Ubuntu Wiki

List Of Opensource Programs (LOOP)

• for Windows

What is the LOOP list?

• This is a list of high-quality, open-source applications that run on Windows. To learn more, read the [#FAQ FAQ].

Purpose:

• To demonstrate the quality of open source applications and thereby advocate the open source software development model.

Rules for adding programs to the LOOP list:

1. Must be open source.
2. Must run on Microsoft Windows operating systems.
3. Only include the best application for each specific purpose. In rare cases, two applications may be listed.
4. Include the names of the top three commercial applications that provide similar functionality, if known.

[#Desktop Desktop Applications]

• [#Communication Communication]
• [#Education Education]
• [#Games Games]
• [#Productivity Productivity]
• [#Management Management]
• [#Misc Misc]
• [#Multimedia Multimedia]
• [#Security Security]
• [#Utilities Utilities]

[#Server Server Applications]

Desktop Applications Anchor(Desktop)

• Communication Anchor(Communication)

  • Email Client = Thunderbird

    • URL: http://www.mozilla.org/products/thunderbird/ Compare to: Microsoft Outlook

    Universal Instant Messaging Client = Gaim

    • URL: http://gaim.sourceforge.net/ Compare to: Trillian

    Web browser = FireFox

    • URL: http://www.mozilla.org/products/firefox/ Compare to: Microsoft Internet Explorer

  Education Anchor(Education)

  • Space Simulator = Celestia

    • URL: http://www.shatters.net/celestia/ Compare to: Unkown

    Planetarium = Stellarium

    • URL: http://www.stellarium.org/ Compare to: Unknown

  Games Anchor(Games)

  • Strategy = Battle for Wesnoth

    • URL: http://wesnoth.org/ Compare to: Age of Wonders, Heroes of Might and Magic, Warlords

  Productivity Anchor(Productivity)

  • Database (File-based) = OpenOffice (Base)

    • URL: http://www.openoffice.org/ Compare to: Microsoft Office (Access)

    PDF creator = PDF Creator

    • URL: http://sector7g.wurzel6.de/pdfcreator/index_en.htm Compare to: Adobe Acrobat

    Presentation = OpenOffice (Impress)

    • URL: http://www.openoffice.org/ Compare to: Microsoft Office (Powerpoint)

    Report Creator = JasperReports

    • URL: http://jasperreports.sourceforge.net/ Compare to: Crystal Reports

    Spreadsheet = OpenOffice (Calc)

    • URL: http://www.openoffice.org/ Compare to: Microsoft Office (Excel)

    Word Processor = OpenOffice (Writer)

    • URL: http://www.openoffice.org/ Compare to: Microsoft Office (Word)

  Management Anchor(Management)

  • Finance: TurboCash

    • URL: http://www.turbocash.co.za/ Compare to: Quicken Quickbooks

    Gantt chart = GanttProject

    • URL: http://ganttproject.sourceforge.net/ Compare to: Microsoft Project

    Project management = OpenWorkbench

    • URL: http://www.openworkbench.org/ Compare to: Microsoft Project

  Misc Anchor(Misc)

  • Linux environment = Cygwin

    • URL: http://www.cygwin.com/ Compare to: Unknown

    Recipe Manager = Gourmet Recipe Manager

    • URL: http://grecipe-manager.sourceforge.net/ Compare to: Unknown

    Screen Saver = Really Slick Screensavers

    • URL: http://www.reallyslick.com/ Compare to: Unkown

  Multimedia Anchor(Multimedia)

  • 3D graphics creator = Blender

    • URL: http://www.blender.org/ Compare to: Alias Maya

    Audio Editing = Audacity

    • URL: http://audacity.sourceforge.net/ Compare to: Adobe Audition

    Desktop Publishing = Scribus

    • URL: http://www.scribus.org.uk/ Compare to: Adobe PageMaker, Quark

    Image Editing = Gimp

    • URL: http://www.gimp.org/ Compare to: Adobe Photoshop, Corel Paint Shop

    Video Editing = Jashaka

    • URL: http://www.jahshaka.org/ Compare to: Adobe After Effects, Pinnacle Studio, Apple Final Cut

    Web Design = Nvu

    • URL: http://www.nvu.com/ Compare to: Microsoft Frontpage, Macromedia Dreamweaver

  Security Anchor(Security)

  • Network protocol analyzer = Ethereal

    • URL: http://www.ethereal.com/ Compare to: Sniffer

    VPN client = OpenVPN GUI for Windows

    • URL: http://openvpn.se/ Compare to: Cisco VPN client, Nortel VPN client

  Utilities Anchor(Utilities)

  • FTP Client = Filezilla FTP client

    • URL: http://filezilla.sourceforge.net/ Compare to: SmartFTP, BulletProof FTP

Server Applications Anchor(Server)

• Application server = JBoss

  • URL: http://www.jboss.org/ Compare to: BEA Weblogic, IBM Websphere

  Database server = MySQL

  • URL: http://www.mysql.com/ Compare to: Microsoft SQL server, Oracle database

  Database server = PostgreSQL

  • URL: http://www.postgresql.org/ Compare to: Microsoft SQL server, Oracle database

  FTP server = Filezilla FTP server

  • URL: http://filezilla.sourceforge.net/ Compare to: Unknown

  VPN server = OpenVPN

  • URL: http://openvpn.net/ Compare to: Cisco VPN

  Web server = Apache

  • URL: http://httpd.apache.org/ Compare to: Microsoft Internet Information Services (ISS)

FAQ: Anchor(FAQ)

Why do you only include open source applications? Why not include applications that are free, but not open source?

These applications are awesome! I can't believe that they are free! How can I help to support these applications?

• That is a terrific question. If these programs provide value to you, it makes sense to give something back to the community. The best way to do this may be different for each application, so read more at the project's website. In general, here are ways that you can give back to the open source community: Subscribe to the project mailing list and answer questions that new users are asking.
• Install and use the program, then share your experiences (good or bad) with the project mailing list.
• Share any ideas you have about the software, such as features that you would like to see implemented or any changes that you think would improve the project.
• Create documentation about the project, such as how to install, configure, and use the application.
• If you are a programmer, look at the code and report any bugs you find and share any improvements that you make.
• Some projects provide a way to contribute money to the project. The great thing about contributing to an open source project is that you will be helping everyone who uses the software. If every user gives back to the project, there will be a constant improvement in the quality of the application.

Some of these applications only run on Windows, and not Linux. Why do you include these?

• The goal of the LOOP list is to demonstrate the advantages of open-source applications. One of those advantages is the ability to port the application to other operating systems. This means that anyone with the time, skill, and desire can port these applications to Linux or any other operating system.

Why did you create a new list? There are other lists out there with similar information.

• This list serves a specific purpose, which is listed on the front page. Other lists on the web have good information, but they were not what I was looking for. Here are some lists similar to the LOOP list: The OSSwin project: Open Source for Windows

  http://osswin.sourceforge.net/