Desktop and Internet Applications


Overview

Philosophy

History

Categories

Distros

Server

Desktop

Education

Programming

Explore

Glossary

Resources

Switching from a proprietary operating system (e.g., Windows or MacOS) to one that respects users' freedom is a major decision that must be analyzed thoroughly. An alternative approach to incorporating free software in educational settings is to use free desktop applications, assuming they are available for the existing proprietary operating system.

Free, open-source software applications are available for a variety of tasks and operating systems. Here are a few of the repositories for free, open-source software: SourceForge, OSDir.com, SchoolForge, K12opensource, and The Savvy Technologist. The Simple End-User Linux project (SEUL) maintains a directory of educational applications for use on Linux.

Some popular titles that you might explore include the following:

OpenOffice.org - office productivity suite (MS Office alternative)
NeoOffice - native MacOS office productivity suite
Mozilla Firefox - Web browser (Safari and IE alternative)
Mozilla Thunderbird - e-mail client
Evolution - e-mail client
AbiWord - word processor
Gnumeric - spreadsheet
Audacity - audio-processing application
the GIMP and GIMPshop - image-processing application (Photoshop alternative)
SeaMonkey, Nvu, and KompoZer - Web-authoring application (Dreamweaver alternatives)
Pidgin (used to be GAIM) - instant messenger
Scribus - desktop-publishing application (PageMaker, Publisher alternative)
TuxPaint - KidPix-like paint program, includes add-in capabilities
Inkscape - vector graphics program (Illustrator, CorelDraw alternative)
Blender - 3D animation program
Cinelerra - video-editing program
Kino - video-editing program
CMapTools - concept-mapping, knowledge-modeling program (Inspiration alternative)

In Pictures provides free picture-based tutorials for both free and proprietary software.