Top 10 Free Software Applications as Replacements of Commercial Ones
18 January 2008 
Anyone wants to use software for free. But commercial applications such as Microsoft Office will cost quite a bit pocket money in order to use it without breaking laws. In order to make your home computer useful, you will need to buy a lot of applications. I am here to introduce you to 10 applications, which will not cost anything, at the same time, your computer will be as powerful if you bought those commercial equivalents.
1. Open Office (Replacement of Microsoft Office):
OpenOffice.org is a multiplatform and multilingual office suite and an open-source project. Compatible with all other major office suites, the product is free to download, use, and distribute. It is currently version: 2.3.1. The version 2.4 will be released in March 2008.
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2. GIMP (Replacement of Adobe Photoshop):
GIMP is an acronym for GNU Image Manipulation Program. It is a freely distributed program for such tasks as photo retouching, image composition and image authoring.
It has many capabilities. It can be used as a simple paint program, an expert quality photo retouching program, an online batch processing system, a mass production image renderer, an image format converter, etc.
GIMP is expandable and extensible. It is designed to be augmented with plug-ins and extensions to do just about anything. The advanced scripting interface allows everything from the simplest task to the most complex image manipulation procedures to be easily scripted.
GIMP is written and developed under X11 on UNIX platforms. But basically the same code also runs on MS Windows and Mac OS X.
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3. LAMP for Web Server: Linux + Apache + MySQL +PHP (Replacement of Windows + IIS + SQL Server + ASP)
Web is now everywhere. If you want to have your own web server, LAMP is definitely the first choice. Not only it is free, it is also more secure and faster than Windows platforms. Best of all, they are all open-source technologies. You got the whole world of developers to help you.
Screenshot:
Here is a pre-configured LAMP installer, very easy and you can pretty much config a web server in 10 minutes.
AppServ 2.5.9
This package includes:
* Apache 2.2.4
* PHP 5.2.3
* MySQL 5.0.45
* phpMyAdmin-2.10.2
4. FTP Client: FileZilla (Replacement: FlashFXP, CuteFTP)
FileZilla Client is a fast and reliable cross-platform FTP, FTPS and SFTP client with lots of useful features and an intuitive interface.
Among others, the features of FileZilla include the following:
* Easy to use
* Supports FTP, FTP over SSL/TLS (FTPS) and SSH File Transfer Protocol (SFTP)
* Cross-platform. Runs on Windows, Linux, *BSD, OSX and more
* Available in many languages
* Supports resume and transfer of large files >4GB
* Powerful Site Manager and transfer queue
* Drag & drop support
* Configurable Speed limits
* Filename filters
* Network configuration wizard
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5. Antivirus Software: Avira AntiVir PersonalEdition Classic
(Replacement: Norton Antivirus, McAfee)
From official website:
“More than 30 million users worldwide trust in the reliable protection of Avira AntiVir. And this is no coincidence at all: Avira has gained several awards.
The product combines first-class detection rates and ease of use with a top performance that protects your computer safely and hardly burdens older PCs. For information on Avira’s professional solutions for business, please visit www.avira.com.”
Best of all, it is FREE!
Screenshot:
Download Avira AntiVir PersonalEdition Classic here
6. Photo Management and Editing: Picasa (Replacement of ACDSee)
Picasa is from Google. You can use it to manage all your photos. It has some common editing tools as well.
Screenshot:
7. Web Authoring Application: Nvu (pronounced N-view) (Replacement of Fontpage and Dreamweaver)
Same as Firefox Browser, this app is also from our wonderful Mozilla Family.
A complete Web Authoring System for Linux desktop users as well as Microsoft Windows and Macintosh users to rival programs like FrontPage and Dreamweaver. Nvu (which stands for “new view”) makes managing a web site a snap. Now anyone can create web pages and manage a website with no technical expertise or knowledge of HTML.
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8. File Compressing: 7-Zip (Replacement of WinRAR)
Open source file compression tool.
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9. Software Develop Platform: Eclipse (Replacement of Microsoft Visual Studio/Borland JBuilder)
Eclipse is an open development platform comprised of extensible frameworks, tools and runtimes for building, deploying and managing software across the lifecycle. A large and vibrant ecosystem of major technology vendors, innovative start-ups, universities, research institutions and individuals extend, complement and support the Eclipse platform.
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10. Text Editor: Notepad++ (Replacement of EditPlus, emEditor)
Notepad++ is a free generic source code editor and Notepad replacement, which supports several programming languages, running under the MS Windows environment.
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Article Ideas From: http://www.williamlong.info/
6 Responses to “Top 10 Free Software Applications as Replacements of Commercial Ones”
February 3rd, 2010 at 1:09 pm
I couldn’t agree more great stuff here.
July 28th, 2010 at 12:38 am
may I copy this entry? i will link back to this post.. let me know please, thanks
July 28th, 2010 at 11:08 pm
Yes you can. Please link back to this post.
Skymedias Admin
January 28th, 2011 at 5:37 pm
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March 3rd, 2011 at 10:39 am
Good post, but it seems no longer relevant
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