Get Herds of Top OSS Apps in One Free Download--Mac & Windows

by Sam Dean - May. 20, 2008Comments (1)

If you want to put a boatload of useful open source applications on a computer or, as I do, on a pocket USB drive so that you can have them with you at all times, there are now some very fast ways to do this. MacLibre is a great way to get tons of good free, open source apps in one download for Mac users. For Windows users, as I've written about before PortableApps.com is also a great way to get many free applications in one free download. So what kinds of applications are we talking about?

MacLibre, seen at left, is an open source software distribution for Mac OS X released under the GPL public license. In one free download, it gets you many free open source applications including AbiWord (word processor), Blender (animation and graphics), GIMP (graphics), Adium (instant messaging), Cyberduck (FTP client), Firefox (browser), Thunderbird (e-mail), ClamXav (antivirus), Vienna (newsreader), and many more. See the whole list here.

For Windows users, the PortableApps.com Suite is a collection of pre-selected free, primarily open source applications that you can stick on a thumb drive (or a laptop or desktop) in one quick download. It includes ClamWin Portable (antivirus), Mozilla Firefox - Portable Edition (web browser), Gaim Portable (instant messaging), OpenOffice.org Portable (office suite), Sudoku Portable (puzzle game), Mozilla Sunbird - Portable Edition (calendar/task manager) and Mozilla Thunderbird - Portable Edition (email client) and runs comfortably from a 512MB drive. If you have a USB key with less capacity, the Lite Edition of the PortableApps.com suite replaces OpenOffice.Org Portable with AbiWord as your word processor. It runs on a 256MB drive.

The great thing about both of these sites is that you can get so many good open source applications in one free download. Especially for keeping open source applications with you at all times on a portable drive, such as a USB flash drive, these downloads are very compelling.

 


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1 Comments
 

Get KCNScrew and you wont have to worry about "free" anymore

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