The presence of a computer onboard is almost universal these days, whether it is used to navigate, run an entertainment system or simply keep the captain connected to the office or the rest of the outside word. But it's not without hassles and costs.

The truth is that most boaters want to be out on the water, not spending hours figuring out what software they need, to say nothing of the expense involved in buying commercial applications and keeping them updated.

Buying an office suite, a photo editor and a web design suite will set you back several hundred dollars. Why not rely on free alternatives that are often just as good – and sometimes even better. While many may equate free software with low-quality products, these days that is no longer the case. The advent of the "open source" movement, in which software developers collaborate to create free applications, together with the Internet's no-charge culture has given rise to a generation of high-quality software that can be downloaded for little or no cost. And you don't have to be a hacker to get it.

Free programs now exist that will allow you to transact over email or instant message, edit photos, play music, create spreadsheets and other office documents and even manage projects. Switching to these free alternatives can shave hundreds of dollars off the cost of outfitting your boat with a computer – money that every boat owner can use elsewhere (though probably still on the boat).

In some cases, free programs have even become market leaders. Mozilla's free Firefox web browser is the best example. Mozilla pioneered "tabbed" browsing, and was among the first to offer a wide variety of "plug in" features for its browser, which competes with Microsoft's commercial Internet Explorer application. The result is that Firefox is now the browser of choice for a large percentage of the Internet community and many websites – including this one – were designed using it. It is powerful, stable and the price is right.

While it is true that boaters have some special computing needs, navigation and portability among them, there are applications that serve those needs too. There are programs that will allow you to download and view marine charts, track budgets or spare parts on a spreadsheet, plan trips on a calendar and even navigate the boat – all for little or no cost.

You do have to be careful. Some of the online offerings suggested here may have privacy implications, and you should always be cautious when storing sensitive data or handing out personal information. Most products are open source or otherwise licensed for free personal use and some can also be used for business, but be sure to check the licenses to stay within the law.

No matter what software you choose, remember to back up your data. Hard drives die. Boats sink. Mistakes are made. Data gets deleted. With more and more of our lives stored digitally, the information is both easier to work with – and easier to loose.

But in general, using high-quality free software is no more risky than buying a product online, and most of us have done that for years. Like all projects on a boat, you should make a plan when you intend to change or upgrade software. Read the instructions, give yourself enough time to complete the installation and do not abandon the software you have been using. Like all marine systems, software can require troubleshooting in order to get it to work properly. If you anticipate this in advance, it will mitigate any frustration.

One bonus is that many of these programs are supported by a community of users and developers, who are usually willing to answer questions and walk through problems. Communication generally takes place via online forums, where you can post questions and get answers. So if you encounter difficulties, find the forums and ask your question!

INTERNET SOFTWARE"¨

Most early free software offerings are what can be considered Internet Access Software: browsers, email clients and similar applications. Many of these have matured into stable products and, in some cases, market leaders.

We already mentioned Mozilla's free Firefox browser, but the company also offers Thunderbird, a great POP/IMAP email client that can take the place of Microsoft Outlook Express and similar offerings. It is easy to install, simple to learn and is an extremely stable tool.

If you prefer web-based email – rather than a "client" that downloads your email for viewing – GMail is the current king of the mountain. This is Google's online email client and it is one of the best, with lots of storage space and solid spam detection. Upgrades are available for business users, or those who need special email addresses. Both Yahoo and Microsoft have similar web-based email offerings, if you want a different interface or already have accounts with these companies.

However, Google is going to merit strong consideration in many of your decisions. The company has made a solid commitment to offering high-quality free products in the last decade, and the sheer amount of market-leading applications they offer is staggering. We will be coming back to them again and again and, depending on your needs, it may make sense for you to stay within the Google family.

For example, if you need only email, word processing and spreadsheet capabilities, Google can provide all in one handy account, free of charge. But if your needs are greater, say you want to build web pages, edit photos, and read nautical charts, you may switch to a "best of breed" strategy. In that way, this is not unlike choosing marine electronics, a set of decisions that many of us are familiar with.

Onward. If instant messages are your thing, you might try Pidgen (formerly known as Gaim), a free instant message client. Miranda is another IM client offering with a strong following. If you use RSS (Really Simple Syndication) to keep up with news, blogs and website offerings, Google Reader is a market leader and a solid choice. There are others, but Google seems to be leading the pack, with enough happy users to indicate that something is going right. (For more on how to use RSS, see link.)

If you are publishing a web page or creating an online blog, you have some options for editing software. Nvu is one answer to commercial applications like Microsoft's Frontpage or Adobe's Dreamweaver. It allows you to easily create HTML web pages using a WYSIWYG ("what you see is what you get") interface.

