Best Free Open Source Software For Windows

snydeq writes "InfoWorld surveys the FOSS-on-Windows landscape, detailing the 10 free open source solutions most likely to unseat proprietary offerings. 'Some, like TrueCrypt and VirtualBox, are real diamonds in the rough: enterprise-grade solutions that deliver many of the same bells and whistles of their commercial brethren, but for free. Others, like Firefox and OpenOffice.org, are already legendary, and their strong followings ensure their continued development and support at levels that rival the best proprietary solutions.'" Rather than click through 10 different pages, the slideshow presentation at least lets you hover over each page's link to preview the author's top picks.

Comments

The list, for those who don't care about pictures

[Anonymous Coward]

1. FileZilla
2. VirtualBox
3. OpenOffice.Org
4. Firefox
5. Paint.Net
6. Media Player Classic
7. TrueCrypt
8. PDFCreator
9. 7-Zip
10. ClamWin

Cygwin!

[Anonymous Coward]

Cygwin!

Re:The list, for those who don't care about pictur

[lawpoop]

PDFCreator!? I just downloaded and installed it yesterday on a Vista machine at work. I got a Yahoo search toolbar installed after specifically telling the installer app not to do so, and then I also got a 404 redirector installed too!

This was from the installer I downloaded from sourceforge...

Re:paint.net?

[EvanED]

Is there a reason, other than complexity of interface, that one might choose it over gimp.

"complexity of interface" is a pretty damn good thing to base a decision on.

I suppose gimp does not have all the shapes of a drawing program, but it does paint, with colors.

When you have to look up documentation to figure out how to draw a straight line in the Gimp, and that documentation is somewhat condescending, you might start to think that the Gimp isn't actually that good for simple tasks.

What about VLC?

[shinedog]

Surely VLC should have made this list? While it isn't exactly pretty it is very much FOSS, cross platform, and removes the need to download endless quantities of random codecs. Definitely better that Media Player classic in my book.

Re:OpenOffice legendary?

[Anachragnome]

That's interesting.

I did a recent verbal survey in a literature class at the community college I am attending and 45% of the class was using it exclusively(other then the forced use of MS Office at the college labs).

I did it again at the end of the semester and that number had changed to 60%. It is possible that my first survey prompted the increase, but I also asked if the newer users preferred it over MS's product. ALL of them said they did. I then asked WHY.

The most common answer was that it was completely cross-compatible as far as opening MS created files...and it was free. The students could create files on the school MS system, then go home and open it in Open Office. And that it was free. Another reason they gave was that it was free.

I understand that there are some issues with bouncing back and forth between MS Office and Open Office, but most students choose one or the other. And its free.

As you might expect, students are not keen on spending upwards of $200 on MS Office when they can get Open Office for...free.

Did I mention that it is free?

Re:The list, for those who don't care about pictur

[Adrian Lopez]

I downloaded PDFCreator to give it a spin, but after learning about the toolbar and reading your post I've deleted it without completing the installation.

Wikipedia has further [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PDFCreator]details[/url]:

Starting with version 0.9.8, PDFCreator has included a toolbar application, PDFForge Toolbar. Users have reported that this software changes their computer settings. PDFCreator's end-user-license-agreement states that the software will "modify your Microsoft Internet Explorer and/or Mozilla Firefox browser settings for the default search engine, address bar search, "DNS error" page, "404 error" page, and new tab page to facilitate more informative responses as determined by The Toolbar". All instances of "page not found - 404 errors" redirect to a malicious search site. Choosing to not install the toolbar installs it regardless. Some reviewers have termed the toolbar as "malware" and PDFForge has received criticism for including this toolbar with PDFCreator.[8][9][10]

Writing in May 2009 Steven Avery stated:

"PDFCreator, formerly a respected open source product, is causing havoc with a malware install toolbar. Amazingly SourceForge hasn't done anything about this yet and still lists the software, and for many their trust level is shaken as well.[10]"

It has been reported that it is possible to deselect the Browser Addon during installation and that the PDFForge Toolbar can be uninstalled separately.[citation needed]