What’s your favorite open source product?
I do a lot of talks about open source software in libraries. I have a set list of open source products that I think librarians would be interested in (not necessarily library specific). I’m wondering what products you all like using. Some biggies on my list are:
- Ubuntu
- Firefox
- Pidgin
What else should I add?
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On the the desktop, I use Ubuntu, Firefox, Thunderbird, OpenOffice, GIMP, Pidgin, VLC, and Audacity.
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Nicole, GIMP offers source code on its download page: http://www.gimp.org/downloads/
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" Where do I get it?
Most (if not all) Linux distributions will support GIMP through their package management systems and may even come with GIMP preinstalled. You can follow links to Linux and UNIX, Microsoft Windows and Apple Mac OS X for the latest binaries. Of course, this is free software so the source code is available to, along with instruction on how to compile it."
http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-sw.html <-- for what is meant by free software.
Its licensed under the GPL
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On the desktop there's always good ol' OpenOffice.
On the server side, the newly release Omeka digital projects software is showing real promise. I use Textpattern for our library's website.
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Nicole: From the Gimp site: GIMP is Free Software and a part of the GNU Project. In the free software world, there is generally no distinction between users and developers. As in a friendly neighbourhood, everybody pitches in to help their neighbors. Please consider the time you give in assistance to others as payment. Sure sounds like open source to me.
For those on the Mac OS X side looking for open source software:
http://www.opensourcemac.org/
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Otherwise I would add Inkscape, Scribus, eXe and ClamAV.
GIMP:
http://www.gimp.org/about/
http://www.gimp.org/about/COPYING
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One of my current favorites is Untangle (www.untangle.com). Not only does it provide a great deal of functionality but it has several other meta- attributes that I am hoping show the future direction of many FOSS projects. These include:
1) A really visually spectacular and easy user interface.
2) A quite friendly and stable install process from their ISO image.
3) Free support via forums and an option for phone support for a subscription fee with a 'real company' answering the phone.
I know for a lot of librarians the 'F-Word' refers to filtering so they might miss Untangle but they might want to give it another look since filtering is only one part of its offerings - and can easily be shut off!
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