25 Best Open-Source (or Freeware) Alternatives You Need To Download
Posted 10/08/08 at 06:00:00 PM by David Murphy
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Office/Productivity Applications
Now we're going to take a look at some of the top open-source and freeware office applications. We're not just talking about suites, though. Like our previous three features, we're going to run through programs that cover a wide range of activities you might encounter during a typical, nine-to-five day. Hey, maybe you'll even be able to convince your friendly IT person of choice to install these finds across a batch of computers! You'll be a hero! You'll save your company millions in licensing fees! Promotions will be thrown at your cubicle like butter on bread!
Open-source and freeware applications are just that exciting. But don't take our word for it. Check out the full list of applications below!
Open Office 3.0 (RC3)
Yes, we know. Everybody's heard of Open Office by now. But did you know that there's a new version of this wonderful, open-source office suite on the horizon? We've linked you to Release Candidate 3 of the application. Install it at your own risk, of course. But when you do decide to pull to the trigger on Open Office, get ready for a batch of upgrades and additional features that make this batch of apps just one step closer to their Microsoft Office counterparts. Create documents, spreadsheets, presentations--Open Office is the batch of applications you'll want to have if you want to get any serious work done on your PC.
Toggl
No, this isn't just some new annoying Web 2.0 application. If anything, Toggl is designed to keep you from wasting time at work. The service works like this: sign up for a free account and you can download a little widget that runs in your taskbar. You use this widget to interact with Toggle by adding projects, descriptions of what you're working on, and turning a little timer on and off. The timer keeps track of just how long you're spending on what you're doing, and even deletes time you spend away from your computer off your total "billable" hours.
So why do we like this app? Well, you can track and see if you're running ahead of (or behind) schedule on any number of projects you want. Or, for that matter, you can use the app's reporting functionality to show your boss just how hard a worker you are, 70+ hour weeks and all.
GanttProject
Scheduling projects is a drag. It's not always a task that can be done by adding appointments to your calendar tool of choice. Deadlines, back-and-forth, and all sorts of miscellaneous factors can play a big part of the schedule you're keeping. And that's why we're including GanttProject into the mix. It's an open-source variant of the popular Microsoft Project, but it's completely compatible with this retail application. You can import and export your projects to formats that are compatible with Microsoft Project, although we recommend a more drastic approach. Use this, and only this, for all your scheduling needs. Your office life just got a lot more organized.
Gimpshop is a pretty sweet
Submitted by Kimbelly on Sun, 10/25/2009 - 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
Submitted by coagulant on Wed, 11/18/2009 - 12:01am
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Submitted by ptp123 on Tue, 10/13/2009 - 1:44am
Photoshop and Image ready is the best selection application for editing in your images...
Submitted by Emad01 on Thu, 10/15/2009 - 7:30am
I think for editing images photoshop is the best software. Because photoshop make the image real after editing you cant say that this image is edited that is a big quality of it. So i think you should use photoshop.
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Submitted by Emad01 on Thu, 10/08/2009 - 10:18am
Your information is mind blowing. I like it. I will use it. Thanks for giving morw knowledge about this.
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Submitted by Zoandar on Mon, 08/31/2009 - 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?
Submitted by alexa on Wed, 05/06/2009 - 7:46am
I have to agree that Notepad++ is good, its become the bread and butter for my web coding. Aptana seems to be pretty popular lately, might have to try that one out and if it generates nice clean code, all the better!
acnee
Submitted by sdcat on Mon, 10/27/2008 - 9:57am
Is there an open-source (free) video editor like adobe premiere (element)?
Some helpful software
Submitted by d4n31sh on Tue, 11/04/2008 - 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
Submitted by b00tpwnz4ll on Fri, 10/10/2008 - 2:40pm
You guys just saved me from replacing an aging test bench's mouse and keyboard! Synergy is so full of win I can't even express it in words! Gone is the frustration of hooking into a KVM or worse yet, moving my mouse and keyboard from my main system to the latest "my computer doesn't work, can you fix it" project.
95%
Submitted by kleinkinstein on Fri, 10/10/2008 - 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
I digg liteweight, I digg bloatfree, and I digg FREE!
Submitted by enokiathemes on Tue, 09/01/2009 - 6:30pm
The greatest post .. :), I always preffer freewares or open source
Thanks
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Virtual BOX
Submitted by DiRTDOG on Thu, 10/09/2008 - 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.
Many thanks
Submitted by wk on Thu, 10/09/2008 - 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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Software
Submitted by xbarnes on Thu, 10/09/2008 - 3:42am
This is some good stuff. Why isn't it on the Max PC CD?
Submitted by Snoman on Wed, 10/08/2008 - 6:03pm
Nice. Grabbed 3 from the list that fit exactly what I needed. Thanks guys
It's a wide field...
Submitted by Cache on Wed, 10/08/2008 - 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...
Great list!
Submitted by CTskifreak on Wed, 10/08/2008 - 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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