Open source/Freeware alternatives for popular software.

Ok so i thought we should have a thread dedicated to freeware software that can replace some of the most popular mainstream software. So here we go.

1. Songbird

Ok so Songbird is a full replacement for iTunes or Windows Media Player and software of that nature. It supports all, if not more, formats of music than most of the above; it also was a feature called Feathers and Addons. Feathers is a built in feature that allows you to skin or theme the entire program to your liking, and thousands of Feathers are available for free online. Addons is a feature much like the Addons for Firefox, the Addons that can be downloaded for Songbird range from things like gathering information about band for you to allowing you to sync your iPod to Songbird. Songbird also doubles as a web browser and supports multiple tabs open.

2. OpenOffice.Org

A completely free replacement for the Microsoft Office suite, it includes:

• Writer- A replacement that for Word
  
• Calc- A replacement for Excel
  
• Impress- A replacement for Powerpoint
  
• Draw- A replacement for Paint, it also has a lot more editing features than the normal
• Paint for Windows
  
• Base- A replacement for Access

OpenOffice.Org is updated frequently and it's compatible with the formats of Office 2007, meaning it can read and save in formats like .docx, and the like.

3. Firefox

Does Firefox need a description? Just download it.

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More to come in the future don't worry my children!.

Steve Jobs wrote:Does Firefox need a description? Just download it.

OR GOOGLE CHROME

Audacity
Audacity is free, open source software for recording and editing sounds. It is available for Mac OS X, Microsoft Windows, GNU/Linux, and other operating systems.

Okay, but aren't iTunes and WMP free already?

Sorry, I meant open source

TuxGuitar
TuxGuitar is an open source tabulature/score editor... it can be used to compose music and even export music files. Perfect for learning to use the guitar.

So my sanctity when listening to music keeps getting raped by Songbird and its crashes and lag...

i'm gonna go ahead and blame the netbook from hell for raping your innocence
songbird runs perfectly on my laptop (in windows 7 AND ubuntu) i'm hoping for full windows 7 support soon though anyway

Trillian-

Trillian isnt open source, but it is free FYI. But anyways Trillian is a multi-protocol IM client. If you dont know what that means, it means that it can be used for IM accounts on all kinds of services. Ex. Yahoo, AIM, MySpace, Facebook, Google Talk, ICQ. All you have to do when you download it is put in all the info for the IM accounts that you what to use and then all of your IMs will some through Trillian. Personally it is one of my favorite programs but sadly it is only available on Windows.

Ohh another one for you people. I assume you guys use Limewire right? Well dont. It will rape your system of resources and give your Windows a fornicate with ton of reg. errors and malware (especially XP). Use Frostwire, Its a program exactly like Limewire but without the errors and general deficate, ohh and its interface is good, unlike Limewire 5s new crappy UI.

Don't forget Gimp! It's a wonderful alternative to Photoshop.

http://www.gimp.org/

Speaking of raster editors. Paint.NET

Its like the Paint program that come on all Windows machines except 1000x better, it supports layers and transparency and all types of brushes. Its sweet. It has to be one of my favorite Windows programs ever.

Hmm... wouldn't really compare gimp to photoshop... its like a watered down version but thats why adobe can get away with selling it for lots o money... its pretty much the best you can get... Oh and for those of you using Ubuntu the ubuntu repository has some packages to soup up your gimp (extra brushes and such)

I like WinHTTrack, it can download an entire website to a folder for offline viewing.

most browsers already have that built in... you just have to change the save option to web page, complete

For all you flash scriptors out there, there's flex (made by adobe so it will have limitations since they want you to buy an overpriced product, though it will do most of what you need) or http://f4l.sourceforge.net/ f4l.

Not sure how good f4l is, never tried it myself (since I don't code flash).

The Planet is a fabulous site as for a server host, very reliable, I own two servers with them.