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Pepping Up Windows

Posted by Zonk on from the work-with-what-you've-got dept.

PhairOh writes "Toms Hardware has an article about improving Windows with free and Open Source Software. It features everything from the obvious like Gimp and OpenOffice and also some interesting choices like Virtuawin. From the article: 'The average Windows user tends to be less than satisfied with Windows. And that's no surprise, either, given the rather woeful state of its default applications.'"

6 of 428 comments (clear)

  1. My Brother, The Windows Fanboy by geomon · · Score: 5, Interesting

    My older brother is a 100% MS man. He spend about half of our visits together telling me how I have wasted the last 10 years working with Linux. On one of his last visits he saw me switching virtual windows in X and thought that looked like a cool app. I searched the web and Virtuawin. When he came over I installed it on his laptop and he has reported that his productivity has increased. I don't know what he is using for a metric, but he likes the idea of switching windows to applications that aren't buried behind muliple instances of IE.

    I guess there are still some ways that *NIX can influence Microsoft, but at this point everyone is using and recycling each other ideas. Few companies are actually building new and interesting interfaces.

    --
    "Rocky Rococo, at your cervix!"
  2. how many people actually _like_ windows? by tjr · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I get the impression that there are more users who actually _like_ (not just put up with) Mac OS X (or maybe even GNU/Linux) than there are who actually _like_ (not just put up with) Windows. Anyone here actually like Windows? I'm not trolling, just want to know. If you do, what do you like about it?

    1. Re:how many people actually _like_ windows? by Kaa · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Anyone here actually like Windows? I'm not trolling, just want to know. If you do, what do you like about it?

      It runs software (from Photoshop to World of Warcraft) that I want to run and does it on generic hardware.

      --

      Kaa
      Kaa's Law: In any sufficiently large group of people most are idiots.
  3. My suggestions: by Spy+der+Mann · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Media Player Classic (open source). Who needs WMP anyway? :)
    IrfanView (freeware) for image browsing and very basic manipulation, like gamma correction or applying photoshop filters

  4. Paint.NET by Eslyjah · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Rather than messing with the GIMP on Windows, I prefer to use Paint.NET for my light graphics needs. It's not as powerful as Photoshop or the GIMP, but it is quite nice and available under an MIT license.

  5. Re:WinDir by L.+VeGas · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Not to pimp my own site too much, but the entire site is dedicated to free tools to improve Windows. It includes many of the tools just listed here. nedwolf.com

    --
    Best Windows Freeware