Software
There are countless blogs and sites claiming to have the best list of free and open source software all over the internet. Every single one of them claims to have the best list, the stuff you just can’t live without. The sad fact is most of them have a bunch of programs that may be useful to a select group of people, but for the average web user, most of them are simply not needed. So I thought, Why don’t I make a list of stuff that people might actually need or use and not hype it up like so many people try to do. I am not going to claim that you can’t live without any of these programs, just that you may find them useful. So here we are, I will list a category and then describe and link you to the home pages of some pretty nice useful software downloads. Please enjoy, and If you happen across any similar free programs that you find better please join us in the forum and let me know about it.
Web Browsers:
If you are still using Internet Explorer, why? There are quite a few better and safer browser options out there that are becoming ever more popular than IE. My first suggestion would be Firefox, it has been around a while and is probably become the most popular browser on the market. Google has also just released its new browser, titled Chrome. There are several others available out there including Opera, and Safari.
Instant Messaging:
Everyone knows about AOL’s instant messenger, and probably about Yahoo Messenger, and MSN Messenger, but there are also some others out there. Pidgin, formerly Gaim, is an open source messenger that allows you to use your screen names from AOL, MSN, and Yahoo messengers all in one application. Other similar programs include Trillian, and Skype
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Word Processing/Office Related:
If you have ever had to reformat your hard drive without your computers factory installed Cds and info, you know how hard it can be to get back all your programs, particularly proprietary software such as Microsoft Office. If you lose the key or disc, your pretty much out of luck. Fortunately there is a replacement out there that is free and possibly even better than Microsoft Office. I am of course referring to Open Office, a great package that includes word processing, spreadsheet, database, and presentation software. If your not looking for the whole deal and just need a good simple word processor then Abiword might be the best bet for you. Also if your looking for more in depth writing help for screenplays and novel writing, give Celtx a try.
Multimedia:
Of course most people these days use their computers for alot of different multimedia applications. You can use your computer to play music and movies, and to do this you need software that can handle your needs. Most operating systems come equipped with the basics that you will need to listen to a cd or watch a movie if you have a DVD player. If you are in need of a new DVD playing software you may want to check out VLC. If you want the best in music playing ability I would suggest giving itunes, or winamp a try. Itunes comes with another media player, Quicktime, that you can also download as a separate program. Looking for imaged on your drives, check out Picasa from google.
Creative Software:
Looking to express your creative nature. There are plenty of software applications out there to help you create things, from images to web pages. I have already mentioned Celtx, which is a usefull program if your into writing. The Gimp is a great program that is similar to Photoshop. You can manipulate and create great pictures and images. There is also Audacity, which is a program that allows you to edit and create audio files. NVU is a html editor that will assist you in creating web pages. And if you are interesting in 3d animation you should give Blender a try.
Utilities:
There are also plenty of nifty free programs out there to help you run your computer. There are anti-virus and anti-spyware programs like AVG and Ad-Aware. Of course if you are downloading any of these files that are in a compressed format, then you will also need a program like 7zip to handle those.
Of course there are many other free or open source programs out there. Many of them may be as useful as these for the general public, and many may fill very specific needs. There are great open source games like FreeCiv available. If you are looking for a more comprehensive listing of open source software check out Sourcefourge.
