The goal of the Ported Open Source Software (POSS) label is simple: to point you to applications that you can safely install on any of your computers and use it for years to come, whether you're online or not, whether you switch to a new operating system or not, whether you can afford buying a new machine every year or not.
In The second part of this mini-series, I'm listing the packages that I'd never want to miss on the systems I use. It's a limited, subjective selection and I'd love to hear from you, in the comments below or via email, about great software that meets the 4 POSS criteria (for details on the POSS criteria, see the first part of this series).
Keep in mind that the goal is not to provide a list of software that exhausts the features of a single operating system to the max. If I was to adhere to clichés and stereotypes, I'd throw out many software packages because they were allegedly too ugly and clumsy for Mac users, too restricted and patronizing for Linux users, and too long winded and complicated for Windows users. In short: I'd never list anything. Instead, I follow my experience that tells me most Mac, Linux and Windows users can tell good software from bad and know how to make their personal tradeoffs.
IMPORTANT NOTE: the creators and the maintainers of the software listed here probably don't even know the POSS concept at all, let alone endorse it. Attaching the POSS label to the software packages listed below is (currently) just my personal decision.
Internet
- Mozilla Firefox for Browsing the WWW
- Mozilla Thunderbird for Mail, News, Syndication (RSS, Podcasts)
- Azureus for BitTorrents
- Capivara for synchronizing directories and files locally or via SFTP and FTP
Office and Organizing
- OpenOffice.org for Texts, Spreadsheets, Presentations
- AbiWord for Texts
- GanttProject for Project Management
- FreeMind for Mind Mapping
- JPasswords for storing passwords
- Docco for personal indexing/searching TXT, ODT, ODS, SXW, PDF, HTML, DOC, XLS
- GenealogyJ for maintaining GEDCOM-compatible family trees (real Unicode support)
Graphics
Audio & Video
- Audacity (plus plugins) for multi-track editing Audio data (WAV, MP3, FLAC and more, using plugins)
- TV-Browser free Electronic Program Guide (EPG)
- VLC media player (suggested by SpiKe, thanks!)
Work & Development
- Eclipse for Java-related Development
- JXplorer for LDAP Management
- jEdit for editing text files and source code
- VIM for editing text files and source code (suggested by Rafael Bugajewski, thanks!)
Comments
Great list. Over the years
Great list. Over the years I’ve moved from IE to Firefox, Photoshop to GIMP etc etc. It makes for a much simpler life, especially when I reformat my comp. Audacity is great too. I’m not sure if these fit into the POSS thinking but I also suggest the following, ignore them if they are not opensource/multi-platform:
SmartFTP
uTorrent
VLC
MediaCoder
SpiKe
Organize IT
Thanks, added VLC to the list
Added VLC media player, thanks for that pointer, SpiKe!SmartFTP and uTorrent are neither Open Source nor multi-platform; MediaCoder does not support OS X. Nice software, but does not fulfill the POSS criteria.
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