Filed under: Audio, Fun, Games, Internet, Kids, Utilities, Video, Windows, Office, Productivity, Freeware, Open Source
An amazing open source and free Windows program collection
by Grant Robertson Aug 3rd 2006 at 10:10AM
User groups, for all their pedantic and geeky reputation, are a source of tremendous power and motivation in some communities, and it seems the more remote the community, the more robust the local user group. The island nation of Trinidad and Tobago are no exception to this rule. The TTCS OSS/Win CD is a user group produced and maintained disk of over 100 free and Open Source programs and utilities for the Windows platform. What separates the TTCS disk from a random collection of downloadable goodies is the web-based documentation and categorization of everything included on the burnable CD image.
The 700MB CD image includes desktop and educational applications, games, graphics programs, various server software, Internet programs and a host of sound and video applications. This is the kind of software collection that makes you (the geek) look like you (the superhero) when you burn and share it, evangelizing open source and helping less computing savvy friends and family find some really useful FOSS applications.
A full list of everything on the CD is available from the Trinidad and Tobago Computer Society's website, as is the downloadable ISO image.
I don't know if this is a labor of love or merely the brainchild of four very gifted games designers, but Level Up is a really weird mash-up of gaming elements that you have probably never seen in a Flash game before.
Let's start with the premise itself: Groundhog Day meets Memento. The game experience revolves around 'days': you explore the world and the clock slowly ticks towards the evening. You bounce around picking up gems and talking to the denizens of 'Level Upland'. Eventually you feel tired and head back to ...
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Evan said 11:22AM on 8-03-2006
How awesomely awesome that you've recognized the country, much thanks, Grant! Remember your audience isn't from the US alone! :D
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sean said 12:18PM on 8-03-2006
these disks of FOSS for windows are fantastic. very useful for the average geek who is asked to setup/maintain peoples machines for them.
however it occurs to me that it might be a good idea to write a visual basic script or java app that (optionally) downloads and (optionally) installs these apps when you select them from a lis in a UI like what happens when you make a linux install.
otherwise i love them, they really help me get a clear short list of pre selected high quality FOSS.
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westudi said 9:00AM on 8-04-2006
This is pretty darn cool. I just wish they had a dvd version too, and included America's Army on it.
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