I thought I’d take a moment to briefly mention a few open source alternatives to popular computer applications. The following programmes are all:
- Open source – the source code is freely available, which usually means more stable and more secure.
- Free – as in no cost and free from restriction.
- Cross-platform – they run on multiple operating systems, including Linux and Windows.
- As good as, if not better than, their proprietary counterparts.
Here is my incomplete list of the open-source software I use:
Firefox – A very popular web browser that offers a more secure, more intuitive and faster alternative to Internet Explorer.
OpenOffice.org – An entire office suite of applications for word processing, spreadsheets, presentations, databases and drawing. It uses the OpenDocument format by default and as such, it’s use is encouraged, especially in academia and governments.
Thunderbird – An email client that is a fast, secure and stable replacement for Outlook and Outlook Express, especially if you just need something light to manage your email.
Pidgin – An single instant messaging client that allows you to use all of your IM accounts at once, including IRC, MSN, Groupwise, AIM and ICQ.
Miro – An Internet TV application to subscribe to RSS feeds of free content from a host of providers, including TED, National Geographic and the Discovery Channel.
GIMP – The Gnu Image Manipulation Program. A free alternative to Photoshop that, while lacking some high end, professional features, does more than enough for most of us.
Flock – Social web browser…if you use Facebook, Flickr, Digg, or any other social networking service, this is for you.
Ubuntu – Not a software application but an entire operating system, Ubuntu is a Linux distribution based on Debian. Click here for the Wikipedia article.
Another great application to run, although once it’s set up you’ll hardly ever notice it, is BOINC (click here for the Wikipedia article). After installing the software, register with various projects and join millions of other users who donate their computer’s idle time to solving complex medical, scientific and mathematical problems. I can suggest the World Community Grid to begin with.
And while I’m at it, here’s a link to a post that discusses some of the problems with using Microsoft Word. I personally don’t mind receiving Word documents and understand that many institutions don’t give their employees a choice, but the first step is realising that you actually have a choice.