodes, perform complex path operations, trace bitmaps and much more.
15. Adobe PhotoShop to GIMP: Even if you’re paying for upgrades instead of the original package, the price for Adobe’s Photoshop can be prohibitive for some photographers and graphic designers. Try GIMP to see if this open source tool can’t provide you with all the power you need for your photography and graphic design needs. GIMP stands for Gnu Image Manipulation Program, and it’s the solution that comes closest to emulating the Photoshop environment.
16. Adobe Premiere to Avidemux: Premier is state of the art real-time non-linear video editing for any format including High Definition (HD). Supports 16-bit color resolution, GPU accelerated rendering for faster effects and even advanced DVD authoring. On the other hand, Avidemux provides Windows, Mac, and Linux users with an easy-to-use open source tool for DVD/DivX converting and editing. Avidemux also has scripting support for automation and even offers DVD authoring with the addition of the open source software, dvdauthor.
17. AutoCAD to Archimedes: AutoCAD is an AutoDesk tool used by any designer who creates design drafts - mostly architects. Archimedes is an open source computer aided design (CAD) alternative that focuses primarily on architectural design. AutoCAD definitely has the winning score thus far, but Archimedes shows promise. The latter program contains all the drawing features a designer would need, but its interoperability is weak. Designers still can export scalable vector graphics, so there’s a real market for this open source tool (this opinion isn’t based upon Archimedes’ newest release).
18. Microsoft PowerPoint to OpenOffice Impress: You can make a move away from this Microsoft tool with the use of Google’s Presentation or with OpenOffice’s Impress. Both tools represent full-featured presentation applications that allow users to create and modify diagrams and pictures right within the application.
19. Microsoft Paint to Tux Paint: While not a serious graphics program, it is widely used by many computer users, mostly children Try Tux Paint instead of Paint, as this open source product stands apart from typical graphics people edit software (such as GIMP or Photoshop) in that it was designed to be usable by children as young as 16 months of age. The user interface is meant to be intuitive, and utilizes icons, audible feedback and textual hints to help explain how the software works.
20. TruSpace to Blender: Caligari offers a range of products that enable designers and artists to produce 3D images - at a hefty price. Blender, on the other hand, provides one tool that provides full multiresolution sculpting capabilities with 2D bitmap/3D procedural brushes (Paint, Smooth, Pinch, Inflate, Grab) supporting symmetry. And, that’s just the beginning of Blender’s capabilities. This open source software is free to download and use.

Web Editors

21. Adobe GoLive CS2 to Mozilla SeaMonkey: GoLive is an integral part of the Adobe Creative Suites products, so it works with your InDesign documents and allows those documents to be converted to Web pages. But, you might want to try Mozilla’s SeaMonkey before you commit to the total Adobe suite option. The Mozilla SeaMonkey project includes a Web-browser, email and newsgroup client, HTML authoring program and IRC chat client. The Composer is simple but it handles tables, CSS, positioned layers and more without sweat. Add-ons currently include Scribefire, the blog blog editor that integrates with your browser and lets you easily post to your blog.
22. Adobe Dreamweaver to NVU: While this tool is a powerful WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) HTML editor, other options exist that can save money. NVU (pronounced N-view, for a “new view”) is a complete Web Authoring System for Linux Desktop users as well as Microsoft Windows users to rival programs like FrontPage and Dreamweaver. Use NVU to create Web pages and manage a Website with no technical expertise or knowledge of HTML.
23. Macromedia Flash Professional to OpenLaszlo: Developers use Flash to create multimedia events on the Web. Since the program utilizes vector-based graphics, it provides a venue that goes beyond the Web. As an open source product, OpenLaszlo provides developers with a platform to create zero-install Web applications with user interface capabilities of desktop client software. In other words, OpenLaszlo applications developed on one machine will run on all leading Web browsers on all leading desktop OS. These applications, like Flash, provide animation, layout, data binding, server communication and more.
24. Microsoft FrontPage to Bluefish: While not as powerful as Dreamweaver, FrontPage is a widely used proprietary application used to create Web pages. Take a gander at this list to understand your many open source options for HTML editors. Try Bluefish as one option that can save you money and, possibly, time.
25. Windows Notepad to ConTEXT: Yes, you can get the world’s most versatile HTML editing tool absolutely FREE when you purchase Windows version 2.0 and above. But, why would you want to do that when you can work with open source ConTEXT? This application is a small, fast and powerful freeware programmers text editor, developed to serve as a secondary tool for software developers.
26. Altova XMLSpy to XML Copy Editor: XMLSpy is one of the most popular XML editors on the market today. Its editing features and support for both schema and DTD development along with XSLT, XQuery and XPath development make it an ultimate XML tool. As an open source alternative, XML Copy Editor is a versatile XML editor primarily focused on text editing with XML files. However, XML Copy Editor provides many other features including validation of DTD and XML schemas - as well as XSLT and XPath with tag-free editing. Both tools are Windows applications.

