10 Greatest Open Source Software Of 2009

These are full-featured cross-platform softwares, free as in beer and speech. Vivek Gite picks his best open source software of 2009.



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#1: Inkscape ( Vector Graphics Editor )

Inkscape is a vector graphics editor. It is similar to Illustrator, CorelDraw, and Xara X. This is perfect for object manipulation and styling objects. From the project home page:

Inkscape supports many advanced SVG features (markers, clones, alpha blending, etc.) and great care is taken in designing a streamlined interface. It is very easy to edit nodes, perform complex path operations, trace bitmaps and much more. We also aim to maintain a thriving user and developer community by using open, community-oriented development.

#2: 7-Zip ( Archiver )

Supports many formats: Packing / unpacking: 7z, ZIP, GZIP, BZIP2 and TAR Unpacking only: ARJ, CAB, CHM, CPIO, DEB, DMG, HFS, ISO, LZH, LZMA, MSI, NSIS, RAR, RPM, UDF, WIM, XAR and Z. Fast. Free and open source. High compression ratio. Works best with Windows operating systems.

7-Zip is a file archiver and open source software. No need to use winzip or anything else. It does everything for you without paying a single penny:

Note: For Linux / UNIX desktop I prefer to use native tools such as zip/unzip, tar etc.

#3: VLC ( Media Player )

Great media player which supports almost all formats (audio, video formats DVDs / VCDs, and various streaming protocols) and is stripped down to its most fundamental features (i.e. portable media player). A must have software for all anim and movie fans.

#4: VirtualBox ( Virtualization )

Run Linux / MS-Windows or any other supported os directly without removing Windows, Linux, OpenSolaris or Macintosh (OS X) host operating systems. A professional class software that is freely available as Open Source Software under the terms of the GNU General Public License (GPL). I recommend this software to all users to try out Linux or learn Perl / Shell scripting using UNIX development environment. VirtualBox is similar to VMware workstation.

#5: Miro ( Internet TV )

Torrents made easy, RSS made beautiful, with tons of gorgeous HD video.

Miro is a free, open source, video player and podcast client. The official site described it as:

I love Miro and I use it for Internet TV and video player which comes with a library of more than 6,000 Internet streams and podcasts.

#6: TrueCrypt/veracrypt ( Disk Encryption )

It can create a virtual encrypted disk within a file or a device-hosted encrypted volume on either an individual partition or an entire storage device. It supports Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X and Linux (using FUSE) and encrypted volumes can be made portable. The version for Windows Vista or XP can encrypt the boot partition or entire boot drive and has the ability to create and run a hidden encrypted operating system whose existence is deniable.

Free open-source disk encryption (real-time on-the-fly encryption) software for Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux (for Linux I prefer native disk encryption). From the wikipedia:

On 28 May 2014, the TrueCrypt website announced that the project was no longer maintained and recommended users to find alternative solutions. VeraCrypt is a fork of the discontinued TrueCrypt project. It was initially released on June 22, 2013 and has produced its latest release (version 1.21) on July 9, 2017.

Linux user should use LUKS. See “How setup Hard Disk Encryption With LUKS [ cryptsetup Command ] in Linux” for more info.

#7: Calibre ( eBook Converter and Reader )

It manages your e-book collection for you. It can sort the books in your library by: Title, Author, Date added, Date published, Size, Rating, Series, etc. Tags – a flexible system for categorizing your collection however you like Comments – a long form entry that you can use for book description, notes, reviews, etc. Search local ebooks or over the Internet using title/author or ISBN. E-book conversion Syncing to e-book reader devices Downloading news from the web and converting it into e-book form (e.g., NYT, TOI, ESPN etc).

calibre is a free and open source e-book library management application. It supports the following features:

Without this software Sony or Amazon ebook reader is virtually useless for non-ebook format pdf reading.

#8: GnuCash ( Financial Management )

Double-entry bookkeeping Scheduled Transactions Mortgage and Loan Repayment Druid Small Business Accounting Features Transaction-Import Matching Support Multi-Currency Transaction Handling Stock/Mutual Fund Portfolios Online Stock and Mutual Fund Quotes

#9: GIMP ( Graphics / Simple Photo Editing )

#10: Audacity ( Sound Editor / Recorder )

My Favorite Software Of 2009:

GnuCash is personal and small-business financial-accounting software, freely licensed under the GNU GPL and available for GNU/Linux, BSD, Solaris, Mac OS X and Microsoft Windows. Personally I like it because of its rich functionality and easy of use. GnuCash is similar to Microsoft Money and it is used by accountant, small business/home user etc. Features:I’m not a professional artist/illustrator/designer/web designer (read as Photoshop expert), but gimp is used for simple photo editing of my personal work such as photo retouching, image composition, simple effects, image authoring, and much more.Audacity is a free all in one audio editor and recorder like GoldWave software. You can use Audacity to record live audio, convert tapes and records into digital recordings or CDs, and edit sound files or just create personal ringtons for mobile phones.

VirtualBox – It is a life saver for sys admin and perfect free software loaded with tons of features. It offers great performance and stability, and supports a wide-variety of guest operating systems.

This is my personal FOSS desktop software list and it is not absolutely definitive, so if you’ve got your own software, share in the comments below.

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[ For those who celebrate, Merry Christmas! For everyone else, enjoy the weekend. ]