Open Source Alternatives to Commercial Software
Though my preference is Linux, many of the Open Source Alternatives listed here are also available for Windows and Mac. Open Source Windows and Open Source Mac are great short cut sites for download links if you wanna try out these packages and many others! For Linux, it is much simpler as most major distro's have these packages in their repositories and will install via a single mouse click or one line command| Commercial Offering | Open Source Alternative | Comments: |
| Microsoft Windows | Linux |
Duh...do you have to ask?!? |
| Microsoft Office | Open Office | * |
| Adobe Photoshop | The GIMP | * |
| Microsoft Explorer | Mozilla Firefox | * |
| Microsoft Outlook | Mozilla Thunderbird | * |
| Microsoft SQL | MySQL | * |
| Microsoft Picture Manager | F-Spot | * |
| Microsoft Visio | Dia | * |
| Roxio RecordNow | K3B | * |
| Adobe Premier | Kino | * |
| Adobe Illustrator | Inkscape | * |
| Adobe Framemaker | Scribus | * |
| MSN Messenger | Pidgin | * |
| Microsoft Media Player | Amarok | * |
| CyberLink Power DVD | VLC Media Player | * |
| WinZip | 7-Zip | * |
| Microsoft Frontpage | Kompozer | * |
| SlickEdit | Geany | * |