Voice of the Masses: What one FOSS app couldn’t you live without?
We often talk about programs missing on Linux that keep people using Windows or OS X, but how about the other way round? Imagine this nightmare scenario: you’re forced to move entirely from Linux to proprietary, closed source software, except for one program. You can keep running that one free/open source software app in your new workflow. What would it be?
We expect Vim and Emacs to come up in the answers here, but maybe there’s something more obscure that you simply couldn’t live without. We’re going to record our next podcast on Wednesday or Thursday, so let us know your indispensable FOSS app and we’ll read them out in the recording!
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About The Author
Mike Saunders
Mike stores his data by printing out hex dumps and laminating the sheets. He's the author of The Haynes Linux Manual and the creator of MikeOS, an operating system hand-built from assembly language.
This is a very tricky question because although I favour certain pieces of software, the beauty of FOSS is that there’s almost always an alternative.
Were it not for Linux I’d make do with BSD, we’re it not for VLC I’d use one of the other media players, were it not for Apache I’d use nginx, were it not for LibreOffice I’d use Open Office or Abiword…
It might be considered cheating, but I”d take the Perl interpreter with me, as I can implement many things in scripts.
Realistically though, I don’t think I could cope with a purely proprietary system, as most of my essential applications (web browser, email, editor etc.) are all open source and don’t have decent alternatives in the closed source world.
I faced this scenario recently when I started a new job at an organisation that uses centrally managed Windows desktops.
While I’ve installed many of the open source apps I use on Linux, I could have managed with proprietary Windows eqivalents.
What I found I really couldn’t do without is a decent shell and terminal emulator. The Windows command prompt is so dire it doesn’t bare talking about. Luckily the windows Git package msysgit comes with a bash shell, and the open source apps Console2 and Qonsole combined to give me a drop-down terminal in the style of Tilda/Guake. Phew!
Firefox 🙂
I’m afraid if you take away Linux you take away my computing unless of course I too went to FreeBSD, wouldn’t p*** on proprietary software if it was on fire
grep.
Just… So useful everyday.
In my job I have to use Microsoft Word quite a bit, and I always feel such a feeling of relief when I am back to VIM. My colleagues are also slightly irritated that a lot of my documents end with “:wq”…
Bash and a terminal emulator – I do so much with these because it’s quick easy (when you’re used to it) and so, so powerful.
I have to work in a Windows environment but I’ve managed to sneek Cygwin onto my work PC (don’t tell IT Services). Cygwin’s alright but it’s not the same as working in the native Linux envirnonment.
Bash – it’s just so comfortable and productive.
Vim and calibre
Well I make a living using Blender so that’s an obvious choice but I guess there are decent proprietary replacements for that if I was forced.
I suppose in the long run I’d be better going with something like SSL.
Git, probably. It did nothing short of revolutionize the way I think about coding and collaborating.
Second place is Python and SciPy. Makes coding and scientific work so much easier and more enjoyable than the alternatives (e.g. MATLAB).
Third place maybe Bash, so handy and powerful.
vim, ssh, tmux, …
As long as I’m using OSX as the proprietary OS, then I suppose it would have to be the Unison file synching app. But it’s a pain in the neck to set up on Windows.
Inkscape. Although most* of the graphics in the Elvie strips are drawn in MyPaint, the speech bubbles and borders are Inkscape all the way. Our other comics are 100% Inkscape.
* In keeping with the theme of the strip, the Elvie comic in LV #14 is also 100% Inkscape SVG.
I may be cheating a bit, but tiny tiny Rss is the Foss (web) app I’d feel lost without. I’d also need the Android client too. And just to prove the point, I came here via ttRSS!
Python (not really an app) is so useful for scientific coding.
Firefox is great
Linux as a whole is the only OS I’m happy using day-to-day
Also… android 🙂
Ardour and everything required to run it on.
MySQL aka MariaDB.
MySQL was the first FOSS product I ever cam across and I used it under Windows for a few years before “coming across” Linux. After that FOSS has been my starting point for most projects. So, if I could only keep one product is would be MariaDB although Python would be a very close second. Ooh this is tuff!
Performance, stability, security, ethics, cost and hassle are the elements that make Linux better even if you can get the same thing done on another platform. I like the fact I can set up a system without a credit card, authorization codes, crapware, anti-virus, etc.
That being said, if I were to switch there are some things I’d have to hunt down to make sure I could do on OSX or (cringe) Windows, and some things I’d miss.
Drop-down terminals, DEs (gnome, openbox, i3), virtual desktops, decent file manager, Thunar Bulk Rename, bash, imagemagick, aria2, vim.
