The Freeware and Open Source Software Thread

[Omanes Alexandrapolites]

K-Meleon
Homepage
OS: Windows 95/NT 4.0 or never
Open Source: Yes
Description: A Mozilla based browser designed for improved performance, response to user input and integration on Windows when compared to Firefox. K-Meleon sadly isn't as customisable as Firefox though and many extensions and all themes don't work with it.

Camino
Homepage
OS: Mac OSX 10.3 or newer
Open Source: Yes
Description: Similar to K-Meleon, Camino is a Mozilla based browser which aims for improved integration and speed on a particular OS - in this case Mac OSX. Like, K-Meleon, Camino sadly isn't as customisable as Firefox though and many extensions and all themes don't work with it. It does have an array of its own extensions though specifically designed for it.

Flock
Homepage
OS: Windows 98 or better, Mac OSX 10.2 or better, Linux
Open Source: Yes
Description: Flock is based on Firefox and is designed for integration with popular social networking sites such as Facebook, MySpace, YouTube, PhotoBucket e.c.t. Due to its Firefox roots, most Firefox extensions work with it, and many extensions designed exclusively for Flock work with Firefox. Themes are a different matter, however, and many of them are incompatible or only have partial functionality.

Mozilla Sunbird
Homepage
OS: Windows 98 or better, Mac OSX 10.2 or better, Linux
Open Source: Yes
Description: Sunbird is a powerful calendering and organisation program. Similar to its big brothers, Thunderbird and Firefox, it's open source and provides add-ons and themes for customisability.

[Alexander the Pretty Good]

How much memory do those kids eat up, and how fast do they start up? I only need one Firefox performance-wise.

[Raz]

Darn! How come I didn't find this earlier?

Abuse
Homepage Note: not the original homepage, the original has been taken of the net, (but you can still get it here.)
OS: Windows, but originally on DOS.
Open Source: Not sure, could someone check for me. (I accidentally removed it from my PC)
Description: A fairly old action sidescrolling shooter, first made for MS-DOS as shareware, but has recently become free and works under Windows, with only slight changes to the DOS original. Think Alien vs Predator minus the marines. Light on plot and story, still very fun - makes you feel like you're back at the arcades. Comes with it's own editor for new levels if you would like to make them.

Scorched 3D
Homepage
OS: Windows, Mac, Linux - tells you here
Open Source: Yes
Description: Remember the old Scorched Earth? The mother of all games? Well now it's back and with more firepower than ever before! And is in 3D. Very fun turned-based game, I first got it when browsing the net during a long and lengthy installation of another game, thinking it'd be a bit of fun. Now whenever I'm installing a game or just want to kill some time, I start up Scorched 3D.

Oh and, yes another game:
Dink Smallwood
Homepage
OS: Windows
Open Source: Yes
Description: An isometric RPG set in a medieval-fantasy kind of world. Outdated graphics-wise, but very fun. It will keep you enjoyed for hours on end. I can't say much more, but it's so full of humour that I'd get it just for the laughs it will bring. Trust me, you'll enjoy it and I guarantee that you will smile at least once during the course of the game. I managed to get the game when it first became freeware on CD form, this was before the turn of the century - and I've still got it on my PC to this day (26-Feb-08).

(This all comes under Gaming of course)
Also, could I suggest Roguelike games? Not very good for those less nerdy than I, but I find that they kill time too. =D

[drone]

Scorched 3D
Homepage
OS: Windows, Mac, Linux - tells you here
Open Source: Yes
Description: Remember the old Scorched Earth? The mother of all games? Well now it's back and with more firepower than ever before! And is in 3D. Very fun turned-based game, I first got it when browsing the net during a long and lengthy installation of another game, thinking it'd be a bit of fun. Now whenever I'm installing a game or just want to kill some time, I start up Scorched 3D.

Awesome. Remember playing Scorched Earth on 286s back in the late 80s. Vertical guidance and rollers FTW!

[Lemur]

AVG Anti-Virus has a new version, if you would be so good as to change the link in its entry. New link for download: http://free.grisoft.com/ww.download?prd=afe

[Alexander the Pretty Good]

Updated that, but I don't even know where I was with updating everything else... :(

[Omanes Alexandrapolites]

Sorry for the late response to your question Alexander. I haven't checked this thread for a while

How much memory do those kids eat up, and how fast do they start up? I only need one Firefox performance-wise.

I don't really know in all honesty. It's essentially what the website says although it doesn't really provide any statistics. Both Camino and K-melon are based on the platform's native API rather than using Mozilla clunky XUL, so it kind of makes logical sense.

Flock is not another Firefox, although it is based on Firefox. It's like Firefox, but with integration into a variety of social networking sites such as Digg, Facebook and MySpace. It also includes webmail integration with Yahoo! Mail and, more recently, Gmail.

Sunbird is like Thunderbird, totally unaffiliated in terms of purpose with Firefox. It's designed as a PIM (personal information manager) which can be used to perform calendaring tasks, set reminders and organise a schedule.

[JR-]

Sumatra PDF:
http://blog.kowalczyk.info/software/sumatrapdf/
open source pdf that doesn't try to report back to adobe HQ

Klipfolio:
http://www.klipfolio.com/
Good RSS reader

OSSEC HIDS:
http://www.ossec.net/en/home.html
open source intrusion detection system

Wikitaxi:
http://wikitaxi.org/delphi/doku.php/...wikitaxi/index
offline wikipedia database dump reader

Truecrypt:
http://www.truecrypt.org/
best data encryption app period, open source eor otherwise (and it is open source)

[Alexander the Pretty Good]

Woot! Updated for the first time in a long time! Sorry it took so long. As usual, contributions and corrections welcome.

