Technology Playground™

Since by now all timezones have turned 2008, here is the Part 2 of “My Top FLOSS Applications". Also, with this post, I am declaring that this year is the FLOSS Year, so welcome everyone to FLOSS 2008 New Year!

If you want to read Part 1 if you haven’t done so, simply click here.

Follow up:

Image Tools

1. Paint.NET (http://www.getpaint.net)

   Paint.NET is a great FLOSS application to replace Windows built-in Paint program. If you want an application than can do more than MS Paint but without loading up heavier-type image manipulation programs, Paint.NET is for you. I use it as my default Paint program for Windows XP and made my quick image editing easier and more faster.
   

2. GIMP (http://gimp.org)
   

   GIMP or the GNU Image Manipulation Program is the only FLOSS alternative for Photoshop you will ever need. Many image experts also claim that GIMP can do better in many aspects than its popular proprietary counterpart - Adobe Photoshop. I am not an image expert so I do not know, but one thing I know, if your conscience tells you not to crack Photoshop but you do not have money to pay for it, then GIMP is for you.
   

Audio-Video

1. Songbird (http://songbirdnest.com)

   Songbird is what many calls the FLOSS alternative to Apple’s iTunes. But I’d rather call it the ‘Firefox’ of Media Players. Songbird is built using Mozilla Firefox’s code base to become a Media Player for both Windows and Linux. It is currently in development but it is already my default player replacing iTunes. Go try it out.
   

2. Media Player Classic (MPC) (MPC @ Sourceforge)

   Media Player Classic or MPC is a media player similar from the very old Windows Media Player. Very simple to use and lightweight. You will need some codecs though to play other files encoded using one of the recent codecs.
   

3. Audacity (http://audacity.sourceforge.net)

   Audacity is a FLOSS application for recording and editing audio. This is the best I’ve seen and is well supported and developed. A very useful application for anyone doing audio editing newbies or pros alike.
   

4. VirtualDub (http://virtualdub.org)

   If you are a video editor and creator, you already know VirtualDub and how useful this application is. For those who are not familiar with this application, it is a video capture and processing utility for Windows streamlined for fast linear video operations. I use VirtualDub to create videos, especially game videos.
   

5. VLC media player (http://videolan.org)
   

   VLC media player is a cross-platform media player supporting a large number of multimedia formats, without the need for additional codecs. I use VLC at the office so I do not have to install additional codecs, and use it as my default player for Ubuntu Linux 64-bit.
   

Developer Tools

1. WinMerge (http://winmerge.org)

   Simply, WinMerge is a FLOSS application designed to show the differences between folders and files, and merge if you so choose. This is very useful for developers and WinMerge is the best diff tool I’ve tried. A must for every developer out there.
   

2. XAMPP (http://www.apachefriends.org/en/xampp.html)

   XAMPP is an out-of-the-box compilation of Apache, MySQL, PHP, and Perl for Windows, Linux, Mac OSX, and Solaris. Before XAMPP, I was using EasyPHP, but the releases or updates have taken so long (months), I switched to XAMPP (we need to keep using the latest versions, right?). If you are a developer, be it themes/skins for some blog platform or CMS, you can use XAMPP to install a local server right on your Windows OS. From there, you can test your changes, designs, and codes locally and safely, without touching your production site. Get XAMPP now especially if you keep on messing your production site installations
   

3. KompoZer (http://kompozer.net)

   Do you know Microsoft FrontPage? No? How about Adobe Dreamweaver? You do? Good. What, you’re ‘cracking’ it? Oh, that’s illegal, you do know that right? Well, I know, Adobe Dreamweaver and Microsoft FrontPage are expensive. Welcome to KompoZer, the FLOSS WYSIWYG application. KompoZer is the “NVU’s unofficial bug-fix release” since NVU’s development has stopped years ago. The most recent update of KompoZer was on September of 2007, and it is still continually being developed and improved. Get it now and start “KompoZing“!
   

Once again, a Blessed and Happy FLOSS 2008 New Year to all of you!!

Part 1: My Top FLOSS Applications… Part 1: Goodbye 2007