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Open Source Alternatives To Popular Software

In the world of personal technology, there are only three major players: Google, Microsoft and Apple. Why are they major? Because, like it or love it, at some point during the day, you’re going to find yourself using one of their programs or services—whether you’re doing a web search using Google, writing a paper using Microsoft Word or organizing your music using iTunes. But it doesn’t have to be this way.

Today, a new version of the GNU Image Manipulation Program (or GIMP) was released. An open source graphics editor, GIMP is completely free and could easily replace the costly Adobe program Photoshop. And there are a bunch of other open source apps that will let you do everything from playing music to sending instant messages. See some alternatives that make sense below…

OPERATING SYSTEM: UBUNTU

Linux has come a long way from the days of command line prompts and buggy installations. So much so that computer companies like Dell even sell some systems with Linux pre-installed on it. Our favorite Linux distribution is the South African based Ubuntu. With its simple and complete installation process, attractive design and built-in programs and productivity suite, it actually feels like something that could replace Windows or Mac OS. And it’s free, so it’ll cost you nothing but a couple hours of your time to check out. If you wanna give it a shot, head over to Ubuntu.com

INSTANT MESSENGER: ADIUM

If you’re currently chatting on some instant messenger service, you’re probably using the program made by the company that runs the service (Google Talk, AIM, etc), or iChat. They all work well enough, but we prefer Adium. This open source instant messenger program outlived most of their competition thanks to their inventive features (tabbed browsing, customizable backgrounds). The newest version fixes a number of bugs like the file transferring glitches and it also adds in a cool buddy list search feature which saves you time if you have a lot of buddies. The only hang up is that it’s only available for Mac OS X. Check it out at AdiumX.com

MEDIA PLAYER: VLC

Hands down, VLC is the best video player out. Its design is simple and intuitive and it can handle damn near every video format thrown at it (MPEG-1, MPEG-2, MPEG-4, Div, mp3, ogg, …) and it can also serve as your DVD and VCD player. So all those movies you download off the net that won’t play in Windows Media Player or QuickTime without a certain codec add on, will play in VLC. You can also use it to stream any video over your network. It’s all you need. It’s available on every operating system. Download it for free at Videolan.org.

OFFICE SUITE: OPEN OFFICE

We’re not gonna lie, Microsoft Office is the shit. There’s really nothing out that can match its breadth of features and usability. That said, it’s very expensive, and most people that use Microsoft Office only use Microsoft Word. And even then they don’t use all the features that Word offers. Most people just need a program that they can bang out a paper or report on that’s more feature filled than Word Pad or Text Edit. Open Office is that program. It comes with six feature-filled programs good enough to go head-to-head with their Office rivals: Write (Word Processor), Calc (Spreadsheet), Impress (Multimedia Presentations), Draw (Graphics and Diagrams) and Base (Database). The best part? You guessed it, it’s $Free.99. Try it out at Openoffice.org.

MUSIC PLAYER: SONGBIRD

Songbird is a program on the come up. It’s an open source alternative to iTunes and Windows Media Player that offers users a bunch of interesting features like an embedded web browser, a feature that tells you about upcoming shows in your area based on the artists in your library, and the ability to download user created skins. And like Firefox, you can download community created add-ons including one that allows you to sync SB to your iPod. Sure, it apes the design of iTunes, but if for some reason you want more out of your digital jukebox, Songbird is worth a shot. Check it out at Getsongbird.com.