These Are a Few of My Favourite Tools
by Tamlyn Rhodes, Sep 2005
Most of the software that I use everyday is open source and exists thanks to the millions of hours of time donated by people across the globe. I feel it is time for me de rendre a César ce qui lui appartient - to give credit where it's due.
All software listed here is cross-platform, meaning it runs just as well on Windows, Linux, Unix, Mac etc. and, of course, it is all free.
Desktop Applications
Mozilla Firefox
Website: www.mozilla.org/products/firefox/
License: Mozilla Public License
Developers: The Mozilla Foundation
Firefox is a lean, mean, stripped down version of the Mozilla suite which was formed out of the ashes of Netscape. The download is less than 5MB and yet has more relevant functionality than Microsoft Internet Explorer 6.0 with it's 25MB! It has included a pop-up blocker from the start and has excellent security and privacy features far surpassing Internet Explorer's. It is also almost infinitely customisable using extensions - small, downloadable add-ons written by keen users worldwide. There are currently over 700 of these with more being added every day. These add functionality as diverse as displaying the local weather forecast in the status bar to generating fake email addresses via blocking adverts and a StumbleUpon toolbar.
Mozilla Thunderbird
Website: www.mozilla.org/products/thunderbird/
License: Mozilla Public License
Developers: The Mozilla Foundation
Thunderbird is an email client. Like its counterpart, Firefox, it boasts excellent privacy and security measures. For example, unlike some other well known email client, it is impossible to get a virus in Thunderbird without opening an attachment. It also features state of the art adaptive junk mail filtering meaning that I cannot remember the last time I received a piece of spam to my inbox! As if that wasn't enough it includes RSS and Usenet news readers and is extensible in the same way as Firefox.
I tried many email clients before discovering Thunderbird and I can safely say I'm not going back.
OpenOffice.org
Website: www.openoffice.org
License: GNU LGPL
Developers: Various
OpenOffice.org is a full featured suite of office applications built on the OpenDocument standard but also fully compatible with Microsoft Office and most other office suite document formats.
There isn't really much to say about it. It works. It does everything I need. It's free.
Filezilla
Website: filezilla.sourceforge.net
License: GNU GPL
Developers: Tim Kosse, Xiowen Xin and others
An excellent FTP client although I find that the interface is slightly less polished than some of the commercial alternatives.
Miranda IM
Website: www.miranda-im.org
License: GNU GPL
Developers: Martin Öberg, Robert Rainwater, Sam, Lyon Lim and others
Miranda is the only product in this list that is Windows only. It is an instant messaging client with a modular architecture allowing it to support all the instant messaging networks (MSN, Yahoo, ICQ, Jabber etc.) through plugins. Plugins also allow it to be hugely customised to look and behave in exactly the way you want. One such plugin is an AI bot that merrily chats to anyone who tries to contact you while you are away. Much hilarity ensues... :-)
Server Software
Linux
Website: www.linux.org
License: GNU GPL
Developers: Various
Linux is probably the most widely known and talked about open source product ever. Even my mother has heard of it!
Apache
Website: httpd.apache.org
License: Apache License, v2
Developers: Apache Software Foundation
Apache has been the most popular web server on the Internet since mid-1996. It is currently used by over two thirds of all servers. It has a modular design which allows it to support a very large number of different technologies but most importantly it is very, very stable.
PHP
Website: www.php.net
License: PHP License
Developers: The PHP Group
PHP is probably the piece of software in this list that gives me the most joy. It is a web scripting language that is so easy, powerful and fast that it's just plain fun! I was forced to use ASP, a competing technology, on a client's site and it was ugly, complicated and extremely restrictive. Why aren't all programming languages as enjoyable as PHP?
MySQL
Website: www.mysql.com
License: GNU GPL
Developers: MySQL AB
MySQL is a relational database management system. It integrates very well with PHP and is said to be easier to use than other SQL systems.
Web Scripts
CMS Made Simple
Website: www.cmsmadesimple.org
License: GNU GPL
Developers: Ted Kulp and others
This website, this very page, is created by CMS Made Simple. It is a wonderful piece of software that gets the balance of features just right. It allows clients with only a basic grasp of word processing to edit and update their own websites without baffling them with advanced and generally useless features.
singapore
Website: www.sgal.org
License: GNU GPL
Developers: Myself and others
singapore turns a bunch of images into a slick, navigable website in seconds. As its creator and lead developer I feel justified in saying that I do not think it is the best web gallery out there. However I think it too gets the balance of features right by keeping the feature set tight and the code base clean.
And on that note...
All of the software products listed above are open source and most of them are considered to be the best in their class. Can this be a coincidence? I think not.