10 All Time Best Open Source Applications for Windows

The concept of Open Source is free sharing of technology information, but most of the time we relate the “Open Source” word to Linux Operating System. Open Source is not only related to Linux, lot of Open Source applications are there for Windows Operating system too. For example the most widely used Mozilla Firefox on Windows is an Open Source Application.

 

With this post I would like to share some of the most widely used and accepted Open Source applications for Windows operating systems.

1. GIMP

The GIMP is the GNU Image Manipulation Program and can be used as Open Source alternative to Photoshop in the Windows operating system. GIMP can be used for various tasks such as photo editing, retouching, image composition and image authoring. The full screen mode on GIMP allowing you to use most of the screen estate to edit and preview your works.

2. LibreOffice

LibreOffice is another and Office Suite and an Open Source alternative for MS Office in windows Operating System. LibreOffice got a simple and user friendly and powerful user interface. LibreOffice is compatible with all major file formats and it can open and edit files including MS Word, Excel and PowerPoint along with many other formats, If you are an Open Source enthusiast you can switch from MS office to LibreOffice

3. ZScreen

 ZScreen is an Open Source screen capture program. ZScreen can take screenshots of a selected region, the active window, or the entire screen of your computer window. ZScreen got some advanced features including ability to send screen captures via FTP and copy the URL to your clipboard, all with just a single keystroke. ZScreen will reside in your windows OS tray area until you need it. ZScreen is the best Open Source alternative for Print Screen option in windows.

4. VLC player

VLC player is a Open Source Multimedia player with cross-platform encoder and streamer. VLC player supporting many audio and video codecs and file formats as well as DVDs, VCDs, and various streaming protocols. VLC player is one of the most popular Linux Mediaplayer and now gaining popularity on Windows platform too.

5. PDFCreator

PDFCreator is an Open Source alternative for Creating PDF file (or any other PDF software for Windows). PDFCreator allows you to create PDFs from any program that can print. Once it’s installed, simply click on “print” to the virtual printer that PDFCreator creates.

6. TrueCrypt

TrueCrypt is another OpenSource alternative and more importantly it is free open-source disk encryption software for Windows, Mac and Linux that creates a virtual encrypted disk that can be mounted and unmounted only with the configured passphrase.

7. FileZilla

FileZilla is the famous cross platform FTP software from Mozilla Foundation, but now widely accepted on Windows users.FileZilla used for free FTP solution. It supports SFTP, allows for bandwidth speed limits and easily saves server settings.

8. RSSOwl

RSSOwl is another Open Source alternative and it allows you to easily track updated content on multiple sites. If you want to know other top RSS reader for windows please visit 5 Top Free Desktop RSS Readers For Windows Computer.

9. Calibre

Calibre is another cross platform open source e-book library management application. Calibre got some advanced features including Syncing to e-book reader devices, downloading new from the web and converting it into e-book form, comprehensive e-book viewer and content server for online access to your book collection.

10. Notepad++

Notepad++ is a free source code editor and Windows Notepad Application replacement that supports several languages. it interfaces nicely with Filezilla. Notepad++ is written in C++ and uses pure Win32 API and STL which ensures a higher execution speed and smaller program size.

There is thousands of Open Source alternative Applications available for mankind but here I’m only added Few of my favorites. Let me know which one is your favorite cross platform application ?

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