10 Open Source Programs That You’ve Probably Not Heard Of
After a recent post on a forum, extolling the virtues of a number of free Open Source program, I made mention that they were always the same problems being mentioned – OpenOffice, ClamWin, Audacity, etc. SourceForge alone holds over 150,000 Open Source projects, let alone those at Google Code, etc.
So, I was set a challenge – find some Open Source software that most people won’t have come across.
Ok, that was the plan. Now, the limitations (self set). Nothing too technical, nor niche. No games (otherwise I could just easily provide 10 of them). Oh, and they have to be Windows applications – no Linux, Mac, PHP scripts, etc.
I thought plunging into my Firefox bookmarks would yeald 10 but, sadly, most were either games or too technical for this list. Or I’ve covered them elsewhere in my blog. So, a number I’ve had to scourer SourceForge for (oh, I wish their search facility was better). And some goodies I’ve come up with too – I’m sure there’s scope for further list in the future but, in the meantime, here’s my 10 (in no particular order)…
TV-Browser
A desktop based EPG. It’s German in origin but includes UK channels. I’ve only had a brief play with it so far, but I’ve been impressed.
MP3Gain
This is something I’ve been using for years. Now, adding gain to MP3s (i.e. bringing them all up to a similar volume) is something built into many media players and burning products. However, MP3Gain is a standalone product designed to do this one task. And well.
DVDStyler
DVDStyler is a DVD authoring program for the creation of professional-looking DVDs. It allows not only burning of video files on DVD that can be played practically on any standalone DVD player, but also creation of own-designed DVD menus.
Arora
Yes, it’s another browser! Based on WebKit (like Chrome and Safari), it’s fast and available on a number of platforms. However, the fact that is has recently “elbowed out” Konqueror as the browser of choice in Kubuntu, has made news.
MuseScore
An excellent WYSIWYG musical score editor. It’s packed full of features, including importing of data and has a built in sequencer and synth.
SmillaEnlarger
Another simple idea, done well. SmillaEnlarger will magnify images in high quality. Useful for “blowing up” part of a photo. And it will go on a USB key as well.
AxCrypt
A file encryption tool that integrates directly into Windows Explorer. Simply right click on a file and you can quickly and easily encrypt it, with password protection (or without, for simple sending via email).
WindowsPager
If you’ve used Linux any time recently, you’ll probably have come across its virtual desktop environment, where you can easily switch between multiple desktops via an icon in the toolbar. Well, WindowsPager provides a similar facility. It’s not perfect, however, and I spotted a problem with Command Prompt windows, but it’s worth a try – as with most of these products, it’s still being worked on.
Synkron
Synkron is a relatively powerful folder synchronisation tool. How you use it, well, is up to you – for something as simple as synchronising a USB key to your PC, or as a quick backup tool.
Hugin
I said I’ve avoid anything too technical and, well, this isn’t. It’s just powerful. But if you’re a keen photographer, you’ll love this. It’s a photo stitcher (which can allow you, for example, to make panoramic images) which is a bit more manual that many (but, hence, it’s power).









I’ve written a number of times on this topic, but thought I’d bring it all up to date and draw all the various, disparate posts together.















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