Free and Open Source Software
At work and at home I use several excellent free open source software products.
I was skeptical at first but after using free open source software for a couple of years, I am hooked. I truly like the quality and ease of use.
What is open source software?
"It is a social movement, begun by computer programmers, that rejects secrecy and centralized control of creative work in favor of decentralization, transparency, and unrestricted (“open”) sharing of information. Source refers to the human-readable source code of computer programs, as opposed to the compiled computer programming language instructions, or object code, that run on computers but cannot be easily understood or modified by people.
Beyond computer software, the concept of open source has been used to create free online databases and by commercial Internet vendors to populate reviews of items for sale, such as books, music, and movies."
(Encyclopedia Britannica Online, 3/28/07 http://www.search.eb.com/eb/article-9389944)
Many of the open source projects are financially supported by companies and organizations.
The library catalog lists books on free software and programs like OpenOffice.org
So, in the spirit of free and open source, I share some of my favorites and links to resources for more programs.
The programs are available for Windows, Mac and Linux operating systems.
OpenOffice.org
A full-fledged office suite that reads and writes Microsoft Word doc and spreadsheet formats. It includes a word processor, spreadsheet, database, presentation (like Powerpoint) and drawing programs. I use this as my only office suite.
Nvu
A WYSIWYG (What-You-See-Is-what-You-Get) html editor. Simple and easy.
Open Source Web Designs
Beautiful, professional quality web page and blog designs.
Firefox Internet Browser
The queen of web browser. Safer and more secure than Internet Explorer.
Thunderbird
The king of free mail programs. Simple and easy to use.
Picasa
A simple and easy to use photo editor courtesy of the folks at Google. Right now it only works on Windows operating systems. The Linux version and Mac version are in development. You can try Picnik , though.
Picnik
A web-based online photo editor that can be used on Windows, Mac and Linux operating systems.
Scribus
A desktop publishing program
More Free and Open Source Programs
Open CD Project ( for Windows)
Open Source Windows
Apple, Inc. Unix and Open Source for the Mac
Open Source Mac
