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What OSS Programs are Still Needed?

suso asks: "I was thinking yesterday about how much open source software is out there already. Most categories are filled, but I wonder about what pieces of software still need to be written. What programs would you like to see in OSS form that are currently not available?"

15 of 290 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Automated by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

    See nget, pan, mldonkey, and pornview

  2. Done and done. by sethadam1 · · Score: 4, Informative


    Nvu is your answer.

  3. Re:Cross-Platform Game Design Studio by Geoffreyerffoeg · · Score: 3, Informative

    If OOo Impress gets a bit more polished and a bit more capable (even more than PPT) with respect to custom animation, especially motion paths and the like, it will probably suffice. It has an "Export to SWF" option. I've done some cheesy yet impressive Flash-like animations in Microsoft PowerPoint, and I know OOo can support everything I used.

    Maybe Impress should be further developed with this goal in mind, in addition to presentation-making.

  4. Re:Voting software. by np_bernstein · · Score: 4, Informative

    The Open Voting Consortium is doing a pretty good job. The program itself is written in python which is a good idea (despite being a perl guy) since there is always the risk that someone could keep additional code out of CVS for compile time, has paper verification w/ barcodes for quick recounts/auditing... all in all they're doing a pretty good job.

    I understand that there are hardware requirements for security as well, but this provides a good way for businesses to still sell and add value to this software.

    They are currently having a fund drive so if this seems like something important, consider giving them $10 (what they're asking for)

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  5. Vector Drawing by poindextrose · · Score: 2, Informative

    I'm rather impressed with Sodipodi. Not exactly an Illustrator killer, but good nonetheless.

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  6. Re:Heres a few: by forsetti · · Score: 3, Informative

    2. XMMS is pretty decent, and has a handful of plugins
    4. CLAMAV, Sophos, OpenAntiVirus

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  7. Re:How about... by Noksagt · · Score: 2, Informative
    Good IDEs
    This is the most surprising request. What IDEs do you like? What is it about KDevelop, Anjuta, eclipse, and others that don't meet your needs?
  8. Re:WYSIWYG web design by PylonHead · · Score: 2, Informative
    • faster page loads
    • style decisions centralized in one file
    • complete nightmare getting it to work across all browsers
    • multi-column layouts rediculouly tedious to get working
    Oh, f*** it. I would just stick with tables if I were you....
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  9. Re:WYSIWYG web design by angst_ridden_hipster · · Score: 2, Informative
    Reasons to use tables:
    • CSS *sucks* for cross-browser compatibility. It takes a lot of work, and still will not support legacy browsers.
    • Easy, since all the programs do it, and we've all been doing it since 1995. How tricky could <TR><TD> etc get?
    • Multi-column layouts without intense pain. CSS can do this, but you have to play silly games.
    Reasons to use CSS:
    • Separates the design into a cachable file. Faster load times.
    • Your HTML pages will be tiny. And probably usable on wierd devices. Again, faster load times.
    • Skinnable sites, based on arbitrary criteria (server side or client side).
    • Control. If you want pixel-level control, you can have it. At a price. And if you don't care about legacy browsers.
    • Easier to change layouts generated by code. Change the stylesheet, not the code. I found this important when working on a site that statically built large numbers of pages and took a long time to create.
    • Elitist Wankerdom. You know you want to be an Elitist Wanker like the rest of us. If you can't sling acronyms like CSS and XSLT (oooh!), you just have to face up to the fact that you suck.
    There you go folks. A handy guide. Now back to your regularly scheduled quibbling.
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  10. Re:A Simple, End-User Oriented Database by Isomer · · Score: 3, Informative

    Like Glom or GNU enterprise. Both prefer to use postgres, but failing that, at least gnuenterprise can use sqllite for local database use (dunno about glom).
    Both projects seem pretty good, they just need mindshare :)

  11. Re:Mapping! by josecanuc · · Score: 2, Informative

    We sort of have something like that in the Xastir project.

    It true purpose is a client for the APRS (Automatic Packet Reporting System) used by Amateur Radio operators to do object tracking, but as a side-feature, it supports a multitude of map formats.

    We're currently partway through integrating GDAL/OGR, which will add a couple dozen new map formats, including TIGER. TIGER support exists if you compile in GDAL/OGR, but it currently doesn't allow customizing of line widths/colors per layer. Fortunately, some users have converted all of the TIGER data to shapefiles, hosted at http://xastir.tamu.edu.

    Xastir uses an awk-like language that we call dbfawk for describing the attributes of line segments in shapefiles, which allows you to set the display to look like whatever you like, with some work.

    Be default it does GPS tracking -- that's the initial purpose. If you're a Ham radio operator, you can even rig it up to a radio and TNC (radio modem) and see what other hams in your area are up to.

    It can also download raster maps on-the-fly from various sources including the TIGER map server, TERRAserver, and maybe another. A "GEO" file describes the raster image source as well as the tiepoints (pixel->real coordinate) for ANY OTHER raster image you have. And the image source can be a local file or a remote file via HTTP -- so getting live radar background to your GPS tracking is a snap.

    Items not yet added, but requested: routing, speed limit display, and 3D views -- all those were also requested by our users.

    It has extensive documentation and includes explicit instructions on running it on MacOS X.

  12. Re:Good Office Programs.... by megabyte405 · · Score: 2, Informative

    AbiWord Word Processor and Gnumeric Spreadsheet. Fast, functional, non-bloated. (Disclosure: I help out with these projects but have used the competition.)

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  13. Re:Database by megabyte405 · · Score: 2, Informative
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  14. Re:Good Project Management software by Darth_Burrito · · Score: 2, Informative

    I looked at dotproject for a while. Never used it in a real world setting, but others have.

  15. Re:Voting software. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

    Voting systems should be EAL7 certified. The open voting consortium's FAQ doesn't mention anything about evaluation or assurance at all.