Archatechs

Here we go again, back to business. Hopefully no one was too offended by our iToilet project. This time around we have a doozie of a list for you. The best part is that everything we are going to talk about today is 100% free...as in beer or speech.

Welcome to the Great Archatechs Software Giveaway! Ok, maybe thats a little presumptuous. Today we are going to try and regain a little composure and talk about free, libre and open source software (FLOSS). 'Open source' refers to any application, or snippet of code (we are talking about the 1's and 0's that make things tick), that is made publicly available. By contrast, with closed source software the general public does not have access to view the code.

You know Bismark's old axiom about laws and sausages? Well to many of us it applies to computer applications too. That is, we don't really want to tinker with the source code per se. So you are asking: “why then do I care about the source code?” Well, one typical advantage to open source software is that since anyone (by whom we mean the boys in the lab) can download the code, they can assemble it them selves and thus have a working, free application. Still not totally with me?

Ok, back to the sausage analogy. Imagine going to your local fresh organic market. You mosey past the meat counter and something amazing catches your eye: racks and racks of fresh sausage... Spicy Italian sausage, bratwurst, chicken and blueberry (hey, know our sausage, trust us!), Spanish chorizo, the choices are endless. So you buy some sausage and take it home. At this point you have no idea what is actually inside that sausage- and you are ok with that because it sure does taste good (braised in a nice tomato sauce). But what if you wanted to make a dish that required ground sausage, rather than those nice links you bought? Imagine standing poised over your chopping block with a sharp knife ready to bisect the link and scoop out the porcine goodness when, all of the sudden, the Sausage Police burst through the door! Quelle Horreur! What is this heinous crime against ground pork that you've committed? Well apparently the good people over at MicroSausage are ok with you buying the sausage and cooking it whole, but they don't much care for you dissecting it and using it in other recipes.

Fortunately for us there is a solution. Long before MicroSausage dominated the market with their popular Maple and Hickory Smoked Links (sorry, we at Archatechs get a little carried away with food analogies sometimes) some die-hard inventors of the original sausage grinder decided that porky pickings should always be free to all mankind. The result? They published their recipe for the entire world to use. They just ask that if you make a new recipe using their sausage that you give credit where credit is due.

By now you are either ordering Italian takeout or completely lost. What on Earth does sausage have to do with geeking out? Well when sausage becomes software it has a lot to do with it. Open source software means that not only are the applications (usually) free but that they are community supported. That means anyone is free to use the application or modify it to suit their needs (provided they give credit to the original source). Here at Archatechs we are big believers in FLOS (Free Libre and Open Source) Software- in fact we've highlighted several of our favorite FLOSS projects in the past. [Just take a look at: Its Raining Bits, the Ultimate Home Network part 2, and Trixbox.] Chances are, even if you haven't tried one of our projects that you interact with FLOS software every day. Ever visit Amazon.com? Amazon is running the free and open source web server Apache. Got a cell phone that plays games? There is a good bet that it runs software called Java to do so. Apple's operating system, OS X, is chock full of FLOS software under the hood.

While we'd love to extol the virtues of open source and wax fondly about the community nature of its development, perhaps the best way to get people on board is to get them using some open source apps. So, here is our list. One thing you may note is that since the source code (remember, talking uber nerd programing languages here) is publicly available that anyone can download it and make a version of the application. That means, for almost every operating system (Windows, Linux, OS X, FreeBSD and more) the work has been done for you; just download and install. It also means that almost all of these applications have versions for almost every major operating system.

Oh, just one more note before we dig in. FLOS software is supported by its users and community. Support can come in may ways. The most obvious way to support a project is through a monetary donation, but what many leaders in the open source community will tell you is that simply spreading the word is just as valuable. Since open source projects tend to have a limited budget, we have to do the marketing for them. So, if you do have an application on this list that you really enjoy, please share it with a friend, in fact share the whole list with a friend!

Presenting the Archatechs Great Software Giveaway....er...something

Firefox – Web Browser

Chances are this will be one of the most familiar open source projects to any reader. Firefox has become the fastest growing web browser on the market and is quickly taking marketshare from all corners of the tech world. Firefox is not only faster than many of its competitors (such as Internet Explorer), but in many ways its safer too. So many people equate that familiar blue “e” on their desktop with the Internet itself; but once you try Firefox you'll never look at the “e” the same way again. If you pick just one new FLOS app to try, make it Firefox. (and if you do make it Firefox, do us a favor and follow one of the ads on our site.)

OpenOffice – Office Suite

Did you know that all Archatechs articles are written with free software? OpenOffice is a complete office suite of applications including a word processor, spreadsheet, presentation application and more. OpenOffice can read and write almost anything that Microsoft Office can. And, since it runs on Windows, Linux and Macintosh computers, and uses an 'open' document format you will never worry about file formats again. In fact, you can even open, edit and save PDF files. You'll wonder why you ever paid $200 or more for software again!

Thunderbird – E-mail reader

From the makers of Firefox, Thunderbird is a fast and reliable email reader. From accessing your Google Mail account to checking any other account, Thunderbird is very capable. What it lacks in a stunning user interface it makes up for in speed and reliability. Thunderbird also has a much smaller “memory footprint” than Outlook (thats nerd-talk for: it won't slow down your computer). Thunderbird can also subscribe to RSS feeds. RSS is a technology that lets you catch up on headlines, your favorite blogs and more all with out opening your web browser. Want to give it a try? Just download Thunderbird and click here to scribe to the Archatechs RSS feed.

