Difference between revisions of "Examples of free and open-source software"

Some major free and open source software projects

Main Page > Open collaborative design > Free and open-source software > Examples of free and open-source software

This page lists good quality free and open-source software that anyone can download at no cost and use or modify freely. Plenty more quality open-source software exists – this is just an introductory sample. Most of these programs are cross-platform, meaning they can be installed on MS Windows, Mac OS X and Linux.

The software below is not freeware or shareware, which are both significantly different to open source.

Operating systems and Desktop environments

• Linux  - Operating system kernel
• Ubuntu  - Linux distribution  with full compliment of software for everyday use. See also Kubuntu  that runs the KDE desktop which some people find this easier if they previously used MS Windows. Ubuntu is an easy to use operating system based on and made possible by the Debian  project.
• Google Chrome OS  - Lightweight operating system based around the web browser
• Android smart-phone operating system  - by Google / Open Handset Alliance
• Symbian smart-phone operating system  - by Nokia
• MeeGo smart-phone operating system  - joint venture between Intel and Nokia
• BSD  - Operating system
• Darwin  - The core of Apple's Mac OS X  operating system
• GNOME  desktop environment for Linux (and Unix)
• KDE  desktop environment for Linux (and Unix)
• Xfce  lightweight desktop environment for Linux (and Unix)

Graphics and multimedia

• GIMP - Bitmap graphics editor, similar to Adobe Photoshop
• Inkscape  - Vector graphics editor
• VNC  - cross-platform remote desktop utility. For example it enables a Mac to control a Windows or a Linux PC (or vice-versa)
• Blender  - Advanced 3D modelling and rendering application. Gallery
• Art of Illusion  - Java-based 3D modelling and rendering application with an intuitive user interface. Gallery
• VideoLAN  - cross-platform media player capable of playing most video filetypes
• Miro video player - cross-platform media player that can automatically download videos from RSS-based "channels" and play videos sequentially from a playlist
• Songbird - similar to iTunes with built-in browser. Screencast
• Audacity  - digital audio editor
• Ardour - digital audio workstation
• Scribus - Desktop Publishing (DTP)
• F-Spot - Photo manager

Office software

• OpenOffice.org - office productivity software. Comparable to Microsoft Office. As well as having using an open file format it can read and write Microsoft Office files
• NeoOffice - Mac OS X version of OpenOffice
• KOffice  - office suite for KDE desktop (Unix / Linux)
• AbiWord - word processor
• Evolution - personal information manager
• PDFCreator - creates PDFs from any Windows program. Use it like a printer (Windows only)

Internet related software

• Apache webserver  - web server
• BitTorrent  - distributed file-sharing
• Mozilla Foundation 
  • Mozilla Firefox - web browser
  • Mozilla Thunderbird - mail client
• WebKit  - HTML rendering engine developed by KDE, Apple and Google. Core of Safari, Google Chrome and Konqueror browsers
• Google Chrome  - Google's web browser
• Sendmail  - email transfer agent
• Pidgin (software)  - multiple-protocol instant messaging
• Diaspora  - distributed social software

Content management systems

• Joomla!  - CMS
• Alfresco - CMS
• MediaWiki  - wiki content management software. AdCiv.org is powered by MediaWiki
• Drupal  - modular content management framework and blogging engine
• Plone  - python-based CMS

See more open-source CMS software here 

Other

• Celestia 3D space simulation software. For a tour of its capabilities, select 'Run demo' from the 'Help' menu. Gallery and addons
• NASA worldwind - virtual Earth / Moon / Mars software
• FlightGear - flight simulator
• Second life  - virtual world viewer (as in a virtual reality, rather than a virtual Earth model)
• FreeMind - mind mapping software
• Stellarium - planetarium software for accurate representations of the night's sky from any location or time
• K3b  - CD and DVD authoring application for Linux
• phpMyAdmin  - web front-end for MySQL database management system
• Vega Strike  - Space flight simulator and trading game
• Wine - a compatibility layer for computers running Linux that enables them to run many applications that were originally written for MS Windows
• Freemat - environment for rapid engineering and scientific prototyping and data processing

Programming related

• Eclipse  - software framework and Java IDE
• GTK  - Popular widget toolkit for the X Window System, for creating graphical user interfaces
• QT toolkit  - cross-platform application development framework
• KDevelop  - Programming IDE for Linux / Unix
• PHP  - server-side programming language
• PERL  - Dynamic programming language
• Python  - versatile, clean and powerful programming language used for cross-platform desktop applications, server-side scripting for websites, and scripting within java and .net environments
• GNU Compiler Collection (GCC) 
• MySQL  - Database management system
• Java  - Programming language
• Mono  - Free and open-source crossplatform .NET implementation
• OpenCV - Real-time computer vision function library

More comprehensive list of open-source software

• List of open source software packages on Wikipedia 

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These are some examples of open-source software that anyone can freely download and use, or even modify, without restriction

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OpenOffice.org Writer (word processor)	OpenOffice.org Calc (spreadsheet)	OpenOffice.org Impress (presentation)
OpenOffice.org Draw (vector drawing)	Celestia 3D space simulator	KDE desktop environment for Linux (and Unix)
Gnome desktop environment for Linux (and Unix)	Inkscape 2D vector drawing	GIMP bitmap editor
Miro video player with RSS feeds	Blender 3D modelling	FreeMind mind-mapping software
Audacity digital audio editing	Kivio flowchart drawing (Linux only	Mozilla Thunderbird email client
Evolution mail	Evolution calendar	Eclipse software development framework
Xara Xtreme 2D vector drawing (Linux only)	Nvu HTML editing	VNC cross-platform remote control screenshot showing a windows PC controlling a Mac and Linux desktop in separate windows
KDevelop integrated development environment (Linux only)	Firefox web browser	Songbird web-surfing music player
K3b CD and DVD burning (Linux only)	Art of illusion 3D modelling	Scribus desktop publishing
FlightGear flight simulator	Xfce desktop environment for Linux (and Unix)	Ardour digital audio workstation
F-Spot photo manager (Linux only)	Second life virtual world screenshot	Stellarium - accurate representations of the night's sky
Beryl - hardware accelerated 3D window manager for Linux	Vega Strike  - Space flight simulator and trading game	NeoOffice - Version of OpenOffice.org for Apple's Mac OS X
Freemat - free environment for rapid engineering and scientific prototyping and data processing

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