Publishing

27. Adobe Acrobat to PDFCreator: Yes, you have a free trial to create a PDF through Adobe. However, this PDFCreator easily creates PDFs from any Windows program. Use it like a printer in Word, StarCalc or any other Windows application.
28. Adobe Framemaker to DocBook: Adobe Framemaker software represents a powerful authoring and publishing solution for technical communicators who want to author and publish technical documentation in multiple languages. While this software is reliable, so is DocBook, an open source publishing tool. Additionally, you have access to all the free wikis and documentation that shows how to install, use, and customize the tools and stylesheets.
29. Microsoft Publisher to Scribus: When it comes to Desktop Publishing (DTP) Microsoft’s Publisher provides more control over document elements than Microsoft Word through a DTP-oriented approach. However, professional users still consider this program an entry-level application. Since it’s part of the Microsoft Office Package, many users will find its costs negligible as well. With that said, Scribus offers an open source DTP alternative. Scribus brings award-winning professional page layout to Linux/Unix, MacOS X, OS/2 and Windows desktops with a combination of “press-ready” output and new approaches to page layout. Scribus supports professional publishing features, such as CMYK color, separations, ICC color management and versatile PDF creation.

Communications

30. AIM to Pidgin: Give it up. AIM, AOL’s Instant Messenger, no longer rules. The open source alternative is Pidgin, a multi-protocol Instant Messaging client that allows you to use all of your IM accounts at once. Let’s break that down: No matter if you use Windows, Linux, BSD, and other Unixes. You can talk to your friends using AIM, ICQ, Jabber/XMPP, MSN Messenger, Yahoo!, Bonjour, Gadu-Gadu, IRC, Novell GroupWise Messenger, QQ, Lotus Sametime, SILC, SIMPLE, MySpaceIM, and Zephyr. Can AIM do that? No? Well, then.
31. FeedDemon to RSS Bandit: FeedDemon for Windows constantly searches through feed search engines with keyword-generated searches as well as generalized searches. It also allows offline reading as it ‘prefetches’ your subscribed feeds. NewsGator also synchronizes with FeedDemon so you can gain access to news without your computer. Except for the fact that FeedDemon isn’t open source, it’s an ideal, robust reader. But, for open source fanatics, RSS Bandit provides an equally robust alternative RSS and Atom reader that allows you to keep track of all of the news feeds you follow. Its newspaper view can be customized and the templates are compatible with those used in FeedDemon. Plus, RSS Bandit allows you to synchronize everything with NewsGator online. Finally, RSS Bandit also provides access to news on news servers (similar to Google Groups) - it uses NNTP to read and post to newsgroups anywhere on the net. It integrates to Google Groups by linking to posts on their website.
32. Microsoft MSN Messenger to aMSN: Microsoft offers MSN Messenger to the masses as freeware on Windows, and it’s grown from a simple IM application into a trendsetter in a competitive market. Features include voice and video chatting, gaming, remote support - on top of that it allows connection through mobile devices when you are not near a computer. aMSN, the open source Windows alternative to MSN, aims to mimic its proprietary competitor as much as possible. Most of its extra features are added through plug-ins. You can add, at your leisure, POP3 email support and translation, voice clips, Webcam support, Chat logs, Conferencing support and more.
33. Microsoft Outlook to Thunderbird: Say that you decided to switch to OpenOffice, but you need an email client to replace Microsoft’s Outlook. Try Mozilla’s Thunderbird, an application that carries a similar interface and that is easy to use. Additionally, you can use Lightning to integrate Mozilla’s Sunbird calendar application with Thunderbird.
34. Skype to Wengophone: Skype is a very strong freeware internet VoIP (Voice over IP) product in the telecommunications industry. It started with a simple and free PC-to-PC telephony, but today offe