Open Source Applications

Compilations
Desktop
Web based
Operating Systems

This is just a small sampling of the vast number of open source projects that are available. For a more comprehensive listing, check out SourceForge (quality not guarenteed), or the O'Reilly Open Source Directory (stable release quality applications).

Compilations / open source Install Tools

TheOpenCD
This is the place to start if you are looking for OSS to run on Windows!
"TheOpenCD is a collection of high quality Free and Open Source Software. The programs run in Windows and cover the most common tasks such as word processing, presentations, e-mail, web browsing, web design, and image manipulation. We include only the highest quality programs, which have been carefully tested for stability and which we consider appropriate for a wide audience." Includes such programs as GIMP, AbiWord, OpenOffice, PDFCreator, Mozilla, 7-Zip and many more.
Fink
Wonderful tool for users of Mac OS X to install *NIX utilities.
"The Fink project wants to bring the full world of Unix Open Source software to Darwin and Mac OS X. We modify Unix software so that it compiles and runs on Mac OS X ("port" it) and make it available for download as a coherent distribution. Fink uses Debian tools like dpkg and apt-get to provide powerful binary package management. You can choose whether you want to download precompiled binary packages or build everything from source." Currently over 3700 packages.
The K12LTSP Windows companion CD
"k12wincd provides a CD image of software that parents may wish to install for their children that go to a school using K12LTSP. This CD can be thought of as a take home companion CD for students using Windows at home, but k12 linux at school."

Desktop Applications

Note that many of these applications are available through Fink or TheOpenCD, which make installing these applications much easier. Here we will only list the top applications in each category, and will avoid listing applications for *nix for the most part, since they are usually bundled with the distribution anyway.

Internet tools
- Web Browsing
  - Mozilla (all platforms) - also does email
    See the Mozilla Add-ons page for increased functionality
- Email
  - Mozilla (multi-platform) - also does web browsing
  - Novell Evolution (Linux/Solaris)
- FTP (file transfer protocol)
  - CyberDuck (Mac OS X)
  - FileZilla (Windows)
Graphics
- Blender (multi-platform)
  "Blender is the first and only fully integrated 3D graphics creation suite allowing modeling, animation, rendering, post-production, realtime interactive 3D and game creation and playback with cross-platform compatibility - all in one tidy, easily and free downloadable package!"
- The GIMP (multi-platform)
  "The GIMP is the GNU Image Manipulation Program. It is a freely distributed piece of software for such tasks as photo retouching, image composition and image authoring. It works on many operating systems, in many languages."
- QCad (multi-platform)
  "QCad is an application for computer aided drafting in two dimensions. With QCad you can create technical drawings such as plans for buildings, interiors or mechanical parts. QCad works under Linux, Unix Systems, Mac OS X and Windows. The source code of QCad is released under the GPL (Open Source)." Free if you compile the source code yourself on a non-Windows platform.
Office productivity
- OpenOffice (multi-platform)
  The mission statement of the OpenOffice project is "To create, as a community, the leading international office suite that will run on all major platforms and provide access to all functionality and data through open-component based APIs and an XML-based file format." A great Microsoft Office replacement.
- AbiWord (multi-platform)
  Microsoft Word replacement.
Disk utilities
- 7-Zip (Windows)
  Win-Zip replacement, lets you compress and uncompress files in a variety of formats.
Emulators
- Bochs (multi-platform)
  "Bochs is a highly portable open source IA-32 (x86) PC emulator written in C++, that runs on most popular platforms."
- Cygwin (Windows)
  "Cygwin is a Linux-like environment for Windows."
- WINE (multi-platform)
  "Wine is an Open Source implementation of the Windows API on top of X and Unix. Think of Wine as a Windows compatibility layer. Wine does not require Microsoft Windows, as it is a completely alternative implementation consisting of 100% Microsoft-free code, but it can optionally use native system DLLs if they are available."
Server utilities
- Apache (multi-platform)
  "The Apache HTTP Server Project is an effort to develop and maintain an open-source HTTP server for modern operating systems including UNIX and Windows NT. The goal of this project is to provide a secure, efficient and extensible server that provides HTTP services in sync with the current HTTP standards. Apache has been the most popular web server on the Internet since April of 1996."
- MySQL (multi-platform)
  "The MySQL database server is the world's most popular open source database. With more than five million active installations, MySQL has quickly become the core of many high-volume, business-critical applications."
- PHP (multi-platform)
  "PHP is a widely-used general-purpose scripting language that is especially suited for Web development and can be embedded into HTML."
- Webalizer (multi-platform)
  "The Webalizer is a fast, free web server log file analysis program. It produces highly detailed, easily configurable usage reports in HTML format, for viewing with a standard web browser."

