Great Free Open Source software

mike_paterson

I couldn't see that this had been posted before, but there is a really great source of free open source software available at http://sourceforge.net/
Software for all sorts of applications :

Communications (11124 projects)
Database (4623 projects)
Desktop Environment (2414 projects)
Education (2389 projects)
Formats and Protocols (134 projects)
Games/Entertainment (10430 projects)
Internet (18150 projects)
Multimedia (9288 projects)
Office/Business (3853 projects)
Other/Nonlisted Topic (1819 projects)
Printing (349 projects)
Religion and Philosophy (216 projects)
Scientific/Engineering (7363 projects)
Security (1994 projects)
Sociology (290 projects)
Software Development (12979 projects)
System (14647 projects)
Terminals (461 projects)
Text Editors (2053 projects)

Enjoy
Mike

seth

Thanks for that post, there is a great deal of free open source software for most platforms.

Windows and Mac users can use Open Office .ORG http://www.openoffice.org/ a suite of program that are comprable to Microsoft Office.

It you want a dedicates firewall with VPN, wireless etc. IPCop is a good option, it needs a dedicated PC. I just use old PCs from skips. It will log web access, protect your home network and improve browsing speed. http://www.ipcop.org/ Fully managaged via a web interface.

It you want a full blow mail, file, print server with support for Windows, and Mac SME server is worth considering. Needs a dedicated PC, will wipe ALL DATA on hard disk. I used an old PC and stuffed a large hard disk in it. Fully managaged via a web interface.

Home page
http://contribs.org/modules/news/
Screenshots
http://contribs.org/modules/xoopsgallery/
Download
http://contribs.org/modules/phpwiki/index.php?Downloads

sra

great idea to point out souceforge

But sourceforge isn't the most user friendly site. Worth suggesting that people don't give up - if you see some software there a websearch will often find a helpful guide written by someone else

Ampalian

another great resource is https://www.hotscripts.com

Lots are free, but not all.

blinky

seth wrote:

It you want a full blow mail, file, print server with support for Windows, and Mac SME server is worth considering. Needs a dedicated PC, will wipe ALL DATA on hard disk. I used an old PC and stuffed a large hard disk in it. Fully managaged via a web interface.

Home page
http://contribs.org/modules/news/
Screenshots
http://contribs.org/modules/xoopsgallery/
Download
http://contribs.org/modules/phpwiki/index.php?Downloads

Looks good. I use SourceForge a lot but I didn't know about this little gem. It's a pity I didn't know about it a few weeks ago, it might have saved us buying an SBS Premium licence with our new Server.

https://www.freshmeat.net is also good but not everything is free.

thestub

I have a CD of freeware software I dole out to anyone who asks...it contains everything that you need to get a PC system usable (beyond the OS). Currently it contains (the highlights):

• AntiVirus - Avast! (www.avast.com) This requires registration, but it really is free, and I find it better than Norton.
• Firewall - Kerio (www.kerio.com). The best in my opinion - ZoneAlarm killed my system
• Office Suit - OpenOffice - (www.openoffice.org). Quite simply better than MS Office, and it is free.

There are also serveral free Spyware removal tools, Freeware Zip programs and misc other software (like free graphic edittors and video editting software).

If anyone wants my complete list, message me

blinky

thestub wrote:

• AntiVirus - Avast! (www.avast.com) This requires registration, but it really is free, and I find it better than Norton.
• Firewall - Kerio (www.kerio.com). The best in my opinion - ZoneAlarm killed my system
• Office Suit - OpenOffice - (www.openoffice.org). Quite simply better than MS Office, and it is free.

It is difficult to say any software is 'the best' as they all have strengths and weaknesses.

I haven't seen much of Avast but it does get some favourable remarks in Wilders Security Forums. I think it's better than AVG. Norton is a bit of a resource hog and is a slow scanner. I've always been a bit wary of free A/V software though.

I haven't used Kerio personal firewall for a while. However, most of the personal firewalls act in the same way by using access control (asking permission for a program to access the network / internet) and hiding ports, so I wouldn't expect much difference. It is all too common for somebody to block a process (e.g. system or program component) because they don't recognise the name, and then wonder why something doesn't work.

One limitation of OpenOffice is the lack of an easy Access equivalent program. I know that you can use MySQL / PostgreSQL with the spreadsheet package but it's a bit advanced for most people.

Although I like Open Source Software, often the documentation and support is a bit lacking if you are non-technical.

thestub

blinky wrote:

It is difficult to say any software is 'the best' as they all have strengths and weaknesses.

True - it is always a subjective comment. I find Kerio the best, as it also controls software launching - and Sygate and ZoneAlarm seem to been moving backwards, getting unstable and randomly blocking ports (my friends on dial-up couldn't even connect to the net after a recent ZoneAlarm update).

blinky wrote:

One limitation of OpenOffice is the lack of an easy Access equivalent program. I know that you can use MySQL / PostgreSQL with the spreadsheet package but it's a bit advanced for most people.

In my experiance most people don't use Access. It is ture that having to write pure SQL statments and running a local SQL server is a bit tiresome. There are some good MySQL interfaces (even the built in database edittor in NetBeans is quite good - although you do have to install Java, and do some JDBC configuration).

I have never had to think of a easy freeware alternative to Access. But I am sure one exists.

blinky wrote:

Although I like Open Source Software, often the documentation and support is a bit lacking if you are non-technical.

Although the communities are usually very helpful - just post on the support forums, and someone will help out. It is worth remembering that big projects like OpenOffice and Mozilla are trying to get as big an install base as possible.

Next stop Linux with OpenOffice as the default desktop solution?