What is Open Source Software?

Do you believe there is no free lunch?  I was always brought up to believe nothing in life is free.  After spending the last twelve years working on the Internet I have learned that if you have a good eye free lunches are a dime a dozen.  In this article I want to talk about free and open source software.  What is open source software?  Basically, it is free for use.  You can modify, examine and improve the source code.  The idea is we all share our updates and knowledge to allow for constant evolution of the software programming. Even just being a user is helping the cause because every program needs people to test it.

10 Totally Free Open Source Programs

I was reading an article on another website that inspired my writings today. Ten of the greatest open source software in 2009 is listed here with a brief description and a link to download the software programs. Indeed, this post is 100% free and I am not affiliated with the author other than being a fan of his (Vivek Gite) informative content. In this review you will find some really cool free software!

Links to Open Source Software Programs

  1. Inkscape ( Vector Graphics Editor )
  2. 7-Zip ( Archiver )
  3. VLC ( Media Player )
  4. VirtualBox ( Virtualization )
  5. Miro ( Internet TV )
  6. TrueCrypt ( Disk Encryption )
  7. Calibre ( eBook Converter and Reader )
  8. GnuCash ( Financial Management )
  9. GIMP ( Graphics / Simple Photo Editing )
  10. Audacity ( Sound Editor / Recorder )

These are all programs maintained by a group of users and programmers that team up and feedback to each other.  This arrangement in software development is becoming increasingly popular.

WordPress – My Favorite Open Source Software

Although it did not make the list of top ten in the list above, WordPress website publishing software is my number one web based choice.  I have been using this software since 2003 with a keen eye on growth.  Over the years we have learned how to make WordPress work just like a standard website (actually better).  The biggest difference is you have full control over the editing an administration of content with a user friendly publishing interface.

This web based publishing software is an open source content management system that is free for use. Many of the most dominant websites use WordPress to power their online backbone. Once it is installed WordPress is maintained by many PHP and HTML programmers that are constantly developing it. From your interface upgrading, adding new modules, themes and templates are all push button actions. With the recent release of version 3.0 the most cynical WordPress fence sitters are raising their eyebrows.

Why Do I love WordPress?

There are 3 main reasons I enjoy working with WordPress in almost every web site project.

  1. Design, evolution and deployment simplicity-this software is installed directly on your server it connects to a database (MySQL). It is movable and can be set to automatically backup your data. Once the software is installed there are really only three steps to launch a new website a) content  b) architecture c) website theme design.
  2. Simplicity of use- administering content to your website is very similar to using Microsoft word. Anyone with previous experience using this software will have definite advantage learning this software in minutes.
  3. Compliant and clean code- when you click the big blue publishing but in your interface the output web page generated is W3C compliant (World Wide Web Consortium). Search engines have benchmark standards for quality control. Part of quality control is healthy and functional source code.

Is WordPress For You?

You may think WordPress is not for you, people like me will likely want to have a friendly rebuttal.  The question used to be “Why would I use WordPress to control and manage my website?”… now the question is … why not? Before you decide on your website redesign you’ll want to take a close look at using this scalable website publishing software.

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