25 Best Open-Source (or Freeware) Alternatives You Need To Download
25 Best Open-Source (or Freeware) Alternatives You Need To Download
Posted 10/08/2008 at 3:00pm
| by David Murphy
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Economy got you down? No longer able to make those day-long trips to your local computer store of choice for all the latest and greatest software tools? Tired of paying top-dollar for programs that don't quite have the functionality you want? Well put away that wallet. We spent the past week showing you the best (and cheapest) software we've been able to find across different themes: graphics design, system optimization, games, and office/productivity, and have compiled our picks into this comprehensive list.
Photoshop Alternatives
Just because it doesn't come in a box doesn't mean that these titles are any less powerful than their retail counterparts. The graphics category exemplifies that fact, offering programs that are every bit as good as their hundred-dollar Adobe counterparts. But just for good measure, we threw in our favorite free Adobe graphics program too.
Gimpshop
Gimp is often mentioned as one of the top open-source photo editing applications and it's easy to see why. The program offers Photoshop-like functionality at the low-low price of zero. You can accomplish a number of the graphical tricks you're normally used to, as the program includes support for layers and masking, channel coloration adjustments, and a bevy of preset filters. Gimpshop is a variant of Gimp that ups the ante one step further by blending Photoshop's look and feel directly into the program's. It's the perfect tool if you just can't bear the thought of losing "that same ol' interface" you've grown accustomed to. It's a great program for middle-of-the-road users that just need a graphics editing application with more oomph.
Pencil
Consummate Vs! For the artist that focuses solely on the basics--the careful transformation of sketched pencil lines into a finished comic product--Pencil is the perfect application. What it lacks in graphical gusto, it makes up for in its ability to integrate Macromedia Flash-like keyframe functionality into the drawing board. Taking an illustration from the sketching, to the inking, to the coloration phase is as simple as adding in additional layers. When designing an animation, you can even select alternate camera frames and integrate sound directly into the mix. Don't let our crude attempts at art fool you: Pencil is the digital equivalent of an animator's storyboard that's as easy to use as, well, a pencil!
XnView
Feh to Windows Photo Gallery. We would gladly trade the ability to crop photos and correct red eyeballs for what XnView offers: comprehensive access to your photos' behind-the-scenes data and a wide assortment of tools for managing your growing gallery. Not only can you view your photo folders just like a common Windows Explorer thumbnail interface, but XnView lets you tag, rate, and create slideshows (even Web pages) for the photos you select. We love the ability to get tweak our photos by getting elbow-deep into their EXIF data. And like Photoshop, XnView lets you perform batch editing commands using a number of different filters. You can even zoom right to a photo's embedded GPS location via a direct link to Google Maps--way cool.
Picasa 3
Whereas XnView is more for digging deep into folders you specify, Google's Picasa 3 is an all-in-one monitoring service for your photo folders. It offers less overall editing functionality than XnView, but comes packaged in a more elegant interface with additional options for Internet-related tasks. For example, you can add geotags to your photos via Google Earth and then have Picasa 3 automatically upload your shots to a Web album, FTP site, or straight to your Blogger blog. Picasa 3 also interfaces with online shops for easy photo printing, and can turn a batch of your images into collages, movies, and screensavers. Included backup functionality helps keep your precious photographic memories safe from an errant hard drive failure, provided you select an appropriate backup locale. But our favorite feature, by far, is Picasa's ability to search through your photographs by dominant color.
Adobe Photoshop Express
Ok, we couldn't resist Adobe's lure. For the company's Web-based Photoshop (conveniently called Photoshop Express) is a phenomenal tool for touching up your art when you're on the go. Or anywhere, for that matter: the program's comprehensive-yet-simple suite of editing tools offers a wide range of basic functionality. If you want more, you can drill a little bit deeper to unlock tools like color isolation, distortions, and image enhancements. But that's not all. The online application can interface directly with your Facebook, Flickr, Photobucket and Picasa galleries. Make your edits, and Photoshop Express saves your new work directly back to its original location. The time this saves versus downloading the picture, uploading it to Photoshop Express, making the edits, saving it, and re-uploading it to a new content hose is, in a word, epic.
