Chances are you're already using Open Source software without even knowing. How is this possible? You're online, right now. As of January,
Apache webserver is the backbone 73.17% of the world's websites. The cost of this amazing bit of software? Nothing. Zip, zilch, nada. It's Open Source.This just goes to prove that you don't always get what you pay for.
The internet abounds with free software, it has for years. Terms like freeware, shareware, and careware are familiar to most net-hounds. When you download freeware, the license agreement typically says something to the effect of "free for personal or non-commercial use". There might be a pop-up that says "click here to buy a feature rich version", or possibly some ads floating around. Freeware is free from a cost perspective, but there are restrictions on what you are 'allowed' to do with it.
Open Source, while not exactly new, is a little bit different. One of the best descriptions of the spirit of Open Source is from the GNU Operating System webpage.
Free software is a matter of liberty, not price. To understand the concept, you should think of free as in free speech, not as in free beer.
Open Source software is not always cost-free. A lot of it is, but not all. You might have heard of a little piece of Open Source software called RedHat Linux, the one available in a box for a price at your local electronics store. Open Source software is free in terms of freedom of use. Once you have it, it's yours to do with as you see fit. Want it for commercial use? No problem! Want to burn copies to CDs and give them out as birthday gifts for 50 of your closest friends? Go ahead, it's yours to do with as you see fit. Want to burn it to CDs and sell them at 5 bucks a pop? Feel free! As long as everyone who gets your software gets the same rights you did, it's all good.
The other perk of Open Source software, though not of interest to the bulk of the public, is that the source code creating the program is made publicly available. Hence the name Open Source... When the source code is available, a knowledgeable programmer can add to a piece of software, making it do exactly what is needed, rather than having to be satisfied with 'close enough'.
Even the average software user can take advantage of this capability, though. Most Open Source software has some sort of active online presence where users and developers can discuss bugs, fixes, and feature requests. They offer ways for you as a consumer to get involved in making the software you use better. Can you imagine being a member of a web group and asking Microsoft® developers for a particular feature in the next release? Right...
So, are you excited yet? More importantly, are you wondering where to go to get started? Below are the Open Source programs I have installed on my thumb drive, home computer, work computer and/or laptop.
Office Suites, Text Editors, Productivity
Boy, where to begin with this one?!? I'll give you my three main kudos for this program, and then I'll leave the rest up to you.
1. OpenOffice opens existing Word®, Excel®, and PowerPoint® files with no problem, and gives you the option to save files in OpenOffice or Microsoft® proprietary formats. Translation: You can still use your old files, and everyone else can still use your new files.
2. This office suite natively supports PDF creation. Translation: You can make your own PDFs from your own documents, without using a plugin, installing a printer driver, or having to buy Adobe Acrobat® (MSRP US$449)
1. I'm formatting a book for a friend of mine for small-run publishing. This book is over 3 megs when saved as a Word document. When saved in the OpenOffice native format, it's less than half a meg in size...
Please note that Keynote is no longer being actively supported by its creator. With that said, it's still a nifty, useful piece of software. It is what's called tree-based noting software, which is hard to describe without actually showing it to you. Imagine typing recipes, calls to return tomorrow at work, a grocery list, your favorite websites, and a poem, all on different sheets of paper. Now imagine you're filing these: there could be a folder for work, a folder for homelife, and a folder for personal interests. Lastly, imagine putting them into one filing cabinate labeled "ME". This is kinda what Keynote does: creates one file on your computer (like the filing cabinate) that can contain multiple notes (like the folders) that can contain multiple nodes (like the sheets of paper holding different information). Since it's all written onto one file on your computer, the information always stays together and can be re-organized as you see fit. And yes, you can create more than one file if you want or need to!
This is what I use as my checkbook register. I don't particularly like how the budgeting functionality works, but I like the flexibility it offers with regards to categories. It can import CSV and QIF files, and can export CSV and HTML files.
This is another text editor, but this one is specifically for coding. It allows project creation (to keep like bits of code together) and automatic code syntax highlighting (even for COBOL, Fortran and Assembly!). Neat software for the geeks among us.
Photos, Image Editing
I've used Photoshop and Paint Shop Pro (when it was Jasc, before Corel got their hands on it!), and I'm still pleased with what GIMP offers. Especially when you compare the pricing structure. Be forwarned, though, that The GIMP is intended for relatively intensive image editing. If all you need is to resize your photos and remove some red-eye, this might be a bit overkill. Like shooting a squirrel with an AK47 would be considered 'overkill'.
