Open source productivity tools refer to open source software of which
the human readable source code is made available under a copyright
license that meets the following conditions:
- Free Redistribution: the software can be freely given away or sold. (This was intended to expand sharing and use of the software on a legal basis.)
- Source Code: the source code must either be included or freely obtainable. (Without source code, making changes or modifications can be impossible.)
- Derived Works: redistribution of modifications must be allowed. (To allow legal sharing and to permit new features or repairs.)
- Integrity of The Author's Source Code: licenses may require that modifications are redistributed only as patches.
- No Discrimination Against Persons or Groups: no one can be locked out.
- No Discrimination Against Fields of Endeavor: commercial users cannot be excluded.
- Distribution of License: The rights attached to the program must apply to all to whom the program is redistributed without the need for execution of an additional license by those parties.
- License Must Not Be Specific to a Product: the program cannot be licensed only as part of a larger distribution.
- License Must Not Restrict Other Software: the license cannot insist that any other software it is distributed with must also be open source.
- License Must Be Technology-Neutral: no click-wrap licenses or other medium-specific ways of accepting the license must be required.
At the base is the operating system. The most widely used of the open source operating systems is Ubuntu. Ubuntu is a derivative of the debian, another popular and stable operating system based on the linux kernel. The operating system is sponsored by Cannonical from South Africa. Many organizations can enjoy the benefits beyond the freedom of Ubuntu. From its name, Ubuntu is an operating system meant for human beings. It is easy to install use and even maintain. Ubuntu has an auto update feature just like the windows flavor of operating systems. It is suggested every now and then that google is a backer of ubuntu.
As an operating system, ubuntu offers a variety of productivity and entertainment tools just as Microsoft does. Most of these tools are also available for use by those who are wedded to the Microsoft operating sytem. Below is a description of some of these tools:
- Mozilla Firefox: Abbreviated as FF, Mozilla firefox is a web browser descended from the Mozilla Application Suite. In the developer community firefox is the most widely used browser. For general usage, firefox is second most widely used after internet explorer from Microsoft. Besides running on Linux, firefox is also available as a windows install. Among the features of the browser include:
- tabbed browsing to allow users to open more than one web page in a window
- A spell checker that validates text filled into forms
- incremental find
- live bookmarking
- a download manager
- an integrated search system that uses the user's desired search engine
- Allowance of third party tools also called plugins that extend the available functionlaity
- Open Office: OpenOffice.org is an office application suite available for a number of different computer operating systems. It supports the ISO standard OpenDocument Format (ODF) for data interchange as its default file format, as well as Microsoft Office '97-2003 formats, among many others. Besides being one of the most dominant productivity suites for the linux environement, open office is also available for windows users as a great alternative to the arm-and-leg priced office suite from Microsoft. Like Microsoft office, open office provided spreadsheet tools, presentation tools and word processing tools.
- Mozilla Thunderbird: Mozilla thunderbird is a free, open source, cross-platform e-mail and news client developed by the Mozilla Foundation. Mozilla thunderbird is developed and maintained by the Mozilla foundation which is also responsible for the firefox browser. Thunderbird is modeled after firefox. Just like firefox, thunderbird is also available as a windows install.
- Gimp: The GNU Image Manipulation Program, or GIMP, is a raster graphics editor used to process digital graphics and photographs. Typical uses include creating graphics and logos, resizing and cropping photos, altering colors, combining multiple images, removing unwanted image features, and converting between different image formats. GIMP can also be used to create basic animated images in GIF format. It is often used as a free software replacement for Adobe Photoshop, the most widely used bitmap editor in the printing and graphics industries; however, it is not designed to be a Photoshop clone. The project's mascot is named Wilber. Photoshop User Inteface addicts can enjoy a similar interface with gimpshop, a gimp derivative with the photoshop skin. Gimp is available on both windows and linux systems.
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Open source productivity tools refer to open source software of which
the human readable source code is made available under a copyright
license that meets the following conditions:
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