Although Windows is not a free operating system, it has become a standard simply because it comes pre-installed with most new computers. In the past, this meant you also had to get matching commercial software, which often came at a hefty price tag. Fortunately, the open source movement and the Internet changed the game.
Today there are many free open source software options, and often cross-platform alternatives to costly Windows software. In this article I have summarized the most important free open source alternatives to standard commercial Windows programs.
LibreOffice replaces Microsoft Office
LibreOffice was founded by former developers of OpenOffice over concerns that Oracle would turn it into a commercial product. In April this year, however, Oracle announced that it would discontinue commercial development of OpenOffice and make it a purely community-based project [Wikipedia]. Nevertheless, LibreOffice has become an alternative for both OpenOffice and Microsoft Office.
Like its commercial counterpart, LibreOffice comes with a word processor (Writer), a spreadsheet program (Calc), a presentation tool (Impress), a databases manager (Base), and a lot more. It is fully compatible with standard Microsoft Office file formats but users must remember to save or export their files in the respective format.
LibreOffice’s number one competitor is of course OpenOffice.
Further reading:
- LibreOffice – A Free Office Suite For Windows, Linux & Mac
- Useful Free Open Office Templates To Make You More Productive
Mozilla Thunderbird replaces Windows Live Mail
Mozilla’s Thunderbird is an easy to set up desktop mail client that supports extensions and hence can do many tricks that Windows Live Mail still needs to learn. Unfortunately, it still isn’t an alternative for anyone who depends on syncing (Outlook) contact data from or to mobile devices.
Further reading:
- How To Set Up Mozilla Thunderbird For Auto-Responses & Scheduled Emails
- How To Set Up Mozilla Thunderbird 3 For Multiple Email Accounts
- How To Terminally Delete eMails In Thunderbird By Compacting Folders
Inkscape replaces CorelDraw & Adobe Illustrator
Inkscape is a vector graphics editor that uses the W3C standard Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) file format, supporting many advanced SVG features, including markers, clones, and alpha blending. It is rather intuitive to use, which makes it a great tool for beginners.
Another free open source alternative for CorelDraw is Draw from the OpenOffice package or Draw from the LibreOffice package.
Further reading:
- 10 Awesome Free Tools To Make Infographics
- 4 Great Applications for the Graphic Designer on a Budget
GIMP replaces Adobe Photoshop
GIMP, an acronym for GNU Image Manipulation Program, is a cross platform graphics editor, which can serve as a simple paint program, but also supports advanced features, such as photo retouching, batch processing, or image format conversion.
Another option for Windows users is Paint.NET, which some say is easier to use than GIMP, especially if you are not looking for advanced features.
Further reading:
- 5 Websites To Learn GIMP Online
- Top 10 Beginner Video Tutorials To Learn GIMP Fast
- GIMP Paint Studio: A Great Addition To Make GIMP A Digital Artist’s Playground
- How To Create An Image Map Using Paint.NET
Blender replaces 3ds Max
Blender is a cross-platform 3D content creation suite that supports modeling, animation, rendering, a game engine, and much more. The Blender homepage features a thorough collection of tutorials and a list of movies that were created with the program.
Further reading:
BRL-CAD replaces AutoCAD
BRL-CAD is a cross-platform open source modeling software that supports interactive geometry editing, high-performance ray-tracing for rendering and geometric analysis, image and system processing tools, and more. The program has been developed for an impressive 20+ years.
Another alternative to AutoCAD is LibreCAD.
Further reading:
- Free CAD Drawing For Linux, Windows & Mac Using LibreCAD
- How To Convert AutoCAD Drawings Into PDF Files With DWGgateway
7-Zip replaces WinZip or WinRAR
7-Zip is a file compression/decompression tool that supports many archive formats and also comes bundled with a lightweight file manager.
You might also want to check out the open source file and archive manager PeaZip, which comes as a portable and full version for 32- and 64-bit versions of Windows and Linux.
Further reading:
- 7Zip – A Free Program to Unzip Uncommon Archive Formats
- PeaZip – A Fantastic Free Alternative To WinRAR Or WinZip
- 2 Alternative File Managers You Should Really Check Out
A full list of free and open source software can be found on Wikipedia.
What was the last program you paid money for and why?
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Another AutoCAD alternative is DraftSight by Dassault Systemes. http://www.draftsight.com
Another AutoCAD alternative is DraftSight by Dassault Systemes. http://www.draftsight.com
unfortunstely, nothing replaces skype
How about Google Talk?
If you use Ubuntu, There’s Empathy :)
For Christ’s sake, Ubuntu isn’t the only linux distro. Empathy is available on any linux distro, and probably Windows too. Also, Empathy is terrible.
Ekiga
its really common things…even if you post it 2 years ago.. i told it will be surprising.. sorry dude…
???
So I can agree that LibreOffice can be a replacement for Microsoft Office.
Also 7-zip is a great WinZip replacement.
But thunderbird is no replacement for windows live mail – it’s just simply WAY BETTER.
BRL-CAD, Blender or Inkspace – never tried so maybe is a good moment to start:)
But unfortunately GIMP at this moment is no replacement for Photoshop – no way.