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February 07, 2012 at 11:35pm
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sahilgarg
September 27, 2011 at 1:07am
This article has the deep description about the gimp software,hope it would be much helpful for the visitors.
enzosparco
September 14, 2011 at 3:35am
I like the vanilla version of GIMP, as it suits my needs and dislike Photoshop, so I have not tried GIMPshop. So, I can't guarantee anything about it, but I assume that it works due to the tremendous amount of positive comments that it has gotten. This is similar to how I have never used a Mac in my life, nor do I ever intend to, but there's a lot of people out there that say that they work tremendously well, so I'm willing to take their word for it. So, this is just my little caveat about it.
henryjolano
September 15, 2011 at 8:57pm
Whereas XnView is more for digging deep into folders you specify, Google's Picasa 3 is an all-in-one monitoring service for your photo folders. It offers less overall editing functionality than XnView, but comes packaged in a more elegant interface with additional options for Internet-related tasks......
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June 22, 2011 at 7:32am
This is a nice listing of alternatives and they will come in very handy. Thanks for sharing. movie downloads
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May 31, 2011 at 4:57am
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August 18, 2011 at 1:32am
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March 28, 2011 at 8:33am
IT's always good to find a good deal on a top web design tool. It shouldn't be so expensive to edit photos well.
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bencooper
March 22, 2011 at 4:38am
I have to say I've tried a couple of these alternatives before and in particular 'Gimp' - Trying to find ways to remove the need for renewing/updating my Photoshop license and to be honest while its a powerful suite it doesn't even come close to the power of photoshop, perhaps this is because Adobe have copyrighted some of the Photoshop functions, who knows - I'll keep holding out for an alternative though!
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March 21, 2011 at 10:06pm
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January 14, 2011 at 12:06am
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irena
January 03, 2011 at 6:38am
In my opinion, Photoshop is the best, but the proce is really high. I use Gimp as alternative to Photoshop and so far, I am very satisfied with GIMP. Thanks for the list of alternatives. Irena from web hosting reviews - fatcow review
jimmy36
December 15, 2010 at 3:57pm
Tired of paying top-dollar for programs that don't quite have the functionality you want? Well put away that wallet.
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December 03, 2010 at 8:45pm
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melaleuca
January 02, 2011 at 10:41pm
Hi, WinSCP is a freeware program that allows you to modify / add / delete files from your iPhone, but it requires that the iPhone and the computer connected to the same WiFi network. Is there a combination freeware / you can do so via a USB connection? Regards, server backup
Sam Pierce
September 09, 2010 at 2:06am
Many of them i have downloded and used it, some of them were not for my purpose, but some of them were perfect and the best source is to download Open Source softwares is sourceforge.net.
Patrickmaddog
July 19, 2010 at 12:35am
Most of these are really great, but be very careful when installing SUMo. I myself barely caught this fine print which was disguised as your run of the mill EULA:
In order to provide this free download, RelevantKnowledge software, provided by TMRG, Inc., a comScore, Inc. company, is included in this download. This software allows millions of participants in an online market research community to voice their opinions by allowing their online browsing and purchasing behavior to be monitored, collected, aggregated, and once anonymized, used to generate market reports which our clients use to understand Internet trends and patterns and other market research purposes. The information which is monitored and collected includes internet usage information, basic demographic information, certain hardware, software, computer configuration and application usage information about the computer on which you install RelevantKnowledge. We may use the information that we monitor, such as name and address, to better understand your household demographics; for example, we may combine the information that you provide us with additional information from consumer data brokers and other data sources in accordance with our privacy policy. We make commercially viable efforts to automatically filter confidential personally identifiable information and to purge our databases of such information about our panelists when inadvertently collected. By clicking Accept, you acknowledge that you are 18 years of age or older, an authorized user of this computer, and that you have read, agreed to, and have obtained the consent to the terms and conditions of the Privacy Statement and User License Agreement from anyone who will be using the computer on which you install this application.
This is obvious spyware, and I can't believe the editors didn't catch it (or even mention it in the article). You may be able to opt out by clicking 'I decline', but I still don't trust it. I have come to expect more from MaxPC, and as the leader in the field of computer technology, It frightens me that you could have allowed readers of your publication, many of whom trust your judgement enough to let their guard down when you tell them something is safe, to be taken in by this scam. I feel very sorry aboutthe poor saps who went ahead with installation of this software, and who are probably still under surveillance to this day (I tested this on another computer to discover that none of my formidable arsenal of antivirus/spyware/malware programs flagged it as suspicious), and am angered that something like this could slip through your fingers. Installing the Ask.com toolbar by mistake is one thing, but this is ridiculous!
Sparx10
December 22, 2009 at 8:25pm
CCleaner = wicked. Photoshop Express = really really cool (got 98% on my school projects using it). How good is VirtualBox compared to VMware?
Edit: oh and OpenOffice is sorta blah. Only use as a last resort if your to cheap to buy MS Office.
