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Open Source tips: alternatives to commercial software website


Instead of upgrading your commercial software apps, now may be the time for you to try something in the Open Source arena. Push your comfort zone a little and see what Open Source can do for you. To help you get started quickly, osalt.com is a website with all the right stuff in one nice place for you.

Thanks Eric!


The site is neatly organized into sections to help you find whatever app you are looking for. The sections are:
  • business
  • communications
  • databases
  • development
  • graphic applications
  • internet & networking
  • multimedia & audio
  • security & privacy
  • system-utilities
  • web development
In each section, the site features nice pull out boxes listing the top commercial apps, and their open source counterparts, as well as the most popular of both. Below is the screenshot of the database page.



When you click on an open source app link, you get to see a product rating as well as the ability to read or post comments on the software. There is also a pull out box that tells you open source alternatives to the app you are looking at. See screenshot below of a.MSN 0.96, an Open Source alternative to MSN messenger.



And for those of you who like to pay, or want to start, there's a convenient little Paypal button you can click.

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Featured Time Waster

Civiballs is a beautiful, soothing physics puzzle Time Waster

CiviballsI have an absolute weakness for physics games, and while Civiballs isn't the strongest physics-based game, what it lacks in the physics department it makes up for a few times over in style and fun.

In Civiballs, you are presented with a few colored balls, and your goal is to get those balls into the same-colored urn on the level. The "civi" part of Civiballs is that there are 3 sets of levels to play, each representing a different civilization. While the civilization doesn't affect gameplay, the artwork for each level is beautifully themed to it's appropriate era.

To play the game, you are given only one tool - a sword with which to cut the chains that are holding the balls. The puzzle part of the game is in figuring out what order, and with what timing to cut each chain. Do it right, and all the right balls end up in the right urns, with no stray balls entering an urn (a no-no). Do it wrong, and you get to start over again.

Civiballs is not terribly deep on gameplay; the entire game can be completed in about 15 minutes. But if you enjoy this type of game, it will be a very enjoyable 15 minutes.

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