Steal this blog [post]

The best things in life are free. Sixties activist and rogue, Abbie Hoffman, outlined how to get most of them in his 1971 “survival manual” Steal this Book. It’s the only book I know of that begins with a Table of Discontents.

What fascinates me about Hoffman’s book is that the means of communication he advocated stealing--the radio and television airwaves, among others--are today essentially free. Anyone with access to a computer also potentially has access to the largest audience in the history of the world. 

A co-worker asked the provocative next question: If “The Man” is no longer in control of the message, how will Internet users who wield disproportionate power evolve? Will they become “The Man”?

Share these resources with your comrades. They’re all free:

1. Download a free trial of Office 2007. Think of the impact you could make in 60 days.

2. Thousands of free templates. Never, ever start a document from scratch if you can start with a pre-formatted template from the Office templates collection. Lots of community-submitted content up there, too. If you’re revolutionizing the world with your non-profit work, you might be interested in the non-profit template collections.

3. Who doesn’t need free document storage? With Office Live Workspaces, you can save more than 10,000 files in one online location, access those files from almost anywhere, open and save documents directly from Word, Excel, and PowerPoint, and control who views and edits your files.

4. Free help for Office products. Our help content is the next best thing to a phone call:  Articles by product and product version, video demos, training courses, and podcast series you can view from your desktop or your mobile device, all free for the taking.

5. Dozens of free downloads. Also available by product, you’ll find free add-ins or other downloadable content that I’ll bet you didn’t know about. One customer favorite is a command reference that maps Word 2003 commands to the new Ribbon commands in Word 2007.

6. Free art saves lives. Stunning clip art has saved more than one presentation, and who can argue with free? The clip art team even posts to a clip art and media blog filled with demos and tips.

7. Free resume posting. Whether you’re looking for a job or looking for an employee, the career center powered by monster.com provides many free resources for your job or employee search.

Steal this blog post … you know you want to. Or, tell me: who is “The Man”?

--leslie