Today I am going to talk about all the good open source software that I use.
Wikipedia define open source software as “Open source is an approach to the design, development, and distribution of software, offering practical accessibility to a software’s source code.”. Do not confuse this with manufacturer’s who release free software version of their commercial versions.
I have used may open source packages for while and I am very happy with them. I do get great support from the community which is really important to me. Most people see you are on a Windows platform and you can not run open source applications. That is so not true.
Applications I Use:
1. WordPress
Wordpress is a Content Management System(Cms for short) that allows you to set up a blog and web site. Currently I use WordPress to Manage 2 blogs and several web sites which I have. The software is easy to setup and use.
WordPress requires your Web hosting company to allow you to setup a Mysql database since its uses Mysql as a back end. WordPress advertises their initial setup as a 5 minute install and that is about how long it takes.
Since WordPress is open source, all kind of developers have written themes and plugins for it so it makes customizing all that much easier.
 |
| From Open Source Adds I Use |
2.0 Filezilla
Filezilla is an open source FTP(File Transfer Protocol) program. It has both a server version and a desktop client that is available for it. It has multiple versions including a Linux version and a Windows Version. I use Filezilla when I am transferring files to and from my web site usually.
 |
| From Open Source Adds I Use |
3.0 Mozilla Firefox
Firefox has become my web browser for most things I do. Recently I wrote a post explaining what I use web browsers for(insert link here). The biggest thing is that Firefox is highly customizable with all the Firefox add ins that are available. Their is an entire community of people working with the Mozila foundation to keep building this great browser.
 |
| From Open Source Adds I Use |
4.0 Sun Virtual Box
Sun Virtual Box is an offering from Sun that allows you to setup a virtual machine. This in essence lets you run another operating system as if you were running the operating system on it’s own box. I use this software a lot for setting up test environments and for running Linux as well. It works really well.
Microsoft Virtual PC is free but unfortunately lacks support for using the USB ports. Vmware has a commercial offering but is on the pricey side.
 |
| From Open Source Adds I Use |
5.0 7-ZIP
I really do not like the built Zip management in Windows xp/vista/Windows 7 RC. Winzip is a program a lot of people have turned to the years. As a result I use a great open source archive manager called 7-Zip. It works as well as WInzip and best of all it is free.
 |
| From Open Source Adds I Use |
6.0 Gimp
If you want you can go out and spend hundred’s of dollars buying Adobe Photoshop. Alternatively you can purchase Adobe Photoshop elements for about $100. I personally prefer to use an open source applications called Gimp.
The application takes a little getting used to. Their are even open source overlays to make Gimp look like photoshop if you like.
 |
| From Open Source Adds I Use |
7.0 Open Office
Open Office is the open source version of Microsoft Office. I will touch on this in a separate review in a week since I am not using Microsoft Office at home for now.
 |
| From Open Source Adds I Use |
These are some of the open source applications which I use daily. Below please find references where you can go to download each one of these.
Where to Download the Applications
1. Download WordPress Blog Software.
2. Download Filezilla FTP software.
3. Download Firefox Web Browser
4. Sun Virtual Box
5. 7-ZIP
6. Gimp
7. Open Office
In my next installment I will talk about the free software I use as well.