Right know you need to be fluent in GIMP’ish ;) if you even think of doing some things that in photoshop take 2 seconds and three clicks of mouse to create.
Cheers.
I agree regarding Thunderbird, it IS way better than Windows Live Mail. :)
The GIMP is probably just as hard as Photoshop, so either you learn how to use one or the other. I never had the patience to work with Photoshop, I didn’t find it intuitive at all. So I used CorelDRAW and glad I did because in the end I needed vector graphics more than cool effects.
Well the thing with GIMP is that you do not have bilion different filters to use.
I don’t say gimp doesn’t have them at all, just it’s simpler in this matter. Same thing goes for patterns, brushes and more. Also functionality makes user experience way better.
For example: if you have an image that you want to put in new layer in photoshop you just paste that image. The layer is created automatically. In Gimp you have to create a new layer – you need to know the width and height of this layer otherwise you will get the width and height of the layer below.
Simple things make live better:)
Cheers.
I second your conclusion. KISS! :)
Gimp is a VERY good replacement. It’s jut that the Windows version is complete and utter TRASH. Try it on a linux distro, your mind would change.
The only thing I don’t like about 7zip is the context menu. In XP, I could right click a .zip or .rar and there would be a 7zip> submenu to extract. Now there isn’t. I have to manually go to my downloads folder and extract it.
@facebook-1797813262:disqus
Try installing the latest version of 7zip. Then check the Options to pick the items you want in the Context Menu.
It does work, and works great.
Thanks for this info, that’s a pretty cool feature!
I really, really wish sites like your would stop touting OpenOffice or LibreOffice as “fully compatible” with MS Office. That’s simply a lie. Many MS files will be corrupted and improperly displayed on opening, and cannot be saved properly.
If you need “full compatibility”, there is no substitute. End of story.
I’ve never had a compatibility problem between OOO and MS Office. In act, OOO has saved files that MS could no longer handle
It is true that LibreOffice should be recommended as an alternative to MSO with a caveat because proprietary formats of MS documents can be a mess when opened in LO. However, I would suggest anyone to use LibreOffice to compose documents whenever possible because of the better compatibility and interoperability. I’ve been using OpenOffice and now LibreOffice for more than 5 years both in work and at home, both on Windows and Ubuntu and I have full confidence that the piece of software should cover most if not all of average daily use.
I agree that the open source alternatives fully cover the requirements of average daily use. And since they are constantly being developed, any major shortcomings are quickly made public and patched.
No, they’re not. File mangling has been going on for over a decade, and the developers usually say, oh, that’s MS’s fault, and give up. And continue to say they are “fully compatible”
And, “average daily use” is a vague catch-all term. If you mean occasional, non-professional home use, then yes, it’s okay. If you mean working with professionals, back-and forth, it’s a disaster.
One of the worst problems is the handling of Comments, which bog down the program so much on a book-length file that it becomes completely unusable. This has always been the case, and nobody’s trying to fix it.
I second that. For basic daily use LibreOffice can be considered as a
decent alternative to MS Office. No doubt there.
On the other hand, for someone dealing with docs with lots styling MS
Office is pretty much the only way to ensure
that a document looks same on other computers.
Aibek
Michel,
you do have a point, but the point of this article is that there are free alternatives. They may not be as good, but at least they are affordable, legal, and they do a lot for the overall competition on the software market, keeping developers of paid software on their heels.
As for compatibility of OpenOffice or LibreOffice documents with MS Office and vice versa, I have seen more issues between Windows Office and Mac Office (both Microsoft) than between those open source offices and MS Office. But that’s just my personal observation.
Yes a little effort to convert your docs may be needed, small price for a free, stable, and open to all to contribute office suite.
I’m sure your working on an extension right now to fix this gross deal breaker.
Windows Live Mail is free, I wouldn’t call that “commercial”.
Paint.NET is better than GIMP
Touché.
I wonder how Archimedes stacks up against BRL-CAD as a free CAD software? Maybe, someone with experience in either can vouch for it.
because all of these apps are under the free licence,i think the list is worth to be considered
I have been using OOo and now LibreOffice, as well as Microsoft Office (since 97). I have not found compatibility to be an issue for MS Office 2007 and up, but for prior versions there can be issues. I usually get around those by generating PDFs.
As for the others listed, I can not really say anything because I either have not used them, or have not used the applications they are to replace. That said, I do use 7-Zip, Inkscape, Thunderbird, and GIMP, all the time.
i hope there will be replacement for skype as well very soon!
peazip is also better alternative for winzip
Aditya,
I agree! And I did mention PeaZip in the article. :)
For more free software listings you can go to http://www.breakingvelocity.com
Ppl who find issues with OO or LO most of the time have the problem of not saving documents under simple and common formats, most of the time they use the default formats and if u use common sense u know that every new version of Office will have a batch of new formats, besides u never save a “Word document” unless u have a .docx converter!
I’ve used Paint.net with some luck, but I should probably give Gimp another shot.I use 7zip all the time and Open Office instead of Word, though I use Google Docs more frequently.
I’ve used Paint.net with some luck, but I should probably give Gimp another shot.I use 7zip all the time and Open Office instead of Word, though I use Google Docs more frequently.
replaces? That is very questionable. I prefer the 7 commercial software competitors.