Some of the commercial software like Photoshop are so expensive that
an average user can not afford to buy it. Lately I am looking for some
free or open source alternatives for windows programs and i was amazed
with the range of programs available. Here i will list some of the open
source or free programs as alternatives to windows commercial programs.
1. 7-zip
7-Zip
is a open source file archiver program for windows. It supports packing
and unpacking of 7z, ZIP, GZIP, BZIP2 and TAR format files and supports
onlu unpacking of RAR, CAB, ISO, ARJ, LZH, CHM, Z, CPIO, RPM, DEB and
NSIS. It provides better compression ratio than WinZip for ZIP and GZIP
formats. It is an alternative to programs like WinZip
2. Audacity: 
Audacity
is free, open source software for recording and editing sounds.Audacity
can be used to record live audio, convert tapes and records into
digital recordings or CDs, edit Ogg Vorbis, MP3, and WAV sound files.
cut, copy, splice, and mix sounds together.
3. Blender:
Blender
is a open source free software for creating 3D animations. Blender can
be used for modelling, UV unwrapping, texturing, rigging, skinning,
animating, rendering, particle and creating interactive 3D
applications. Blender has robust features et similar to programs like
3ds Max and Maya.
4. ClamWin: 
ClamWin
is a Free Antivirus for Windows 98/Me/2000/XP and 2003. ClamWin is a
good alternative to commercial softwares like Norton, McAfee etc.
Clamwin features include High detection rates for viruses and spyware,
Scanning Scheduler, Automatic downloads of regularly updated Virus
Database, Standalone virus scanner and right-click menu integration to
Microsoft Windows Explorer, and Addin to Microsoft Outlook to remove
virus-infected attachments automatically.
5. eMule:
eMule is a open source peer to peer file sharing (P2P) client tool.
6. Feedreader:
Feedreader
is free desktop RSS aggregation tool. “Feedreader automatically
downloads updates from your favorite Web sites. So, it eliminates the
need for you to constantly monitor multiple Web pages, while allowing
you to immediately identify and retrieve new articles”
7. Filezilla:
FileZilla
is a free, open source FTP client for Windows. It supports FTP, SFTP,
and FTPS protocols. It has all the essential features required for a
FTP client. The main features of FileZilla are Ability to resume
Uploads/Downloads, Site Manager with folders, Keep Alive system,
Timeout detection, Firewall support, SOCKS4/5 and HTTP1.1 Proxy
support, SSL secured connections, Upload/Download Queue, Drag&Drop.
8. Firefox:
The
best cross platform supported web brwoser available on the net, it
doesn’t need any introduction and many of you might be using. The wide
range of Firefox Add-On’s make this the most powerful browser for all
types of users. Firefox is an alternative to Microsoft Internet
Explorer.
9. GIMP:
GNU
Image Manipulation Program (GIMP) is free open source raster graphics
editor for manipulating photos or images. GIMP is an excellent software
and alternative to expensive photoshop, it is used for photo
retouching, image composition and image authoring.
10. hugin:
hugin
is a open source easy to use cross-platform panoramic imaging tool.
Using hugin you can assemble a mosaic of photographs into as complete
immersive panorama, stitch any series of overlapping pictures and much
more.
11. Inkscape:
Inkscape
is an open source vector graphics editor. Inkscape is a good
alternative to commercial vector graphics tools like Corel Draw, Adobe
Illustrator, Freehand or Xara X. Inkscape uses Scalable Vector Graphics
(SVG), an open XML-based W3C standard, as the native format. It can be
used to create web2.0 buttons, banners, logos, icons etc. (see earlier review)
12. Juice:
Juice
is a free open source cross-platform podcast receiver application. It
is used to download podcast media files, such as oggs and mp3s. Using
juice you can schedule the podcast and juice will let you know when a
new podcast is available. The downloaded files media files can be
automatically copied to a digital audio player.
13. OpenOffice.org:
OpenOffice.org
is the open source office suite similar to Microsoft office available
to different platforms. OpenOffice.org is a collection of applications
with the features similar to Microsoft Office. The Components include
Writer, Calc, Base, Impress, Draw, Math, Quickstarter etc.
14. PDFCreator:
PDFCreator
is a free program for creating PDF documents from windows programs.
Once installed, it allows the user to select PDFCreator as their
printer, allowing almost any application to print to PDF.
15. Pidgin:
Pidgin,
formerly known as Gaim is a multi-platform instant messaging client
that supports many commonly used IM protocols. Pidgin is a free
software and supports IM’s including Yahoo, Google Talk, Jabber, MSN,
AOL, ICQ etc.
16. Programmers Notepad:
Programmer’s Notepad is the free, open source, text editor for programmers.
some of the features of Programmers Notepad: Code Folding/Outlining,
Docking tool windows, Excellent external tool support with
user-configurable output matching, Export to HTML (using CSS) and RTF,
Word Wrapping
17. Scribus:
Scribus
is an open source desktop publishing (DTP) application. It has some
nice page layout features and can be used as an alternative to Adobe
PageMaker, QuarkXPress and Adobe InDesign. “It can also create animated
and interactive PDF presentations and forms. Example uses include
writing small newspapers, brochures, newsletters, posters and books.”
18. Sunbird:
Sunbird
is open source desktop calender application from Mozilla foundation.
Sunbird is a cross platform, open standards application built on Mozill
Toolkit.
19. Thunderbird:
Thunderbird
is the open source desktop email application from Mozilla foundation.
Thunderbird has the best features in the industry. “Thunderbird 2
features many new enhancements to help you better manage your unruly
inbox, and stay informed. Thunderbird 2 scales to the most
sophisticated organizational needs while making it easy to find what
you need.”
20. VLC Media Player:
VLC
Media Player is a open source media player from VideoLan project team.
It is the best media player available in the net, it plays almost any
file format available. It also supports streaming protocols. It is a
good alternative to different media players.
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