Whenever it is possible, I prefer to use open source software. You may not know it; but there is a host of open source applications that make excellent alternatives to commercial software. The other good thing about open source software, is that it is almost always free (as in it does not have a price tag). This blog post is written to offer one or two alternatives to common commercial software or applications that come with Windows.
Internet Explorer (web browser)
- Open Source Alternative: Mozilla Firefox
Microsoft Outlook (e-mail client)
- Open Source Alternative: Mozilla Thunderbird
Windows Calendar
- Open Source Alternative: Mozilla Sunbird
Windows Media Player (multimedia player: music, videos, DVDs)
- Open Source Alternative: VLC Media Player
- Open Source Alternative: Miro
Windows Messenger (chat client)
- Open Source Alternative: Pidgin
Microsoft Office (office suite: word processor, spreadsheet, presentation)
- Open Source Alternative: OpenOffice
Microsoft Paint
- Open Source Alternative: Paint.NET
Notepad (plain text editor)
WordPad (rich text editor)
- Open Source Alternative: AbiWord
WinZip (archive manager)
- Open Source Alternative: 7-Zip
Sound Recorder (records audio files from sound input)
- Open Source Alternative: Audacity (a little more complicated, but a great alternative)
Adobe Reader (PDF reader)
- Open Source Alternative: Sumatra PDF Viewer
Adobe Photoshop (advanced graphics editing)
- Open Source Alternative: The GIMP
Microsoft Windows (operating system)
- Open Source Alternative: Ubuntu Linux
This is just a basic list of common software applications that the everyday user could enjoy. I couldn’t possibly highlight every open source application available. However, if you are interested in seeing a more thorough list of open source software, please visit the following websites.
If you have any other open source alternatives, please feel free to put them in the comment section below.
Get fed!
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