If your goal is to put up a simple web site or blog, say with photos and a travelogue from a cruise, Google's Page Creator or Blogger will get the job done. These tools are more limited than most commercially-available applications, but they are free, easy to learn and capable. They are good options for someone starting out. Remember, you can always trade up.

OFFICE APPLICATIONSOPENOFFICEOpenOffice is a replacement for suites like Microsoft Office. Here, OpenOffice Writer is shown.

While Microsoft's Office is ubiquitous in the business world, there are some alternatives that can provide word processing, spreadsheet and presentation software. There are not as many of these applications as there are in other free software genres, but several of them are quite good.

If you simply need word processing, AbiWord is a free package that is quite powerful.

OpenOffice is another option, a powerful suite of tools that have versions for Windows and the Mac (and Linux too, if you like). NeoOffice is a version of OpenOffice converted to use more of the native Mac OS features. If you are a Mac user, check this one out.

For those with more advanced office needs, such as project planning, Zoho offers a suite of free- and low-cost products that are first rate. In fact, I'm told that Zoho's wares are in use at Mad Mariner, both to manage development on the website and to track advertising sales.

Another powerful suite is GoogleDocs. If you haven't used Google's online offering, check it out. Word processing, basic spreadsheet and presentation software all are available online in a browser window. You can leave your work on Google's servers and access it from anywhere, or save your work to a local disk in a variety of formats, such as Microsoft's Word or Excel.

GoogleDocs is a strong application for coastal boaters, who maintain an Internet connection via Wi-Fi or air card. A budget or spare parts inventory can be kept on the spreadsheet function, and a vessel log can be managed on the word processor. I often write articles for Mad Mariner using Google Docs. I can access them from any handy machine, save to the desired formats for submission and I don't have to worry about installing software. Google has recently been adding "offline" capability to their applications that works with software on your machine to make these Internet-based programs available, even when you are disconnected from the net. This will be a capability to watch for boaters and cruisers.

One other application to note is Google Calendar, a free, robust calendar program with reminders, color coding and other features that can be used to plan trips, track maintenance or do anything else that requires scheduling.

GRAPHICS AND PHOTOGRAPHY

With the move toward digital cameras, deciding how to best store, edit and share or display your photos has become crucial. In this arena, start first by assessing your needs. Are you looking for a simple editing tool or do you need the capability to tag your photo library and share it on the web? Your answers will determine the route you take.

In terms of editing, Adobe Photoshop is the gold standard here and, though it is extremely powerful, it is also somewhat complicated and a tad expensive. Thankfully, there are several free alternatives that can get the job done.

One example is GIMP, a photo tool that is another one I hear is in use at Mad Mariner. If you learn to use it, the GNU Image Manipulation Program can do it all. I'm no expert but I can fumble my way through the basics. This application was first available on Linux but now exists for Windows, too.

Picnik is another option. This is a web-based photo-editing tool. Its basic features are free, or you can subscribe for access to more powerful options. This requires no software to be loaded on your machine (beyond the web browser) and allows editing, cropping and basic photo retouching.

Digikam is a Linux/KDE based program for organizing and tagging your photo collection. In my opinion, it is the best free software in this arena – if you are running an operating system that can support it.

There are also web-based photo sites, such as Flickr and Picassa, which is now owned by Google. Both are full-featured, web-based photo solutions that allow you to upload photos, edit them, tag them, display them on a personal page (both publically to the world at large and privately to a small group of friends or family) and order prints from a number of vendors. Both also have optional downloadable software.

These services are more than just web applications. Both sites represent large communities – millions of people – who want to share photos. But that doesn't mean you need to fully participate. Users on these sites participate according to their needs. A professional photographer might display scores of well-edited photos, while a boater in California might upload a dozen shots of his latest Catalina trip. How you use them is up to you.

Both sites have free options or trials, which give you basic capabilities and limited storage. You can then pay a small fee to upgrade. So, which one is best? Ask 12 users and you will get 12 opinions. The best plan is to look them both over and try them using a small batch of photos (it costs you nothing). Your preference will become clear very quickly.

Again, make sure and keep backups of all pictures and files that are important to you. Never count on a third party, especially a free application, to safeguard your data.

MUSIC AND ENTERTAINMENT

Entertainment is another onboard application that can be handed over to your computer. Many music and video players are available, and for those inclined toward video games, you can find those too.

VLC Media Player is an incredible resource. It can play nearly any audio or video format that you throw at it, and is available for Windows, Mac and Linux. Apple provides it's iTunes application for use with its iPod music players, but it also can be downloaded and run on your machine (Mac or PC), even without an iPod. The application is free and gives you the ability to play all kinds of entertainment, including both free and paid material.

