Open Source software

In my last post I talked a little about Linux and I mentioned that there are thousands of programs available for Linux. I mentioned the fact that most were completely free. What I didn't mention was the dual meaning of free. Not only are most of the programs available for no charge, but the "source code" is also available for most of these programs. What that means is if you knew a lot about programming you could change the program to add extra functionality. If you come across a bug in a program, and you have the programming knowledge, you could fix it yourself - without waiting for some company to fix it for you. Software that fits under this umbrella is often called "open source." But Open Source is more than just being able to look at the code, after all, Microsoft sometimes lets organizations look at their code. Open Source also means you can't then take someone else's code and write a "closed" program. The idea is to share the wealth of knowledge and source. Use the source Luke!

Open source software isn't confined to Linux. There are open source programs for Windows, FreeBSD (a UNIX-based operating system), BeOS, and a slew of other operating systems. Hey, if you look hard enough you might even find open source software for the Commodore 64!

There are lots of web sites you can start looking for Open Source software. The great thing about these sites is that they are trustworthy. It's very unlikely the software on the two sites I'm about to list will contain viruses or spyware - though it's not impossible that one might. My favourite Open Source web site is "Freshmeat" http://www.freshmeat.net/. Freshmeat has a clean, simple interface. I also like the fact that you can browse by the type of software (i.e. education, games, scientific) or by operating system, programming language, or a host of other things. If you're looking for a Windows program, you just need to click Browse, then Browse by Opertaing System, Microsoft, then Windows (or DOS if you like). Don't count out DOS - it might be an old operating system, but there is still some very cool software for DOS, such as Advanced MAME: A game arcade emulator for arcade monitors and TVs, and Atomic Tanks, a very cool tank game with various levels of artificial intelligence.

The other good site is Sourceforge. Sourceforge is a bit more intimidating, but a lot of the software on Sourceforge is actually hosted by sourceforge, not just linked to. Sourceforge does categorize software, but there are fewer screen shots. Sourceforge: http://sourceforge.net/.

Of course, if you have an Ubuntu Linux system, there is already a slew of software on your system, and more available if you have a high speed Internet connection and use Synaptic to download more.