Adobe Photoshop Lightroom® US $199*
Adobe Photoshop CS2® US $1199
Paint Shop Pro Photo XI® Full (197 MB) - Download $79.99
The GIMP: Free
Utilities
Not OpenSource, but a great piece of freeware and the easiest data synchronizer I've seen! Per their website "A single user license for SyncBackSE covers its use on up to 5 computers for personal use. If you also intend to use SyncBackSE to process business related data on a separate computer, then you should buy a second license."
A nice little zip/unzip utility. Works with zips, jars, tars, gzs, cabs, etc. If all you recognized was 'zips', don't worry: it'll do exactly what you need it to!
This is the cleanest Open Source synchronizer I've been able to find. By 'clean' I mean the interface is nice, I'm in no way referencing viruses of any sort. It runs using Java, so it doesn't actually install itself on your computer, which is nice. I don't find it as intuitive as SyncBack, but it also doesn't have the same 'freeware' restrictions.
Internet, Email, Calendar
I'm not going to go into too much detail on these because I think they might be a little more widely known. For those that aren't familiar with some or all of these products, Mozilla offers software for email, calendar, FTP, and internet browsing. They are separate downloads and work independently, so you can pick and choose as you like.
Or, try a 'sampler pack' of sorts! Portable Apps offers a suite of popular OpenSource programs as a single download (including many listed above). This package is designed to run on thumb drives, so the software it offers is compact. The trade-off is that, since it is slightly stripped-down in order to make it smaller, you get fewer of the bells and whistles for in programs than you would if you downloaded the full-sized versions.
Believe me, this list is in no way exhaustive: there are literally tens of thousands of Open Source projects available online. If you have an idea of the type of software you're looking for, here are some common Open Source repositories.
February 5th, 2007 at 10:04 pm 1170713082
February 5th, 2007 at 10:10 pm 1170713437
We also have free anti-spyware and anti-virus - I am not sure all the details.
We got all the fancy photoshop because dh needs it for his work AND we got it for $20 from a friend who worked at Adobe. He is coming up on wanting to upgrade his video suite with Adobe, BUT just found out you can get some REALLY good student discounts if you have a child OR because his mom is a teacher. Ding ding ding. Just another tip!!!! (We were really mourning the loss of our insane discount since my frined moved on from Adobe - bummer...)
February 6th, 2007 at 10:00 am 1170756032
February 6th, 2007 at 03:35 pm 1170776136
February 6th, 2007 at 04:02 pm 1170777763
robin/ray: you got me thinking, and i might do a separate post on software for the 'everyman' so to speak. things that would be useful and appeal to the more general public... hmmmm...
February 6th, 2007 at 05:42 pm 1170783750
I've been a fan of open-source since um... 1995 I think.
However, I somehow ended up using Macs for their video editing software... for a home business at the time.
Since then though, I've been yearning to go back... especially since (desktop) Linux/BSD applications has matured quite a bit and Apple software costs without student discount.... Ubuntu and BSD ranks very highly amongst the next OSes that I'd like to try. Anything but Windows basically.
However, even going back means buying at least a new-to-me computer, and currently, I'm not able to justify the need to do that just yet.
February 6th, 2007 at 07:15 pm 1170789344
freshmeat's current offerings by Operating System
BeOS (201 projects)
MacOS (324 projects)
MacOS X (3051 projects)
Microsoft (6980 projects)
OS Independent (9038 projects)
OS/2 (166 projects)
Other OS (238 projects)
PalmOS (234 projects)
POSIX (24872 projects)
SymbianOS (69 projects)
Unix (3828 projects)
February 7th, 2007 at 02:08 am 1170814087
Woah... WOAH!
I'm a HUGE, HUGE BeOS fan! I actually bought a copy of 4.5 when it first came out! (That and OS/2 when it first came out. I remember getting a free bag back then, but that's beside the point.)
In fact, I've even installed BeOS on the old computer to see if that will work for my mom. Unfortunately, the version that I have doesn't detect the graphics card nor does it support wireless.
Oh well. Anyways... right now, Damn Small Linux is working the best so far, and if I can just get it to recognize a wireless card, I'll be golden.
February 8th, 2007 at 08:18 pm 1170965914
" fear the penguin"
February 8th, 2007 at 09:16 pm 1170969409
February 9th, 2007 at 02:13 am 1170987206
...for what that's worth.