Free is as free does, so we’re eating our own ice cream these days. Others eat their own dog food, we prefer the sweet confection of really great software tools. Two of our favorites are Jing and Weebly. Both of them are free.
You can get a lot done wiith a high-speed internet connection and a PC, In these belt-tightening days, perhaps a little “Free Advice” could be a welcome thing. As we look for ways to get the word out on Freepath (both the free download, and the 100mb of storage linked directly to the application), we are determined to make the most of this world of user-generated tools and content to do it. Weebly is a place where anybody can create their own website. Jing is a super easy tool for capturing images and “audio/video” (swf) of your desktop. Like myFreepath, Jing has free online storage for your captures.
We have created a microsite over there at weebly, (www.freebits.weebly.com) for dynamic display of new tools, Freepath tutorials and experimental interaction with our users. Go there to see some VERY short, easy-to-follow Jing tutorials from Dave Giusti, our Community Manager.
In the future, partly to prove a point, but more so because it’s a good idea and great business, we’ll be increasing our reach into other free web applications and client applications that help to create a better impression of your ideas and digital stories. In fact, because both of these (Jing and Weebly) host content, they both become content for Freepath playlists.
Jing even stores images and swf files locally on your hard drive if you like, so you can use them without an internet connection. (Hard to imagine Slide.com and others doing that. Oh, and…their stuff all plays in Freepath with an internet connection too.) We like what Chris Thomas, Chief Strategist at Intel says about client content and applications. Chris, who works with Intel’s World Ahead program sees lots of places that don’t have internet. These “extreme conditions” as he refers to them are where many web applications fall short. Freepath, on the other hand, thrives in an extreme setting.
In October, we supported Intel and the US Federal Government’s US-AID in teaching new technologies to ICT professionals from developing nations. Freepath was one of three companies invited to present.
As a result, in something like 15 developing countries, the idea of sharing content created by users with limited internet access is becoming standard. By comparison, we’ve seen US businesses and schools look at free solutions as though they had leprosy. Recently someone said, “If you charged a thousand bucks for Freepath, I might be able to convince my boss to use it…” Talk about tempting! I hope we will someday hear stories about a clever Mongolian presenter who changed her culture by incorporating visuals captured from the web with video shot in the field by a farmer and PowerPoint slides from a template created and shared by a Freepath user in Mississippi!
Don’t worry, we haven’t decided to charge a thousand bucks a seat. What you should worry about instead is whether or not you’re open to doing what it takes to make your point. Whether it’s your boss cutting your staff and budget, or telling you to be brilliant overnight, sometimes it takes extreme conditions to “force” us to do what is easy, quick, cost effective and smart.
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