Top ten FOSS programs

[johnhudson]

As mentioned at the meeting, Bradford CVS are interested in a feature on the top ten FOSS programs, really aimed at those who do not know what they would/could use if they moved over to FOSS.

All contributions to this debate welcome.

Summary of existing thoughts attached.

Attachments:

[otherdave]

As we discussed at the meeting, bearing in mind the nature of the audience, cross-platform apps would probably go down better than Linux-only. But it's impossible to do a worthwhile top ten entirely consisting of cross-platform apps.

I think also Ubuntu itself has to have a place in the list. Ignoring the category error of calling it an app, it's surely the most important single step to take along the path to software freedom. Thus the top ten gets a bit of structure and tells a story - start with a few cross platform apps (Firefox, Thunderbird, Openoffice, VLC...), then Ubuntu, and finish off with the great Linux-only apps you can only get when you upgrade to Ubuntu. And of course you keep the cross platform apps, and your data, along the way.

Do Bradford CVS entirely understand the distinction between free/beer and free/freedom? They *might* be expecting a free-of-charge antivirus somewhere in the Top Ten. Maybe make the point at the end of the Top Ten that you don't need an antivirus for Linux? Maybe even keep that crucial Number Ten slot empty, to drive the point home?

TEN. Maybe you're expecting us to recommend an anti-virus for Ubuntu. Well, we're leaving the Number Ten slot empty to show you that there is no such thing. Linux computers just don't get viruses - never have, and probably never will. So stop worrying and enjoy the rest of your life.

[johnhudson]

Most people in Bradford CVS won't understand most of the issues; that is why we set out on the journey.

Thanks for the contribution to the discussion.

[aaathatsfouras]

Actually there is antivirus for Linux, and I'm told Avast works quite nicely on Ubuntu. In fact one of our partner companies sells laptops with a heavily customised Ubuntu distro and it comes with Avast pre-installed (but not configured or licensed). People who buy the laptops then question why I don't recommend setting it up.

The discussion about differences between free beer and freedom is not an easy one to do in a short article. You can get the ideas across sure, but not passionately or effectively. Most people just want free software. They don't care whether it's open or closed source, and many of them don't care whether it's advert-supported, spyware-supported, pirated or actually free.

We've not really moved forward on this article recently have we? There's so many different ideas on how it should be written or what it should cover that I think really, somebody just needs to go ahead and write something up and the rest of us will probably agree it's worth submitting.

[johnhudson]

Ok I've taken up the challenge. Comments please:

Ten top FOSS programs (in alphabetical order)

Audacity: the top program for manipulating sounds and music from all sources

Chrome: a lightweight browser for those who want to get on and off the Internet quickly

Firefox: a fully featured browser with many add-ons to make your browsing easier

GIMP (Linux only) superb graphics editing which will do everything and more than most people need

Inkscape: a vector graphics program that supports the SVG format which will be a key part of HTML5 web browsers

OpenOffice: an office suite to meet the needs of most offices and all those who need office facilities at home

Scribus: a desktop publishing program suitable for home users but written with commercial publishers in mind

Tomboy: a note-taking program which allows formatting of notes and links with email addresses and websites

Ubuntu (Linux only) a collection of Linux programs which offers a one-stop replacement for other operating systems or can also be run alongside Windows, giving access to both where a user needs Windows for some purposes

VLC: a media player to play CDs, DVDs and streaming audio or video from all sources.

[otherdave]

Quibbles in descending order of importance.

Two browsers? I would guess anyone who knows the word "browser" (rather than "the blue 'e' thing") already knows about Firefox, maybe just include Chrome with a nod to Firefox ("Many people's first introduction to Free Software comes when they replace Internet Explorer with Firefox, well there's a new alternative named Chrome you might like to try")

Recognise the motivation behind alphabetical order, but doubt it's appropriate for the final article. Need a story line, or group like with like.

Very graphics heavy. Nothing against Inkscape, but if you even know what vector graphics is you can surely find your own way to Inkscape. The number of CVS people who need it but don't know they need it is surely miniscule.

Consider a video editor in place of Inkscape or one of the browsers, VirtualDub (Windows only but works with Wine) is GPL. And what about Wine itself...

Consider avoiding saying the word 'Gimp' out loud ;-) or capitalise it (as you wisely already did) and include what it stands for, even at the cost of precious article space.

[aaathatsfouras]

We should put this in a wiki and start an editing war next. Until then, I'd agree there should only be one browser. I'd agree with one fewer graphics package. I wouldn't agree with VirtualDub - it's not all that nice to use, and if people want to do video editing they'll want training on how to do it well.

They'd be interested in hearing about Ninite. Most of the software provided by Ninite isn't opensource, but it offers a very nice method for installing software without scary questions and is a safe place to download software from. And I think if we're truly doing this to be helpful rather than just sell open source then we need to mention Ninite.

[johnhudson]

Ten top FOSS programs: another go (in alphabetical order) - as posted on the mailing list.

Apache the server which powered the rise of the Internet and runs on most of the computers connected to the Internet – also available for you home or office network

Audacity: the top program for manipulating sounds and music from all sources

Chromium: a FOSS version of Google's Chrome browser for those who want to get on and off the Internet quickly

GIMP superb graphics editing which will do everything and more than most people need

mysql the database used by many well-known names on the Internet to handle your queries; it can also be used as a backend to MS Access giving you the power of a commercial database but allowing you to continue using MS Access as your user interface

OpenOffice: an office suite to meet the needs of most offices and all those who need office facilities at home

Scribus: a desktop publishing program suitable for home users but written with commercial publishers in mind

Tomboy: a note-taking program which allows formatting of notes and links with email addresses and websites

Ubuntu (Linux only) a collection of Linux programs which offers a one-stop replacement for other operating systems or can also be run alongside Windows, giving access to both where a user needs Windows for some purposes

VLC: a media player to play CDs, DVDs and streaming audio or video from all sources.