Open source Windows
Open source software is synonymous, for most PC users, with the Linux operating system. The community-developed free operating system naturally seems the best place for other open source applications. The truth is, however, that there are literally thousands of open source applications that can run on Microsoft’s Windows operating system, so there is no need to dump Windows to enjoy some of the benefits of open source software. The same is true of Mac OS X for which there are many great open source applications. We take a look at some of the best.
Illustration: Inkscape
Not all of us are full time graphic artists. So, as fantastic as Adobe’s Illustrator is, its price tag is overkill if all you want to do is make up simple vector graphics for your website. This is not to say that Inkscape is simplistic. It has enough features to impress most illustrators but is simple enough to be used by even the less experienced illustrator. And with a price tag of zero it is a great alternative for desktop drawing.
Image editing: GIMP
Much has been said about the Gimp. It is a Photoshop clone that runs on most platforms and is great for editing photos, deep-etching and the like. The one drawback to Gimp has always been that it doesn’t do CMYK output, which is a big hurdle if you’re a print publisher, but aside from that Gimp does a whole lot more than most users will ever need. And it supports countless formats, does full layering as well as text control.
Image editing: Paint.net
Originally started as a free alternative to Microsoft’s Paint application, the latest version of this application is exceptionally powerful and a good alternative to the likes of Photoshop. The core application, which can be extended through plugins, offers layer control, unlimited undos, special effects and a large collection of editing tools. The download of the core Paint.net files is just over 1.5MB in size. The one drawback for real open source fans is that Paint.net is not entirely open source software, with some limitations on its use. But the source code is available.
Multimedia: VLC
Looking for a video player that can play just about every imaginable media format? Then look no further than VLC. This is one of the best tools around for video playback. VLC can play, among others, MPEG-1, MPEG-2, MPEG-4, DivX, mp3, and ogg format files as well as DVDs, VCDs, and various streaming protocols. VLC can also be used to stream media across a network.
Audio editing: Audacity
Audacity is an open source application for recording and editing audio. It is available for Mac OS X, Microsoft Windows, Linux and other operating systems. Audacity can record sounds, play sounds, and import and export audio files in a range of formats. Editing includes multiple undos, mixing, applying effects as well as more advanced analysing tools. There are a range of built-in effects as well as many plugins.
Instant messaging: Pidgin
Instant messaging is one of the more popular methods of communication on the Web. So you need an IM client that supports as many protocols and networks as possible. Pidgin, which used to be called Gaim, is one such tool. The list of networks Pidgin supports is pretty long and includes the likes of AIM, Google Talk, Groupwise, ICQ, XMPP and Yahoo!. Pidgin is clean and makes it easy to manage multiple networks.
If you’re looking for a free quality email client then consider Thunderbird. It is from the Mozilla people, makers of Firefox, so you have an idea of what to expect. Thunderbird runs on just about any platform, supports POP and IMAP email, has a great tagging facility for managing your email, a built-in RSS reader and built-in warnings of potential scams hitting your email inbox. The nice thing about Firefox is that it runs on all popular platforms so if you have multiple machines it can be used on all which means you don’t have to make a mental switch every time you change mail clients. And because it is built in the same way Firefox is, Thunderbird has a good collection of extensions that enhance its capabilities.
We all need to keep our finances in order. But paying a whole lot of money for an application to do this doesn’t always make sense. So, if you’re watching your budget and need a financial application then take a look at GnuCash. The free money application is simple to use and also supports most popular financial formats. And that includes the ability to import Quicken .qif files to make migration as simple as possible. GnuCash is a full featured double-entry accounting system that can be used for everything from running the household budget to keeping the finances of a small business in check.
Accounting: Turbocash
TurboCash is an accounting application from South Africa. TurboCash has always been available on Windows and recently became available for Linux. The application is aimed at the single user up to the small- and medium-sized business. TurboCash is a full featured accounting application that is already available in more than 20 languages, can handle multiple accounts and books, and includes stock control for small businesses. There are good instructions on getting it running under Linux on the wiki and downloads from Sourceforge.
Finally, the big one. Most people probably already know of Firefox even if they don’t yet run it. Firefox is one of the success stories of the open source world. From origins in the original Netscape code, Mozilla created Firefox, the browser that changed much of the way we think about browsers. Instead of the all-in-one approach of early Netscape editions, Firefox introduced the world to the idea of a slimline base package that could be extended in every which way possible. It also made popular the now ubiquitous tabbed browsing interface that most users could not live without. It may not be as popular as Internet Explorer yet but it is among the best open source software around.
It’s hard not to mention OpenOffice.org which has pretty much everything the average user could expect from a desktop office suite. And perhaps a lot that most users don’t need. It includes a word processor, spreadsheet, presentation tool, a graphics application and, now, even an Access database application replacement. For most users OpenOffice.org is a relatively easy replacement for something like Microsoft Office, because it both opens and writes documents in the .doc, .ppt and .xls format. And OpenOffice.org 3.0 also includes support for opening documents in the .docx format, the new format in recent Microsoft Office releases.
Juice was one of the first pieces of “podcatching” software which can be used to manage and automatically download your favourite podcasts. Available for both Windows and Mac OSX, Juice ships with a huge directory of available podcasts and makes it easy to add new ones to its growing list. Juice also syncs with a range of MP3 players. Juice is released under the GPL – the most popular open source licence – but doesn’t yet have a Linux version available, although that is supposedly already in development.
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