15 Recommended Open Source Applications for Windows
We all know what the term “Open Source” term refers to. But most of the times we use it for open source operating systems such as Linux. Well, open source applications are available for Windows also. Among them, you already have a good knowledge on Firefox, Thunderbird, VLC and Open Office as they are the popular open source applications for Windows.
In this post, we will introduce you all with some more open source applications for windows that can fulfill the need of installing and running corresponding proprietary software’s.
1. LibreOffice
LibreOffice is the opensource alternative for MS Office. With a user friendly and simple – to-use yet powerful interface and compatibility with all major file formats and files from MS Word, Excel and PowerPoint along with many other formats, the switch from MS office to LibreOffice is a good deal in hand for opensource users.
2. Scribus
With professional features such as CMYK color, spot color , separations, ICC color and robust commercial grade PDF, Scribus stands as a very good opensource alternative to its counterparts such as Page Maker and QuarkXpress. It is meant to bring professional page layout to Windows as well as to other operating systems like Linux/Unix, MacOS X and OS/2.
3. The GIMP
The GIMP is the GNU Image Manipulation Program and can be used as opensource alternative to Photoshop in the Windows for various tasks such as photo retouching, image composition and image authoring. GIMP features a great full screen mode allowing you to use most of the screen estate to edit and preview your works.
4. Inkscape
Inkscape is an Open Source vector graphics editor which uses the W3C standard Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) file format. It is different from GIMP in a sense that GIMP faster graphics editing features and Inkscape uses vector graphic editing features. Although it is a difficult job to use the vector graphics editor, with Inkscape, it is very easy to edit nodes, perform complex path operations, trace bitmaps and many more.
5. ClawsMail
ClawsMail is a GTK+ based, open source email and news client that is similar to Outlook Express in Windows. With the messages managed in the standard MH format , it provides fast access , strong data security and email import/export features.
6. VLC player
VLC player is a cross-platform multimedia player, encoder, and streamer supporting many audio and video codecs and file formats as well as DVDs, VCDs, and various streaming protocols.
7. Virtual Box
Virtual Box is a powerful opensource virtualization application for x86 and AMD64/Intel64 processor computers. It supports a large number of guest operating systems including Windows, DOS/Windows 3.x, Linux (2.4 and 2.6), Solaris and OpenSolaris and OpenBSD. It is a very good opensource alternative to VMWARE in windows.
8. TrueCrypt
TrueCrypt 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.
9. Calibre
Calibre is a free and open source e-book library management application with features such as E-book conversion, 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. 7-Zip
7-Zip is an Open Source file archive and manager with a high compression ratio in 7Z format with LZMA and LZMA2 compression. It supports formats such as 7z, XZ,BZIP2,GZIP,TAR,ZIP and WIM for packing/unpacking and ARJ, CAB, CHM, CPIO, CramFS, DEB, DMG, FAT, HFS, ISO, LZH, LZMA, MBR, MSI, NSIS, NTFS, RAR, RPM, SquashFS, UDF, VHD, WIM, XAR and Z for unpacking only.
11. PDF Creator
PDF Creator easily creates PDFs from any Windows program that can be printed easily and even send generated files via eMail. It also has Digital Signature , PDF Encryption and Auto save features.
12. VirtuaWin
VirtuaWin provides virtual desktops for the Windows operating system much in the same way Linux/Unix does. It is a virtual desktop manager for the Windows operating system and lets you organize application over several virtual desktops.
13. Paint.NET
Paint.NET is a free image and photo editing software for Windows. It was originally introduced as an opensource alternative for Microsoft Paint. With its new powerful features it has been even compared with Adobe Photoshop, Corel Paint Shop Pro and many more.
14. FileZilla
FileZilla is used for free FTP solution. It supports SFTP , allows for bandwidth speed limits and easily saves server settings.
15. RSSOwl
RSSOwl is a cross-platform RSS reader which allows you to easily track updated content on multiple sites. You many try other free Desktop RSS readers for Windows.
