Thursday, May 21, 2009

Migrate to Free Open Source Software (FOSS): Part 3 - The Web Browser

Here it is, part 3 of my Migrate to Open Source series. In this series, I'll be listing what I would consider everyday-use, closed-source software for the home user, and what the open-source packages are that fulfill the same purpose. I will only list software here that I have first-hand experience with, because I don't plan on this being some pointless software review post. I hope that this information is actually useful to those of you who have heard of, or would like to consider open-source software.

It seems like, more and more, that every day is one day closer to leaving installed applications behind in favor of web-hosted applications that can be accessed from any computer with a web browser and an internet connection.

Thursday, May 14, 2009

Migrate to Free Open Source Software (FOSS): Part 2 - The Operating System

It's time for part 2 of my Migrate to Open Source series. In this series, I'll be listing what I would consider everyday-use, closed-source software for the home user, and what the open-source packages are that fulfill the same purpose. I will only list software here that I have first-hand experience with, because I don't plan on this being some pointless software review post. I hope that this information is actually useful to those of you who have heard of, or would like to consider open-source software. Read on after the jump to discover the truth about the availability of quality open-source software.

First and foremost, every computer needs to have an operating system. The operating system is responsible for managing the person's interaction with the hardware of the machine. It's the tool that interprets and translates the user's commands. Without it, a computer is just a paper weight that can plug in to the wall.