10 great free desktop productivity tools that aren't OpenOffice.org

These free and open source applications for Windows, Linux, and Mac desktops put power into the hands of users without taking from their wallets

Desktop productivity tool No. 2: Scribus 1.3.8

Scribus is a free open source desktop publishing program, one written with the kind of attention to the UI as displayed in Inkscape and Paint.NET. It sports layout and design tools that are on a par with commercial competitors, has a macro language à la GIMP with a number of prepackaged macros (for example, a calendar generator), can produce professional-quality CMYK PDFs, and even includes a "preflight check" function to make sure what you see really is what you get. Note that you get the best results when you use Scribus in conjunction with a dedicated text processing system; it's not a word processor in its own right and isn't suited yet to automatically laying out long-form documents. Also, as with Inkscape, internal support for color-matching systems like Pantone is missing, although you can partly work around this limitation.

5 of 11
VIEW ALL THUMBNAILS

Most Popular

Tethering tutorial: How to use your iPhone as a modem
Capacitive vs resistive touchscreens
LCD vs plasma vs LED TVs buying guide
How to pick the right size TV for your living room
The next Xbox reveal: What to expect from the Xbox 720

Best Deals on PCWorld

Mobile PhonesView all »
NotebooksView all »
TabletsView all »
Printers & ScannersView all »
Networking, Wireless & VoIPView all »

rhs_login_lockSign up to PC World Today for the latest news, reviews and galleries from PC World Australia.