[Xiahou]

As a readability suggestion, why not put the first post's software lists under the various categories in "spoil" tags? That way the reader can expand the category of software that they are looking for without the need to scroll thru everything. The list is getting pretty massive and that might make it easier to find what you're looking for.

Just my 2 cents.

[Lemur]

Oooh, that sounds really ... useful ...

Or you could use the [ex] tag, which is even better, since it preserves all of your formatting and doesn't introduce the box effect or the wacky italics everywhere ...

[Xiahou]

Or you could use the [ex] tag, which is even better, since it preserves all of your formatting and doesn't introduce the box effect or the wacky italics everywhere ...

Even better

[Alexander the Pretty Good]

Done.

[Tellos Athenaios]

In the FOSS category you could add Iceweasel which is the Debian (default) version of Firefox (ergo: FOSS). Linux.
Debian is a FOSS OS, btw.

[caravel]

I've used Iceweasel when I used to run Debian. I've now switched back to Ubuntu as that was the easiest way to get my Wireless working.

[Pannonian]

WinFF
Homepage
An open source media converter. Can convert between most video and audio types. WinFF is the GUI for the underlying FFMpeg utility.

XBoard and WinBoard
Homepage
Open source UIs for playing and replaying chess games on. XBoard is the Linux version, WinBoard the Windows version.

GSpot
Homepage
Identifies the codecs needed to play media files.

MP3Gain
Homepage
An open source mp3 volume normaliser. You can set the volume you want the mp3s to normalise at. and do them in batches.

[Drisos]

This thread ROCKS! Thanks, all contributors!

[Furunculus]

Woot! Updated for the first time in a long time! Sorry it took so long. As usual, contributions and corrections welcome.

my pleasure.

sumatra pdf might be better in the office utilities section tho. :)

[TevashSzat]

Okay, I found this Awesome Site

Basically, you can get normally licensed software for free every day. The site apparently pays the developers for how ever many licenses or is given how ever many licenses for people to download from.

[shlin28]

http://game.giveawayoftheday.com/

Don't forget the games

[Alexander the Pretty Good]

Updated.

Tellos Athenaios - I didn't add Iceweasel because I wasn't sure if you could get it separately.

As for the Giveaways of the Day, I didn't feel like including them somewhere. I used to follow them both a while ago, but both often offer trial versions or temporary liscense (or did back then). Plus a fair share of the software seemed mediocre, in my inexpert opinion. There's some good stuff sometimes, it just felt too few and far between to me.

And I added foobar2000 as an audio media player. It's like winamp without the bloat and with incredible configurability. I'm loving it.

[TevashSzat]

Well now, the versions all seem to be pro which you would need to normally pay for. Yes, the quality is dubious at times, but there are some real gems in there

[jgrtmp]

EASEUS Patition Manager 3.0 Home Edition
Homepage: http://www.partition-tool.com/
OS: Free Home Edition is WIN2k, WINXP32 & Vista32.
Open Source: No
Description: Best PartMan since Vista's on board manager. Functions without the need of CD/Floppy rebooting. Includes both Disk & Partition Copy Wizards. Pro verions open up to other OSs & Servers (have CD boot recovery) starting at $32-$400(dependant upon License level).

I've used the previous version & had found it had upgraded since my download. This is great - no need for a floppy for those who dont have one in the bay...
Thank IT for fixing my account to add this to the list...

[Xiahou]

Toribash: Violence Perfected
homepage: http://toribash.com/
OS: Windows, Linux, Mac
Open Source: No

I've been playing around with this game for the last few days and have found it pretty entertaining. It's best described as a turn-based fighting game.
Here's the game's official trailer.
And here are a few gameplay videos that show you what the pros (not me) can do.
Vid1
Vid2

Enjoy.

[Furunculus]

Travelling Saleman (mapping and route-finding application):
http://sourceforge.net/projects/travelingsales

Java based and using openstreetmap data.

[seireikhaan]

Fences
http://www.stardock.com/products/fences/

OS: Windows XP, Vista, 7.
Open source: Uh, don't think so. I might be a bit confused on the exact definition of "open source" though.

Enables you to build, uh, "fences" for any desktop icons. You group them together in a box-ish sorta thing on the desktop. Enables better organizing of desktop icons. Main thing that I like about it is that with a simple double click on the left click on the desktop, any and every icon in the fences "disappear". To bring them back, just another simple double click.

[Beskar]

Google Chrome
http://www.google.com/chrome/
OS: Windows
Open-source: I believe so

The browser that Firefox and IE8 copied in order to improve themselves. It is a streamlined fast browser which prides itself on minimalistic design and simple looking good. When released, was the first multi-thread browser and has every object within it's own memory, which can assist in stopping crashes on a website affecting the rest of it.

[rabcarl]

Has anyone mentioned DFX audio enhancer? As someone who doesn't have a huge amount of audio knowledge, it works really well. I notice significant improvement with this. There is a pay version but the free one works decently too. It just opens up as soon as you open your media player of choice (supports windows media player, winamp, realplayer I think and maybe some others.)

http://www.fxsound.com/

Like I said before there's a free and pay version, the free version isn't a trial it just has limited capabilities (but it's still worth it as there is definitely a noticeable improvement in sound quality.

[rajpoot]

I don't think this's been posted before.

http://torcs.sourceforge.net/

Open Source racing game. Not your NFS in graphics and stuff, but pretty damn good all the same.....and well, it is free

[Moros]

Scala's new homepage is:
http://www.huygens-fokker.org/scala/