Starting today, UF students and faculty can get their laptops equipped and patched up with software and anti-virus programs for free.
Free Your PC event staff will service computers at tables set up from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Reitz Union Colonnade on Tuesday and Thursday, and they will be on the Plaza of the Americas Wednesday. Other software such as Firefox, Open Office and Thunderbird will be offered to passers-by for installation.
Each semester for more than four years, Florida Free Culture, a student group at UF, organizes the Free Your PC event to educate people about open-source software, said Mark Sisley, president of the group.
Anyone can contribute to the open-source software, allowing better ideas to emerge, and it's much cheaper than manufactured software that can't be altered, he said.
"Sometimes a community can create software much better than a company," said Sisley, adding that he thought buying an overly expensive Microsoft Office is pointless when you can get a better Open Office for free.
FFC member Jordon Kalilich said anti-virus software McAfee is provided by UF.
"UF offers software for free to students," Kalilich said. "It's just a lot of people don't know about it."
