(by 3 people)
This lens is dedicated to Free and open source software. This is software that is available free of charge for download, and where anyone is allowed to change the source code to modify the program to fit their needs.
Web Resources
- Slashdot
- News for Nerds. Stuff that Matters.
- Sourceforge
- A repository of Free and Open Source software.
- Freshmeat
- News about the new version releases of open source software.
Software Collections
- The Open CD
- TheOpenCD is a collection of high quality Free and Open Source Software. The programs run in Windows and cover the most common tasks such as word processing, presentations, e-mail, web browsing, web design, and image manipulation. We include only the highest quality programs, which have been carefully tested for stability and which we consider appropriate for a wide audience. Read more about TheOpenCD.
Productivity
- OpenOffice.org
- Why spend hundreds of dollars on MS Office when you can get the same thing for free?
- Abi Word
- Word processing for everyone. Another free clone of Microsoft office.
- Freemind
- An excellent mind-mapping tool. Create concept maps, take notes, manage workflow, and make stunning presentations all with this amazing tool. Despite being relatively unknown, this is one of the best open source tools available today.
Free Games!
- Nethack
- Many consider this to be the best game of all time despite the fact that the graphics are entirely ASCII. Try it out yourself for a few years and find out why.
- The Battle for Wesnoth
- An excellent turn based strategy game. This is one of the most popular open source games.
Graphics Software
- The Gimp -- Gnu Image Manipulation Software
- An open source clone of Adobe Photoshop.
- Inkscape
- An open source clone of Adobe Illustrator.
- Blender3D
- Open source 3D graphics creation. Create and animate and 3D with this professional quality package.
Open Music
- Ogg Vorbis
- Ogg Vorbis is a completely open, patent-free, professional audio encoding and streaming technology with all the benefits of Open Source. Not only is the sound quality superior to MP3, but your music is future proof as well.
- IRate
- Download songs free and legally and rate them from one to five stars. Indy uses your ratings to give you more songs you will like. The more songs you rate the better songs Indy gives you. There are many live recordings of commercial songs in the system, so many of the songs you get legally are the same ones you hear on the radio. Caveat: If you have a Mac then use Indy instead, because the mac version of IRate is extremely buggy and unstable.
Mac OS X Only Software
- Adium X
- The best IM client on the Internet. Supports AIM, Jabber, MSN, Yahoo!, Bonjour, Gadu Gadu, Novell Groupwise, and Lotus Sametime.
- Camino
- An excellent web browser. The same technology as Firefox but native on OS X.
- Shiira
- Another excellent browser for mac. The same rendering engine as Safari but with the features of Firefox. You are even able to import your bookmarks directly from Firefox.
- Indy
- Download songs free and legally and rate them from one to five stars. Indy uses your ratings to give you more songs you will like. The more songs you rate the better songs Indy gives you. There are many live recordings of commercial songs in the system, so many of the songs you get legally are the same ones you hear on the radio.
Books on Open Source and Social Transparency
The Cathedral & the Bazaar: Musings on Linux and Open Source by an Accidental Revolutionary
Avg. Customer Rating: 
Amazon Price: $11.53 (as of 10/11/2008)
Black Box Voting: Ballot Tampering in the 21st Century
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Amazon Price: (as of 10/11/2008)
Get Back in the Box: Innovation from the Inside Out
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Amazon Price: $19.16 (as of 10/11/2008)
The Cluetrain Manifesto: The End of Business as Usual
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Amazon Price: $10.85 (as of 10/11/2008)
The Revolution Will Not Be Televised: Democracy, the Internet, and the Overthrow of Everything
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Amazon Price: (as of 10/11/2008)
