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Top Ten Open Source Projects

arclightfire writes "We recently wrote an article for The Independent listing the top ten open source projects. It was hard getting the list down to ten, but we did; here's the top ten - Wikipedia, Firefox, Open Office, Bittorrent, MediaWiki, Xvid, pbb, Outfoxed, dyne:bolic, GIMP, Apache and SourceForge." What would you call your favorite projects? Obviously, this list isn't strictly software projects, so be creative.

8 of 234 comments (clear)

  1. top twelve? by irtza · · Score: 2, Interesting

    here's the top ten - 1) Wikipedia 2) Firefox 3) Open Office 4) Bittorrent 5) MediaWiki 6) Xvid 7) pbb 8) Outfoxed 9) dyne:bolic 10) GIMP 11) Apache 12) SourceForge Front page posts never have errors, so I know I messed something up... what gives? and one more thing, what is pbb?

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    When all else fails, try.
  2. oblig. missing option by MadFarmAnimalz · · Score: 1, Interesting

    How could they leave hotbabe out?

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    Blearf. Blearf, I say.
  3. Re:"this list isn't strictly software projects" by DarkSarin · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Disclaimer--I am not a theologian nor "Bible Expert". That said I do have some knowledge--My dad spoke most of the languages that were used in writing various parts of the Bible, being an expert himself.

    The Bible was not written in any one language originally, nor was it written by a single person. Anyone who makes that type of claim is severely deluded.

    The Old Testament (Genesis through Malachi) was written in Hebrew, but not modern Hebrew. Some parts were written in a form of Hebrew that did not make use of vowels. Talk to an expert about this--my Hebrew is limited to recognizing the script and few historical notes.

    The New Testament, before the Catholics compiled it, was written in a variety of languages, including both Greek and Aramaic (which is probably what Christ spoke). At some point the Catholic Church (Roman), decided that everything should be in Latin, and only distributed the scripture in that language. Various editions have been translated from both the Latin or from more ancient documents. Many of the documents that are out there are so far from the "original" that there is little, if any, hope of knowing exactly how they read.

    Additionally, remember that even the oldest versions in existence today are both ancient and very likely copies (especially with the Old Testament), which means that they have been both translated and transscribed numerous times. So while I believe that the Bible is scripture, and that much of it (not all) was inspired by God, there is a strong need to be very careful in how one interprets the meanings.

    Being a member of the LDS church, I have my own beliefs about what should be done to properly understand the Bible, but that opinion is even less popular than even believing in God in the first place (which in these parts can be a dangerous viewpoint).

    As for being open source, that is out of the question. Public domain != open source. In the case of the Bible, the license (from the Man Himself) allows anyone to publish or distribute the work, but prohibits one from changing the source to help prevent bugs from creeping in. A lot folks have ignored this restriction, resulting in much chaos, but that's another story.

    Hope this helped.

    --
    "We don't know what we are doing, but we are doing it very carefully,..." Wherry, R.J. Personnel Psychology (1995)
  4. Filezilla by 16K+Ram+Pack · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Filezilla is one of the best applications I've used because it's a great, free FTP client.

  5. Re:Erm by joeljkp · · Score: 2, Interesting

    phpbb brought forums to the masses. It's much more deserving of a place on the list than a beautifully-written forum that nobody uses.

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    WeRelate.org - wiki-based genealogy
  6. KDE by m50d · · Score: 5, Interesting

    It looks great, it's ridiculously customizable, and it's relatively easy to get involved in development. I think it really shows off the advantages of OSS.

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    I am trolling
  7. Freshmeat's Top Goodies Stats. by antdude · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Click here.

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    Ant(Dude) @ Quality Foraged Links (AQFL.net) & The Ant Farm (antfarm.ma.cx / antfarm.home.dhs.org).
  8. Software worth paying for by Noksagt · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I've put my money where my mouth is and have donated to my favorite open source projects. I encourage everyone else to do something similar (as incentive for many in the U.S. at this time of the year: some projects are run non-profit, so your donations may be tax deductible.