Tips: Get More Mileage From Open Source Software

If you've seen some of my earlier posts on open source software, you'll see I'm a big fan. I encourage everyone to look for open-source alternatives to the sometimes ridiculously expensive paid software out there. It's not because I'm cheap (I prefer frugal anyway), but because I prefer to have my opinions and feedback considered as a user (an area that's sorely lacking with most paid software customer support).
In the spirit of being helpful, here are a few tips to get some major mileage out of that open source software you're thinking of installing.

Explore
Before you actually decide to download and install, you should do your homework. You would definitely do this for software you're going to pay for, so there's no reason not to inform yourself. Is it useful to you? What can you do with it? How does it work? Asking these questions of open source is important for productivity, but also ensures you don't install a bunch of software that's just going to take up space. It's also important to explore because open source is usually more feature-rich than paid, and may be more efficient to use. Once you've installed it, look through it again to see what features you missed before, and learn how to use them.

Use the Community
Your new open source software comes with a community of developers (who actually write and code the software), testers, and users like you. I've noticed that these open source communities are usually much more active, involved, and centralized than their paid software counterparts. Explore these communities, ask questions and make suggestions.

Update Regularly
Unlike paid license software, which commonly languishes for months and months before issuing significant updates/service packs, open source updates more often with more significant improvements. Take advantage of this, and check on a regular basis (you'll get to know the usual pace once you've used it for a while).

Spread the Word
Are you really loving that open source application? Talk about it, tell your friends, co-workers, family. Chances are they don't know about it, so spill the beans...most people will appreciate the fact that you shared such a good thing with them.