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earthbound14

Joined: 23 Jan 2007 Location: seoul
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Posted: Wed Jul 29, 2009 4:57 pm Post subject: best open source software? |
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So I'm finally looking at loading up all the best free-ware and free (read from a torrent) on my desk top. I've been using crap programs like Explorer and i-Tunes for way too long and simply doing without if I didn't have the program, but now I'd like to make my desktop the most useful machine I can. What do you like?
So far:
Firefox: replace Explorer but I've had issue with some Korean web sites not accepting it.
Winamp: my fave audio player. I like the playlists and the auto tag editor. Not some sluggish piece of crap like i-Tunes....I'm starting to hate i-Pod just because of the software.
Songbird: to interface with my i-Pod and replace i-Tunes on my desktop. Haven't used it yet, but it looks good. If it proves good, I may get rid of Winamp.
Floola: to replace i-Tunes on my i-Pod.
Foxit Reader: to replace Acrobat Reader, comes with more features, allows me to underline and make notes on texts I need to read for school.
Gom Player: great little media player that has some great features for using subtitles. So far my fave video player.
Utorrent: my torrent program.
CutePDF: Makes PDF files from any document. Very handy when you wish to share your resume, your essays or articles or even your work for school.
I'm still looking for some good video editing, photo managing (organizing and viewing), basic audio editing...and other stuff I may not be aware of yet.
So what are your favorite programs? |
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thoreau
Joined: 21 Jun 2009
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Posted: Wed Jul 29, 2009 7:08 pm Post subject: Re: best open source software? |
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Most of the programs you mentioned are NOT open source.
Ubuntu is a great start for those wishing to live in an open source environment. By default, it only installs other open source programs (but you can over ride this option.)
Most people dont know that file types like mp3 are proprietary - so it you're listening to mp3s - your not being open source.
That being said, the follow are good open source programs:
Firefox - web browsing
GIMP - photo editing
Open Arena - First Person Shooter
Open Office - Word Processing, Spreadsheets, Presentation software
R - Statistical Analysis Package
ClamAV - Anti-virus
Rockbox - Firmware for mp3 players such as iPod
OpenWengo- Voice over IP |
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earthbound14

Joined: 23 Jan 2007 Location: seoul
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Posted: Wed Jul 29, 2009 10:29 pm Post subject: Re: best open source software? |
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thoreau wrote: |
Most of the programs you mentioned are NOT open source.
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They can all be downloaded for free, is that different from open source? |
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thoreau
Joined: 21 Jun 2009
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Posted: Wed Jul 29, 2009 11:00 pm Post subject: Re: best open source software? |
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earthbound14 wrote: |
thoreau wrote: |
Most of the programs you mentioned are NOT open source.
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They can all be downloaded for free, is that different from open source? |
Open Source means the underlying code is free to use.
http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-sw.html
Internet Explorer is free to download but the underlying code is not freely available - therefore it is not open source.
For a great documentary on open source check out:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=7707585592627775409 |
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wormholes101

Joined: 11 Mar 2003
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proustme
Joined: 13 Jun 2009 Location: Nowon-gu
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Posted: Wed Jul 29, 2009 11:25 pm Post subject: |
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I've tried OpenOffice on my computer, but it's too slow. So I use MS Word. |
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thoreau
Joined: 21 Jun 2009
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Posted: Thu Jul 30, 2009 4:45 am Post subject: |
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proustme wrote: |
I've tried OpenOffice on my computer, but it's too slow. So I use MS Word. |
I agree that OpenOffice needs to be optimized. It uses more resources that Word 2003 on my netbook. I heard some time ago that Google was helping OpenOffice to optimize their code but I don't know what came of it. |
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bassexpander
Joined: 13 Sep 2007 Location: Someplace you'd rather be.
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Posted: Thu Jul 30, 2009 6:10 am Post subject: |
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IRFanview is some of the most useful freeware I have. I use it to scan and batch resize photos. |
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