InfoWorld's Bossies Recognize the Best Open Source Offerings

by Sam Dean - Aug. 04, 2008Comments (13)

InfoWorld's annual Bossies awards recognize top free and open source software, and the second annual list of winners is out now. Unlike SourceForge's Community Choice Awards, where winners are determined by votes from the community, the Bossies are awarded by InfoWorld's editorial and test center staff. Familiar names like Firefox and GIMP made the list of winners, but so did many lesser-known products. Here are the winners:

Best of open source in application development
  • db4o, Object Database
  • Git, Version Control
  • HttpClient, Web Client Library
  • Intel Threaded Building Blocks, Parallel Programming
  • JBoss Drools, Business Rule Management System
  • Open Flex, Rich Internet Applications
  • Prototype, JavaScript Framework
  • soapUI, Web Services Test Tool

Best of open source in productivity applications
  • Audacity, Sound Editing
  • Blender, 3D Modeling
  • Firefox, Web Browser
  • GIMP, Image Editing
  • OpenOffice.org, Productivity Suite
  • PDFCreator, PDF Creation

Best of open source in enterprise applications
  • Alfresco Community, Content Management
  • Compiere, Enterprise Resource Planning
  • dotProject, Project Management
  • Hyperic HQ, Application Monitoring
  • Intalio BPMS,  Business Process Management
  • JasperReports,  Reporting
  • Liferay Portal, Enterprise Portal
  • Magento eCommerce, E-Commerce
  • Pentaho Open BI Suite, Business Intelligence
  • SugarCRM, Customer Relationship Management

Best of open source in collaboration
  • Elgg, Social Networking
  • MediaWiki, Wiki
  • VNC and Chicken of the VNC, Remote Control
  • Scalix, Mail and Calendar
  • WordPress, Blog Publishing

Best of open source in networking
  • Asterisk, IP Telephony
  • AWStats, Log File Analyzer
  • InSSIDer, Wireless Network Scanner
  • Nagios, Server Monitoring
  • NDISwrapper, Wireless Network Interface
  • Vyatta, Router, Firewall, & VPN
  • Wireshark, Network Protocol Analyzer
  • Zenoss Core, Network Monitoring

Best of open source in platforms and middleware
  • CentOS, Server Operating System
  • JBossESB, Enterprise Service Bus
  • MySQL, Database
  • phpMyAdmin, MySQL Administration
  • Puppy Linux, Small-Footprint OS
  • Talend Open Studio, Data Integration
  • Ubuntu, Desktop Operating System
  • VirtualBox, Desktop Virtualization
  • Xen, Server Virtualization

Best of open source in security
  • AppArmor, Application Security
  • Metasploit Framework, Penetration Toolkit
  • Ophcrack, Password Cracker
  • SmoothWall Express, Network Firewall
  • Snort with BASE, Network Intrusion Detection
  • Splunk, Security Log Analysis
  • TrueCrypt, Disk Encryption
  • Untangle Gateway Platform, Gateway Security

Best of open source in storage
  • Amanda, Network Backup
  • FreeNAS, Storage Server
  • WinMerge, File Management
  • SMART Monitoring Tools, Disk Monitoring
  • StorageIM, Storage Administration
  • Free Online Backup, Online Backup

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13 Comments
 

Would be interesting to see which ones also won the OSS awards over at SourceForge. I wonder how well the community matches up with SourceForge's committees!

0 Votes

Just another example of why the vast majority of FOSS projects (i'd stick my neck out and say >99%) are, for all intents and purposes, useless.

The projects mentioned here are the ones you see highlighted in most open source dialog and continue to get better with dedicated communities, venture funding and the like - the others are just stuck in a downward spiral and will never see light of day.

Just an observation and an indicator that Open Source projects, like any other business, should have a plan and execution roadmap to transition into viable long term entities...

0 Votes

Oops...They Forgot Drupal...

0 Votes

@anon: It really bothers me when people fixate on 1 popular application and WTF does Drupal have to do with anything. Its a good CMS but there are several others that do the same thing and do it better. So what if it wasn't listed. BFD.

0 Votes

I miss GWT...

0 Votes

du weist schon

0 Votes

Splunk isn't open source, is it? You only get a free licence according to the FAQ.

0 Votes

I MUCH prefer the Sourceforge community awards. They're more open source & democratic in nature and aren't limited to 8 journalists sitting in a room pontificating about which app is better...

0 Votes

What about bittorrent, emule & joomla for collaboration?

0 Votes

opensource

0 Votes

Where is vim?

0 Votes

This is a good list. Some of these FOSS I have not even heard of. After reviewing, I'm glad they made the List. Just started using StorageIM and they are making good progress.

Cheers,

Chris

0 Votes

That is so horrible using our name. The Bossie name LIVES ON AND ON!

There's one John BOSSIE Jr. And that my brother..................


"Father Of The Year and For Ever"


0 Votes
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