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Can everything except windows can be free software?

By Lior Kaplan

I got my hands on a laptop with Windows XP installed, and can do whatever I want with it, except deleting the windows. I decided not to have a dual boot on it, but to try and make it free software only (well, except the windows itself).

The main uses for the computer are surfing the web (browser only, not email), editting documents, watching videoes and being able to burn files.

The results for now:

  • Mozilla Firefox (browser) – set to be the default browser, and I also removed Internet Explorer (well, windows only removes the links to the software and not the software itself).
  • OpenOffice.org (productivity suite) – set the be the default application to the doc, xls and ppt files. Can also read OOXML format.
  • ClamWin (anti virus)
  • InfraRecoder (CD/DVS recorder)
  • VLC (video player)- set to be the default video player (including Microsoft’s file formats).
  • Sumatra PDF (PDF reader).

See “open source as alternative” if you want to find an alternative for a specific closed software.

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This entry was posted on 06/12/2008 at 5:15 pm and is filed under Free software applications, Proprietary software, Proud to use free software. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

12 Responses to “Can everything except windows can be free software?”

  1. bob Says:
    06/12/2008 at 6:14 pm | Reply

    Something you might find interesting: http://www.theopendisc.com/

  2. 6 Months with Mac « Localized Gujarati Geek Says:
    06/12/2008 at 6:58 pm | Reply

    [...] a comment » * Inspired by Lior’s post, here is my 6 month adventure with Mac OS [...]

  3. Hezy Says:
    06/12/2008 at 11:33 pm | Reply

    I also install Pidgin, medit (text editor that works fine with unicode), 7zip, and SpeedCrunch.
    Sometimes I even install FileZilla, GIMP and Audacity.

  4. Tomer Cohen Says:
    07/12/2008 at 2:12 am | Reply

    You’ve forgot to mention both Gimp and Pidgin. :)

  5. rjc Says:
    07/12/2008 at 11:46 am | Reply

    I’m sure you don’t need the list but others might find it handy:

    http://www.opensourcewindows.org/
    http://www.winlibre.com/

  6. Tim Says:
    07/12/2008 at 12:30 pm | Reply

    I suggest http://go-oo.org/ for your OpenOffice binaries. Then you’ll have essentially the same build as the major Linux distributions use, including improved Microsoft Office compatibility.

  7. Gerfried Fuchs Says:
    07/12/2008 at 7:05 pm | Reply

    One important thing you’ve forgotten: You can’t only replace explorer as a browser but also as shell: LiteStep is an approach that works since years into that direction. http://www.litestep.net/ seems to currently have problems, but following the links from there it still looks like an active community is behind it.

  8. Nimit Says:
    07/12/2008 at 10:10 pm | Reply

    more..

    try Foxit PDF reader/editor

    &

    AlZip for zip/rar files…

  9. rjc Says:
    07/12/2008 at 11:31 pm | Reply

    @Nimit

    Neither of these is free software (FLOSS).

  10. yonkeltron » (= osalt.com coolness) #=> T Says:
    31/12/2008 at 10:00 pm | Reply

    [...] for proprietary applications across the board. Check it out at osalt.com and poke about. Hat tip to ultra-cool Debian hacker from Zion, Lior [...]

  11. Sumatra PDF « תוכנה חופשית בעברית Says:
    18/03/2009 at 10:54 pm | Reply

    [...] את העדפות שלי לגבי תוכנה חופשית על גבי windows אפשר לראות בפוסט: Can everything except windows can be free software? [...]

  12. A new version for InfraRecorder « Free Software, the Universe and Everything Says:
    28/08/2009 at 10:12 pm | Reply

    [...] part of trying to use free software programs even on a proprietary operation system. See my “Can everything except windows can be free software?” for more free and open source software for [...]

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