A Handful of My Favorite Open Source Software
It’s a cold, lazy Saturday night, and I’m staying in. What better way to kill some time than introduce you to some of my favorite software?
I’m a Windows user. Tragic, yes, but I was raised on it (Well, DOS/Win 3.11). I’ve run alternative OSes before: MacOS 9 for a year and a half right out of high school, various flavors of Linux off and on (big Ubuntu fan), most often on my laptop, sometimes for weeks at a time, and even BeOS for a period of several months once. I always end up returning to Windows. I’ve learned to look past its shortcomings since I’m comfortable and proficient in it. Plus, I can’t get through my day-to-day without Photoshop.
Of course, that doesn’t mean that I’m doomed to terrible software. There are plenty of cross-platform open-source utilities that make my Windows experience a lot less…corporate. Let’s check some out.
Mozilla Firefox
Anybody that uses a computer better have heard of Firefox by now, the first browser in about 10 years to put a dent in Internet Explorer’s dominance of the browser market. The browser comes standard with a ton of great features, including tabbed browsing, integrated pop-up blocking, integrated search plugins, and live bookmarks for use with websites with syndicated content. Firefox supports and adheres to actual web standards, rather than forcing web developers to bend to its standards, as is the case with IE. Add to that the increased security (partially through design, partially through obscurity), and the fact that exploits are patched, without hyperbole, about a million times faster than IE exploits, and you have a great way to experience the web.
If you’re missing a feature you would like in Firefox, there are TONS of extensions for the browser to extend its capabilities and functionality, and even a good selection of themes to modify the browser’s appearance.
I use several search engine plugins to speed up my browsing with integrated Google, Google Images, Wikipedia, Webster, and IMDB searching. Dozens of search plugins are available.
Mozilla Thunderbird
Thunderbird is to Firefox what Outlook Express is to IE. They complement each other well. While I never had huge issues with OE, I ditched it in favor of Thunderbird over a year ago and haven’t missed anything. I carry both Thunderbird and Firefox on my USB drive at all times and suggest it not only to all my computer consultation clients, but my friends as well. I think the Mozilla foundation has a winning package here, and I support it very passionately.
Gaim
I’ve been using the AOL Instant Messenger service for years. The problem is, the client REALLY started to suck several years ago. I first started trying to circumvent AIM’s problems through tweaks that were readily available online. I then graduated to DeadAIM when that became popular, as it extended AIM’s functionality considerably, adding features like ad blocking and tabbed chat windows. The author of DeadAIM began charging, and I moved on. I used AIMutation for quite a while, which offers several of the same features, including skinning. I also used Trillian off and on during all this IM client swapping.
Finally, I got sick of just hacking AIM with various programs, since things often don’t work like they should (and AOL goes out of its way to ensure that your hacks won’t work in the next version), and Trillian is a bloated piece of shit, so I graduated to the minimalist MirandaIM. Miranda is a very slick little client, with support for multiple protocols, lots of plugins, a good support community, and a small footprint, both in memory/CPU usage and desktop real estate. I loved its minimalist interface, but one glaring flaw kept me from totally falling in love with it: When logged into your account with Miranda, AOL would not register you as online, and your account would be recycled every couple weeks. I went through 4 screen names in just a couple months before I found out what was going on. I finally registered under a REAL email address, so my changed password could be retrieved every time my account was recycled. It was extremely annoying.
I had used Gaim in Linux, and liked it, but it never occurred to me that there could possibly be a Windows port. I switched about a month ago, and haven’t looked back. Gaim also supports more protocols than I even knew about, including AIM, MSN Messenger, Yahoo, ICQ, IRC, SILC, Jabber (does anybody actually use that?), Gadu-Gadu (the open-source IM protocol), and two I’ve never heard of: Zephyr Networks and Groupwise Messenger.
It also supports encrypted IMing, if you’re the paranoid type, buddy aliasing, and several plugins are available to extend its functionality (be sure to grab GUIfications for pop-up buddy status notices). I have had absolutely no complaints with Gaim at all, and I think I’ve finally found my client of choice for all my IM needs.
VideoLAN
You already heard me rave about VideoLAN in a previous post. VideoLAN supports tons of formats without the need to install codecs after the fact. It’s lightweight, minimalist, and powerful. It’s especially welcome on my laptop, which doesn’t agree with more bloated media players like WMP or PowerDVD/WinDVD. The only gripe I have with VideoLAN is WMVs can play wonky if you scroll forward. It often takes quite a while for the video to “catch up” to where you skipped, and you end up with a mess onscreen. Of course, being open source, I’m sure it’s something that will be fixed in the near future.
Filezilla
I was having trouble finding a good free FTP client. SmartFTP advertises itself as free, but you get a nag screen after 30 days of use. I tire of having to track down/apply cracks for software all the time, and I try to find truly free software whenever I can. Due to its misleading name, I originally thought Filezilla was the Mozilla foundation’s attempt at an FTP client. Believing in Mozilla software so much, I didn’t even test the software first, I just deleted SmartFTP and started Filezilla. Filezilla is in fact NOT a member of the Mozilla family, but I haven’t been disappointed anyway. Though I’m using FireFTP more and more for smaller FTP transactions, major uploads (lots of files that may need to be uploaded in several sessions for example) are still done through Filezilla. Great FTP client, especially for the price.
Wordpress
Wordpress is the software I use to publish this blog, also published under the GNU public license. My host provides simple, automated installation of several blog programs, and I tried several, but have fallen in love with Wordpress. Plenty of plugins and themes are available to suit anybody’s tastes, and support is excellent. Don’t see myself changing anytime soon.
One Response to “A Handful of My Favorite Open Source Software”
Firefox - August 15, 2005
My Favorite Open Source Software
The search for free FTP software….
Leave a Reply