Technology 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…