For those who like games, there is Sudoku, a free version of the popular and apparently addictive game. There's Poker – need I say more? – and Mines, a free version of the popular Windows Minesweeper game.

Of course, there are many sites out there that provide games, including aggregator sites that provide them by the thousands. Some are web games and others require a download. Many are games created in Adobe's Flash programming language, requiring that you download Adobe's Flash plug in for your browser.

While we won't go too far down this road, occasional gamers looking for basic fun can find it at Shockwave, which offers everything from classic arcade games to puzzes and racing.

CHARTS AND NAVIGATIONCARISCaris Easy View is a free downloadable chart reader. It will not navigate, but can help plan trips.

Serious chart work and navigation may be best placed in the hands of a commercial package, such as Rose Point's Coastal Explorer, Maptech's Chart Navigator Pro or MaxSea's Explorer. Mad Mariner has devoted substantial resources to providing an extensive library of stories on how to make sense of electronic charting, download free NOAA charts and buy a software applications – including reviews of more than a dozen of the most popular charting applications. The site's entire Hard Facts on Software series, including the reviews and recommendations, is available on the site's Software Resource Page.

But what if you just want to get your feet wet, so to speak?

There are applications for Windows that are available for free and allow you to test the waters. If you own a PC, Sping's SeaClear II is available at no charge. It lacks many of the nice-to-have features of commercial software, and the company cannot go as far as larger firms to provide technical support. But SeaClear II represents a full-featured navigation program that leverages the free charts available from NOAA to create a no-charge option for boaters running a Windows computer. (See links for a review of Seaclear II and instructions on how to download and use free charts). Those running a Mac do have software options, but they are not free.

Another option is a "chart reader" or "planner." These give boaters the ability to read free NOAA charts and plan trips, but they lack the capabilities of full-featured programs, such as ability to track a boat in real time or lay down tracks and waypoints. There are several free readers on the market, again all for boaters running Windows. One good one is CARIS Easy View, which supports a wide variety of chart formats and is easy to use for a beginner.

OPERATING SYSTEMS

For those who are more advanced, Linux is an open source (and free) operating system that can take the place of Microsoft Windows or Mac OS X. Linux is far more stable than its commercial cousins and it is considered "lightweight," a software developer's term meaning that it takes up considerably fewer resources (processor and memory) on your computer.

Installation can be a bit intimidating, but its ease of use and popularity has grown by leaps and bounds in recent years. Several large corporations are now running their entire system on Linux.

Many organizations and groups offer Linux in different flavors, called "distributions." They are similar but differ in installation, configuration and update methods. Ubuntu (http://ubuntu.com) is probably the most popular at the moment and is fairly easy to install.

If you have older hardware that can't keep up with the demands of more modern operating systems, Linux can be a great choice. Simply download the operating system, burn it to CD-ROM and load it. Often you can ask around and find a neighbor or IT-savvy friend who is willing to help you get started (computer types love Linux and are often willing to help a friend convert). WalMart, Dell and other vendors are also offering Linux pre-installed on PC hardware, which may be an even easier way to jump in and learn.

Linux will give you a graphic environment that has its roots in the familiar Windows or Mac interface. There are menus and you use a mouse. Most software is free and open source. In fact, much of the software we discussed above started in Linux and then moved out to other platforms.

However, there are some big limitations. For example, many large commercial software packages are not available for Linux, and special navigation packages and other boating-specific programs do not yet exist.

PORTABLE APPLICATIONSPORTABLEAPPS.COMPortableApps offers just that: portable applications, for use on a USB drive.

While most boaters gravitate toward laptop computers, there are ways to make things even more portable. Boaters can have their entire computing environment on a pocket-sized device for use anywhere Рthe marina office, an Internet caf̩, public library or a friend's vessel Рby simply loading applications and personal configurations on a USB "thumb drive" or small, portable hard drive such as an iPod.

Many people use these devices to store data, such as documents. But what we are talking about here is to use them to store applications – the software that creates the documents. You can plug in your thumb drive, use your normal setup, configured the way you like, and take it with you when you're done. If you have one machine on your boat and another at home, moving between them is easy. An added advantage is that this leaves no trace of your identity or actions on the host machine, which is nice when using public facilities or a friend's box."¨"¨

The most popular set of these applications can be found at PortableApps.com. Options include downloading individual applications or a comprehensive suite, so it is all pre-installed and ready to go. Performance can lag on a USB stick, but it is usually still acceptable. By loading the same suite on your main machine, you can have a similar computing environment wherever you are working, though this eliminates the advantage of taking your computer world with you when you switch machines."¨"¨

Bruce Dillahunty, an IT professional, is a first-time boat builder working on a V28 designed by Mark Van Abbema. You can read about his project on The Boat Builder's Blog.