Thank You, Open-Source! You Rock!

Jan 2, 2008

Next in the Thank You! series, I would like to all the millions of developers who volunteer for these amazing Open-Source projects, which I’ve used over the years. Not only that the whole Open-Source initiative deserves a cheer from all of us! Anyway, here are the open-source software which I’ve used and their reviews :

1. Gimp (Gimp Review) : Gimp has been the best image editor which is tad close to Photoshop. No matter how much people say but I’ll say that it’s not the best if Photoshop is in the line, but if we check free alternatives then there is no comparison to Gimp.

Here’s the list of 40 + plugins of Gimp – A great list compiled by an excellent blogger and my friend Sumesh.

2. Pidgin (Pidgin Review) : This is my second favorite multi-messenger software. The first one being Kopete but I’ve kept Pidgin in the list and not Kopete because it is only available for Linux but Pidgin runs on almost every platform.

Here’s the Purple Pack of plugins for Pidgin – A must have for all Pidgin users.

3. Mozilla Firefox (Firefox Review) : Well, I guess my thank you series is still not over for this great browser. Here’s what I think about Firefox.

4. Mozilla Thunderbird (Thunderbird Review) : When it comes to emails, the two software hit my mind straight away one is Mozilla Thunderbird and Evolution (there is a windows version of Evolution too but unfortunately, it doesn’t justify’s evolutions name in Windows.).

5. OpenOffice.org (OpenOffice review) : Undoubtedly, the free and best office application. It’s a perfect alternative for MS-Office. Nothing more can be said about it.

6. AudaCity (Audacity review) : A great software which can record sounds and lets you play around with them and do mixing too.

7. Inkscape (InkScape Review) : Mahesh will vouch this software at any given day when it comes to vectors. I’ll not say much about it because undoubtedly this is best and free when it comes to Vector graphics.

8. FileZilla (FileZilla Review) : Another favorite software of mine. It helps me tremendously when it comes to managing the files on FTP. I can’t think of any better alternative to this software.

9. TrueCrypt (TrueCrypt Review) : Another must have, when it comes to securing the important files. I’ll say that go and download it right away!

10. MusikCube (MusikCube Review): I fell in love with this software right from the word go and I’ve been using it from long time now. I always switch between Winamp and MusikCube as Winamp is still my first love.

11. VLC Player (VLC player review): If MusikCube is for audio, then VLC is definitely a must have when it comes to playing videos. Brilliant set of features and plays almost every available format. It’s a great compliment to K-Lite Media codecs.

Well, so this was the list of Open-Source software which help me in everyday computing. I live the computers with them. Thank you open-source!

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