Just one app?! Torture just to think of it, torture I tell you!
git
Rather than state one piece of FOSS I couldn’t live without, I find that it’s actually the choice of many FOSS projects that is the most appealing. I know this doesn’t pinpoint a precise application, but the number of times I have often tried to do something in one program, only to find I’ve needed something similar with a different feature-set to complete the task, is made infinitely easier where there is a choice of quality software available. AbiWord, LibreOffice Writer and Calligra (KWord) for example. Inkscape, Gimp and LibreOffice Draw. All these have helped me out. When using other platforms, sometimes the choice isn’t available, or prohibitively expensive. Choice of apps wins for me!
simple Gimp…. mind you it’s a stupid name. couldn’t we just change it to gim: gnu image manipulator
Another vote for Gimp and 100% agree about the name. It gets odd looks, people assume I use Photoshop, I always expect odd looks when I say I use the Gimp. I always say it’s name and what it is in one sentence.
I, on the other hand, revel in saying “bring out the gimp”. You don’t just “launch” that app. And I love the looks you get 😉
I don’t use a computer for work anymore, so I get to pick something fun- Audacity. One of the first packages I download after installing a new distro. Awsomely cool, simple, and free. And already cross platform.
Kind of cheating, but it would have to be my shell of choice ZSH. Of course, just a shell wouldn’t do much without all the other command line tools that I spend about 70% of my day using.
If that’s too much of cheat then it’d have to be Virtualbox? So I could install a linux VM. Still too much of a cheat?
For my job as a web developer I’d need to say PHP, nginx, apache, etc. but if they didn’t exist I guess I could switch to .NET and IIS or something, but whatever I’d end up coding I’d still need git. Working with a code base hosted with SVN or *shudder* VSS, no thank you, not any more.
OMG, just one?!? If your nightmare scenario really happened, I think I’d just take the easy option and never use a computer again, or kill myself.
I think I’m going to have to go with firefox as the winner, but the list of potential candidates is long. Just off the top of my head:
Thunderbird
scite
xine
audacious
eclipse
git
python
php
ruby
bash
vice
scummvm
zsnes
dosbox
gimp
Actually, thinking about it a little more, “suicide” is my definitive answer.
I took this to mean what of software do you use that is only available on Linux, so things that are available on Windows and Mac are not taken away, you can still run these.
I like many are forced to use a windows machine at work, the thing I miss most is the window manager, I use Gnome Shell, Ubuntu Unity, and xfce on different machines. Things like multiple desktops, task switching, and notifications as so much better on any of these systems than windows.
Firefox.
RadioTray for streaming internet radio. Yes, there are other free software applications that run on proprietary operating systems (and of course proprietary applications), but none so simple, elegant and resource light as Radio Tray.
mplayer
The Swiss Army knife, command line based media player that with play just about anything I throw at it. I use it every day for music and videos—indispensable.
Close second: Inkscape.
TMUX!!!
I interact with directly with tmux every day and it always works great. I couldn’t be nearly as productive without it.
Yum, Apt, Zypper……..not so much a package as the process of using FOSS to update systems. I am currently going through the pain of doing a re-install on my daughters Win8 Box. The constant upgrades, re-boots and more upgrades are some time consuming, FOSS just makes it so simple and quick
Must be KeePassX. I actually have it installed on all my gadgets. Even though I use computer mainly to write I can live without LO, but not without my passwords.
KeePassX++. But also SSH; I have no idea whether good alternatives even exist for these.
Tmux + OpenSSH … Love the combo! I use it every day on machines scattered all over the place.
photorec, becuse if somthing goes worng it’s a brilliant tool
I agree with photorec and its testdisk companion – brilliant and brilliantly usable. But I have recently been helping some older friends with their sluggish Win PCs and, having ditched Windows for myself about 5 years ago I’ve been appalled to see the environment that ordinary non-computing people have to deal with when they use their consumer products. Without exception browsers of all types were completely swamped by unwanted add-ons, pop-ups and multiple search bars making browsing very difficult and webmail unusable. And a couple thought they had virus protection when in reality it was just a scanning program to hook people into purchases. How do businesses (and most were legit not pure Malware) think this is the best environment for them and their customers? I couldn’t go back to it, I’m sure – so total abstinence or suicide? Not sure!
Since THE CLOUD is so big these days, I suppose my best choice would be my web browser. Firefox!
Firefox is at the top
Followed by VLC
Doesnt matter what is I use these two just have to be there…
LibreOffice
Instead of just improving software we should improve the hardware situation.
I think we need a better strategy to secure the future for Linux. Inspired by the raspberry pi I definitely think we need a cheap easily sellable Linux Laptop. One feature could be that you could connect a raspberry pi to its screen and hardware. I don’t know the best solution for this but what if the laptop had a HDMI-in port. Further maybe those who make MIPS processors have the same aspirations as us to begin a collaboration.
dmesg.
Or maybe I just need to figure out where to find equivalent information in Windows…
Other than that, it would be Thunderbird. I could live with another browser than Firefox, but not with web mail or Outlook.
apt-get
Brilliant way to install new software and update my system. Best of all is that it is sooo fast.
mplayer