Top 25 Linux Application: The best of the free world

Windows remains till date, the most popular operating system, which ensures that more applications are developed for it than for other OSes, which ensure that it is the most popular operating system.

Wine attempts to break out of this chicken and egg cycle by making Linux capable of running Windows applications, Using Wine, Linux users can run even complicated applications such as Photoshop and Microsoft Office, and can play Windows games such as Half Life 2, and Starcraft II. Wine has seen significant improvements in compatibility and stability recently, and continues to be very actively developed.

Wine ensures that those coming to the world of Windows don’t have to leave their favorite applications behind, giving them yet another reason to shift to a the free operating system For these and many others it is the best software for the Linux platform.

If you’re used KDE, you’ve probably heard of digiKam. It is possibly one of the best image management applications, and matches I feature to even many commercial applications such as Adobe Photoshop/Lightroom. With features such as image fingerprinting, plug-in support, and exporting/importing files on photo sharing services, and brilliant tagging, searching and editing support it is the best application of its kind.

The GNU Image Manipulation Program; nearly everyone has heard of this brilliant image editing application that does its best against image editors such as Photoshop. While it isn’t the simplest application to use, it more than makes isn’t the simplest application to use, it more than makes up for it with its extensive features and scripting support. Recently it has taken heed of critics and is working towards a more Photoshop-like interface.

ScrennToaster is a free web based screen capture tool. Registration is not compulsory. All you need to do is visit the site and click Record. This one is a clear cut replacement of desktop applications such as CamStudio. The only trouble is the app suffers a lot of downtime.

With OpenOffice.org in Oracle’s hands, the community has now forked out with LibreOffice as the new office suite of choice for Linux. It builds on OpenOffice.org and already surpasses it with the inclusion of many community developed features and extensions. Keep a lookout for LibreOffice as most of the active OpenOffice developers are now part of LibreOffice.

Nothing makes multimedia simple for Linux users than VLC. With this single application installed, you can play back nearly any multimedia format available. VLC has an extensive feature set, from playing YouTube videos to encoding and saving streaming files to an inbuilt media library.

If you love eBooks, Calibre is the best application to manage them for you. This brilliant application created by an India developer supports a number of unique features. Besides managing your eBook library, it can convert eBooks, and even set up a server to access your collection remotely.

Blender is a popular professional 3D editor for all platforms. It is capable of producing high quality rendered content, and has been used to make films such as Elephants Dream, big Buck Bunny and Sintel. It even includes advanced video composing and editing features and can be used to create games.

   


   9.  Dropbox

Dropbox is a great file synchronization application hat works across platforms. It contends well with inconsistencies between the different platform, and manages to Just Work without requiring too much user input it offers free storage up to 2GB and offers paid upgrades to storage as well.

   


   10.    Firefox

Despite the new and shiny Google Chrome browser, Firefox remains one of the greatest browsers ever. While the browser has lagged behind Chrome and Opera of late, it has an enthusiastic new v4 coming that should restore its former glory.

   


   11.   VMWare Player

Using the same virtualization technology as the commercial VMWare Workstation, VMWare Player is a virtualization solution that is free and easy to use. It is easier to use and often faster than VirtualBox.

   


   12.   Banshee

With great music library management features support for online music stores and services. Banshee is one of the best music management applications available for Linux.

This cross platform media center has powerful organization and media recognition features along with great integration of online services and extensive social features.

   




   14.   Google Chrome

Google Chrome gives internet users for the first time, a browser that is focused entirely on the content, instead of user interface features, and makes browser crashes significantly less disruptive.

   


   15.   Evolution

With support for contacts, email, calendar, to-do and more Evolution is the closest Microosft Outlook replacement for Linux users, and does a great job of managing information and planning your work schedule.

One of the greatest and easiest Linux video editors available. It offers non-linear multi-track editing with support for filters, effects, and transitions along with key-framed animation.

OpenOffice.org might be the most popular, but it is not the only open source office suite for Linux. Koffice – soon to be Calligra suite – is a great office suite for KDE that has a refreshing panel-based interface.

   




   18.    UbuntuOne

File synchronization built right into an OS! Ubuntu One makes it easy to backup and sync files online and share them with others. While mostly for Ubuntu-based distros, it is great easy to use software.

   


   19.    Handbrake

Transcoding media files and ripping DVDs for your PMP or other mobile device is simple with Handbrake. It includes profile for most popular devices including Apple TV, iPod, and Android.

   


   20.    Unetbootin

This small little utility can make nearly any Linux distribution boot from your pendrive. It is the simplest way to create a live pendrive from a live CD or DVD iso file. It can also be used for frugal installs of OSs.

   
   21.   Virtual Box

Possibly one of the greatest (mostly) open source virtualization application available today. It is not an easy to use as VMWare Player, but has many more features and holds up well to VMWare Workstation as well.

   


   22.   Ardour

This Linux and Mac OSX application is one of the best applications for editing audio. It might be lesser known but offers significantly more features and has a more professional interface than Audacity.

CD and DVD burning was never as simple as it is with this neat Linux application. In just a few clicks you can burn nay kind of complication Audio CDs, Vidro DVDs, and more.

   




   24.    Scilab

For students who need to use Matlab for their project, here is a free and open source alternative, that woks as well. It is less compatible with Matlab than FreeMat and GNU Octave has more and better features.

   


   25.   GnuCash

Financial management application tends to me on the expensive side, but this is one great open source and free replacement. GnuCash has full support for double-entry book-keeping and many great features.