Alternatives.to NVivo

One thing that occasionally comes up is what software people should use to do certain tasks and what alternatives there are. Sometimes, I have no expertise in the area and can't do much more than do a search for them. One person approached me with a personal project and wanted to know what technology resources the school could provide him. He specifically wanted to transcribe oral interviews for a kind of research project. I him where he could access NVivo and gave him other information on other aspects of his project. He asked if there were alternatives to NVivo; I didn't know any off the top of my head, but thanks to the site alternativeto.net, I found a two or three (thanks to following links on the site) and with some more searching and reading, another two possibilities:

• ATLAS.ti is one commercial alternative
• Transana is another open source alternative that runs on Windows and OS X (Mac); it’s specifically for managing and analyzing audio and video.  
• MAXQDA is another alternative
• Dedoose – “a web-based Mixed-Methods and QDA applications, and it kicks NVivo around the block at a fraction of the price. Sign up is free and non-commital! Being a web-app their is nothing to install, updates are free forever.” A few months ago, they said they’d be bringing audio and video support online in early Q2 2011…
• HyperRESEARCH is another alternative I just read about online. 

As I haven't used either NVivo from QSR International or any of these, I'm not in a position to say how 'true' these alternatives are. I'm sure some of them do certain tasks better than the others, but I believe that choice, especially in markets, is a good thing.