Web Based Open Source Applications

OpenBiblio
"OpenBiblio is an easy to use, open source, automated library system written in PHP containing OPAC, circulation, cataloguing, and staff administration functionality. The purpose of this project is to provide a cost effective library automation solution for private collections, clubs, churches, schools, or public libraries."
OpenSourceCMS
"This site was created with one goal in mind. To give you the opportunity to "try out" some of the best php/mysql based free and open source software systems in the world. You are welcome to be the administrator of any site here, allowing you to decide which system best suits your needs."
WordPress
"WordPress is a state-of-the-art semantic personal publishing platform with a focus on aesthetics, web standards, and usability. What a mouthful. More simply, Wordpress is what you use when you want to work with your software, not fight it." Highly recommended weblog tool.
e-Tutor: Open Source Online Course Tools (University of Ottawa)
"e-Tutor is a suite of open source online course tools. The individual pieces are very simple to configure and use. They do not require any special hardware. Current releases run under Linux and come in two flavours. The first is a simple single-course Perl course submission tool. The second is a PHP/MySQL version that is intended for site-wide installation. It can handle multiple instructors and multiple courses, and is geared towards expandability."
DSpace (MIT)
"DSpace is a groundbreaking digital institutional repository that captures, stores, indexes, preserves, and redistributes the intellectual output of a university’s research faculty in digital formats."

Operating Systems

You may want to read a short comparison of the three Linux distributions listed below , or a longer (though slightly older) comparison of a larger number of distributions. There is also an About.com page that has a fair bit of useful information on choosing a suitable Linux distribution.

Mandrake Linux
Free Linux distribution.
"Mandrakelinux is a friendly Linux Operating System which specializes in ease-of-use for both servers and the home/office. It is freely available in many languages throughout the world."
Red Hat Linux (also see the education program page)
Linux distribution available for a fee.
"What began as a better way to build software--openness, transparency, collaboration--soon shifted the balance of power in an entire industry. The revolution continues. Today Red Hat is the world's most trusted provider of Linux and open source technology."
SUSE Linux (also see the education program page)
Linux distribution available for a fee.
" Established in 1992, SUSE LINUX is one of the world's leading providers of Linux software and services. With the largest dedicated Linux research and development team, SUSE delivers enterprise-ready software and services that harness the innovation, speed-to-market and independence of the open source community."

Live Cd's (Linux example distrubutions)

Listing of a large number of Live CD's
In essence, Live CD's allow you to have a bootable copy of a linux distribution contained entirely on a CD-ROM. This allows you to examine the pros and cons of a distribution without having to install it onto your hard drive.
Freeduc-cd, a live-cd for education
"We have build a live Freeduc system on CD-ROM which doesn't need any installation to be used. From the user point of view the system use XFCE and the applications are available from various drawers. The idea of the live Freeduc system on CD-ROM is to let the end user - mainly teachers - to easily access the free education application. From a technical point of view, it is based on KNOPPIX/Debian, this gives us the possibility to easily add and to package additional software."
SLAX
"SLAX is a small bootable CD containing the Linux operating system. It runs Linux directly from the CD without installing. The Live CD described here is based on the Slackware GNU Linux distribution and is downloadable from this website as an ISO image. All scripts and source code are available and can be used to build your own Live CD."

Making Use of Older Computers (Thin Clients)

Linux Terminal Server Project
"LTSP is an add-on package for Linux that allows you to connect lots of low-powered thin client terminals to a Linux server. Applications typically run on the server, and accept input and display their output on the thin client display."