VLC – Multimedia Player

VLC will be at the center of our next project (“Send your Cable Company Packing&rdquo. VLC can play anything! Ever downloaded a video file only to have problems playing it? Ever feel like just opening Windows Media Player takes 5 minutes? For the Mac users out there, you probably know the hurdles you have to jump through to open Windows Video files (.wmv). Never worry again, VLC will open it! VLC is small and lightweight and its fully self contained. That means you'll never have to download a 'codec' to play a new video format- they are all built in! VLC can even play High Definition video and Dolby Digital audio. VLC can also play DVD movies so you won't have to shell out for playback software on your new laptop. VLC can even convert files from one format to another, or stream them over the Internet to another computer.

ClamAV, ClamWin and ClamAVX – Virus Scanners

The ClamAV projects and its variants for Windows and OS X are free virus scanners. Our more nerdly readers my be chuckling right now, thats because they are questioning why we'd even mention a virus scanner for Linux or OS X. Well, its because they make it....and some of us are the belt and suspenders type. For you windows users you probably aren't laughing because you know what a reality viruses are (yep, viri is not a word) . If you are running windows you simply must have a virus scanner and why shell out for Norton and its subscription service when you can get the power of ClamWin for free?

Sunbird – Calendar

This is another application from the Firefox folks. Sunbird, like Thunderbird,is a little on the sparse side when it comes to its user interface, but it does work well. Use it stand alone to keep track of your important dates or connect to a calendar server like Google Calendars or Zimbra. If you want a more integrated feel, simply download Lightening- its a plug in for Thunderbird that integrates Sunbird's calendar features with the email reader.


The G.I.M.P - photo and graphics tool

While The Gimp is not quite a Photoshop killer (although some might argue otherwise) it is a very powerful and capable image manipulation tool. The Gimp can do almost anything photoshop can do and all without the $600 price tag. Recently some more user friendly variants have popped up including GimpShop where the user interface was re-designed to mimic Photoshop.


Audacity – Audio recording and processing

Looking to make your first podcast? Try Audacity and start recarding professional-sounding shows right away. Audacity also makes a great multi-track recorder for those musicians out there.

Samba – connect to windows file sharing

We debated about including this in our list. Downloading and Installing Samba (for non-windows computers only, windows has the functionality built in) is not trivial. However, we thought it was worth a mention. A version of Samba already ships with OS X and most flavors of Linux. Its what allows you to see, browse and share files with Windows computers and servers. While we arn't going to get into the details now, look for samba to play a role in our next project.

Truecrypt – File Encryption

Truecrypt is a bitter-sweet topic for many of us. Sadly, Truecrypt is currently a windows-only application. Nevertheless its really amazing. Truecrypt allows you to encrypt files and data in a number of ways. Lets put it this way, with Truecrypt you can protect your sensitive files from even the most prying eyes, period. Truecrypt is so flexible and powerful that Leo Laport and Steve Gibson dedicated an entire episode of Security Now to it. Have a listen here.


Songbird – Music Player

Songbird is a great example of how open source can work. Tired of closed source applications like Windows Media Player and iTunes, Songbird's creators set out to build their own tool. Rather than start from scratch they took a look at other projects to see what they could borrow. It turns out the Firefox, the open source web browser, already had a great platform for its user interface. With the 'mozilla engine' in tow, they were able to write a great music library and player based on a web browser's code! One thing that bums us out though, songs purchased with DRM (digital rights management, like from iTunes or the Zune Market Place) won't be playable in Songbird.

Trixbox – a complete telephone (PBX) system

We are headed back to our roots here. What would a list of open source software be with out a mention of our favorite project. Trixbox is a downloadable CD that you put in an old PC. Once you reboot it installs it self and in less than an hour your have a complete telephone system. With Trixbox you can take control of your communications and reduce you phone bill to just dollars a month (it makes a great answering machine too). For more information, head over to NerdVittles.com.


While this is clearly not a complete list, we hope its enough to whet your appetite. We've tried to provide free examples of free, open source software that satisfies almost every home user's needs. With tools like OpenOffice, Firefox and Thunderbird you can take back your desktop. For multimedia enthusiasts, make sure to check out VLC, The Gimp and Songbird. If you are on windows, you owe it to yourself to be running ClamWin. Remember that news story about those stolen laptops with sensitive customer data? Truecrypt would have solved that problem! What are you waiting for? Try some of our favorite FLOS apps today. And please remember, if you like them then ask how you can help. Most of these projects have pages on their website dedicate to ways you can assist, and it doesn't have to cost you a dime!


Oh, in case you are wondering, how does someone write the worlds most used web server and give it away for free? When companies like Amazon, Ebay and Apple come calling, they also ask “how can we help?” In exchange for large contributions of time, money and man power, they frequently get top pick of bugs that get fixed in the next release. So next time you fire up Amazon, you aren't just shopping, but you are supporting programmers and free software all over the world and when that happens, we all benefit!


Be sure to check back soon for Send Your Cable Company Packing – broadcasting and our ultimate home theater PC.