The great purge

Purge:

1. To free from impurities; purify.
2. To remove (impurities and other elements) by or as if by cleansing.
3. to clear of imputed guilt or ritual uncleanliness.
4. to clear away or wipe out legally (an offense, accusation, etc.) by atonement or other suitable action.
5. to remove by cleansing or purifying (often fol. by away, off, or out).

Purge is a great word, but its an even greater act.

I'd like to talk about computers for a moment. I bought my first PC in about 1997 it was a Pentium 166 MMX. I was determined that I would not install anything illegal on it. I was naive... Within a few months I had pirated games, music, videos and software on the PC, and I can't say it was a conscious decision. It was simply that everyone else was doing it and slowly but surely I found myself copying others. In retrospect I can look back and see how compromise in one area leads to compromises in others too. Before you know it you're living a compromised life.

Always in the back of my mind has been a niggle that I have to clean up my act as far as computers go. The industry has changed now though. Open source software is now a big thing, as is Linux. For those who don't know - You can do just about everything on a computer with 100% free software. Free software doesn't mean its rubbish software either, there are some really excellent alternatives around. In many cases they are even better! You don't have to buy Windows (though most computers come with it preinstalled), you don't have to buy Microsoft Office, you don't even have to buy Photoshop. In this day and age there is no excuse for using illegal software. Some (particularly charities and churches with little budget) have argued that the cost is just too much, and have justified it on that basis. But now its a different story, and there is not even any justification. In fact the sooner people stop using Pirate software and start using free or Open Source software, the sooner the price of the premium software will become affordable.

So, back to the purge.
I have a new PC. Well, an old new PC donated from work in exchange for the slightly older one I was using before. This was offered on the basis that they can't really afford to pay me overtime, and I do have to work from home occasionally. I have a Windows XP licence on the PC (for the first time).
I was recently challenged by someone to get rid of all my pirated movies, which I have now done. But I have taken the challenge as far as I can. With the clean install on my new (old) PC came the opportunity for a clean start. I backed up all my stuff, deleted from the backup drive all movies, music and software apart from that which is either free or that which I own on CD or DVD.
I now have a 100% legal computer. It feels good. I also have a rubbish bin (trash can) full of CDs and DVDs. That feels good too. Unfortunately my desk is still a mess.

For those who want to follow my example I'll post a list of the software with some guidance on what it does.