Kimbelly
October 25, 2009 at 9:00pm
Gimpshop is a pretty sweet Photoshop alternative. I've been using it for a few months now and have really started to love it.
Kim
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October 08, 2009 at 10:18am
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Zoandar
August 31, 2009 at 7:14pm
Clicking on the XNView heading of the above article takes me to the following french website, where I don't see anything about XNView:
http://pages.perso.orange.fr/client/php/pwpErreur.php?action=403
When I tried to dowload XNView from another site it triggered a security warning from the Web of Trust Firefox Plug-In, indicating that the site cannot be trusted. Where is the best place to get a malware-clean copy of XNView?
sdcat
October 27, 2008 at 9:57am
Is there an open-source (free) video editor like adobe premiere (element)?
d4n31sh
November 04, 2008 at 1:51pm
If you go to wikipedia and search Ubuntu Studio, they have a small list of video software. I have never actually used any of it, but hopefully it may be able to help you. Cheers,
-Dane
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October 10, 2008 at 2:40pm
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April 23, 2010 at 12:57am
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November 26, 2010 at 3:21am
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kleinkinstein
October 10, 2008 at 6:05am
I'm nearly 95% opensource and freeware. My favs are:
- 7-Zip 4.60
- Audacity 1.3.5
- AVG Antivirus Free 8.173.a1373
- Belarc Advisor 7.2.24.8
- CCleaner 2.12.660
- CDBurnerXP 4.2.2.984
- ClamWin 0.94
- Comodo Firewall 3/0.25.378
- DAEMON Tools 4.30.1
- DVD Decrypter 3.5.4.0
- DVD Shrink 3.2.0.15
- EverNote 3.0.0.842
- Exact Audio Copy 0.99 beta 4
- FileZilla 3.1.4
- Firebird 2.1.1
- Flac 1.2.1b
- Foobar2000 0.9.5.6
- Foxit Reader 2.3.3309
- GimpShop
- Gmail Drive 1.0.13
- Hamachi 1.0.3.0
- HandBrake 0.9.2
- jk-Defrag 3.36
- Keepass 1.11
- Lame 3.98.2
- Lexun Backup 2.1
- Lexun RegScrubXP 3.25
- MediaMonkey 3.05.1187
- Microsoft Defender 1.1.1593
- Miro 1.2.7
- Money Manage Ex 0.9.2.0
- Mozilla Firefox 3.03
- Mozilla Thunderbird 2.0.0.17
- nLite 1.4.9.1
- NovaPDF 5.5.271
- Ogg Vorbis 2.85
- OpenContacts 5.1.1.566
- OpenOffice 3.0.0
- Parted Magic 3.0
- Pidgin 2.5.1
- Recuva 1.19.350
- Revo Uninstaller 1.75
- RipIt4Me 1.7.1.0
- RivaTuner 2.11
- Save2PC 3.37
- Skype 4.0.0.166
- SpeedFac 4.35
- Stellarium 0.10.0
- SyncBack 3.2.19
- The Gimp 2.6.0
- ThreatFire 3.5.0.21
- TreedbNotes 3.36.005
- VLC Media Player 0.9.4
- vLite 1.2
- WinRAR 3.80
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enokiathemes
September 01, 2009 at 6:30pm
The greatest post .. :), I always preffer freewares or open source
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DiRTDOG
October 09, 2008 at 6:46am
Just tried virtual box and it doesnt support 64bit OS. I wish I could find one that works...
thanks for the list though.
wk
October 09, 2008 at 6:29am
Excellent article. keep up the good work.
Open source softwares represent the good will in this world.
Good job to add revo uninstaller to the list, i think its a must have software for every PC.
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Snoman
October 08, 2008 at 6:03pm
Nice. Grabbed 3 from the list that fit exactly what I needed. Thanks guys
Cache
October 08, 2008 at 5:12pm
There's a ton of choices, and in general I can understand missing a few golden nuggets when you have to start calling numbers. CCleaner is a 'must have' no matter what kind of PC is running.
However, not including any DVD-writing programs is just plain mean. Unless, of course, you spend the majority of your time burning CD backups because you don't believe in large ...er... media files. A nice FLV player would have helped too, since it's easier to save the ones we love rather than assume that YouTube will always be a repository for our favorite opening songs of antiquated 1970's cartoons...
CTskifreak
October 08, 2008 at 4:39pm
I love CCleaner. I forgot how I found it, but it works wonders. I've had it for a while now. Only program I would have added would be Unlocker. I had this truly stubborn file on Vista that wouldn't delete, and it worked it's magic and it was able to be deleted.
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