Free Computing

Linux and open source Resources

The latest free software is far surpassing the corporate behemoths in performance and bling, and catching up on usability. Rid yourself of that resource hogging bloat, daily mandatory updates, built in obsolescence, and those annoying security concerns. Did we mention they are FREE?

Free Alternatives to those expensive Windows applications:

Find free alternatives for all those expensive windows add-ons. Office suites, image manipulators, CD/DVD burners, movie and music players. Take control of your computer; no more giant corporations telling you what to do and how to do it!

Browse around OSALT and Sourceforge to see what's out there. And here is a list of some major open source projects:

• KDE is the Windows-style desktop for Linux. KDE comes with a host of free applications which would cost hundreds, if not thousands of dollars for Windows. On Linux KDE is lighter, more powerful, and more flexible than Windows. Now, KDE has been ported to Windows. If you have Windows XP or earlier, you can download and install KDE. Use the KDE desktop, or just the free applications. Here is the KDE for Windows site, and an informative interview with one of the developers.
• Firefox is a superior alternative to Internet Explorer. There is also Chrome and the light and fast Midori. You can try Thunderbird in place of Outlook Express.
• Open Office, Go Open Office, and OxygenOffice: Open and edit the x-file formats from the latest MS Office. Load the PDF Import Extension to import, edit, and export PDF formats. All the tools that come with the most expensive MS version, and MORE!
• The Gimp, the open source answer to Photoshop.
• Watch virtually any visual media with VLC.
• Tired of suffering the Itunes straight-jacket, or the update-runaround with Microsoft? Truly take charge of your media with Amarok.
• Burn what you want, from what you want, with Infrarecorder.
• Manage almost any archive format with Peazip.
• Manage your pictures with IrfanView.
• PDF writers and editors: PDFedit, PDFCreator, DoPDF, and the online PDFEscape.

Free:

Adj (6)

• able to act at will, not hampered;
• not under compulsion or restraint;
• costing nothing;
• not held in servitude;
• not taken up by scheduled activities;
• completely wanting or lacking;

ADVERB (1)

• without restraint;