My computer runs Windoze. I would like to install Linux on it, but somehow Windoze “lost” the CDROM driver, so I can’t boot from a CD, or even boot from a floppy and transfer control to a CD. But I am doing all I can to forget I am running a Micro$oft product; all my major apps are Open Source.
One app I always have running is an instant messenger program. Rather than using AIM I am using the Open Source GAIM. It can do everything that AIM can, and so much more. It can IM using AIM, Yahoo messenger, MSN, Jabber, ICQ, and about half a dozen other protocols I haven’t even heard of, all in one buddy list. Your conversations are (if you choose in the preferences) all in one tabbed window, rather than crowding your taskbar. And there is no annoying AOL Today window or ads in it.
An app that I use only marginally often but can’t live without is a text editor. Vim has a steep learning curve for the most powerful features (being based on a console program) but the basic text editing is simple. And having been ported to almost every platform known to exist, you only have to learn it once.
However, the majority of my time in front of my computer is spent either browsing the web or reading/sending email. Therefore, it follows that the crown jewel of my Open Source app list is Mozilla. It is powerful, simple to use, fast, and extremely customizable. It has all the features you would expect from any browser, and so much more. It not only imported my Favorites from IE and my address book from OE, it collected my cookies and passwords, making switching painless. It supports tabbed browsing, and integrates the email and browser even better than M$. It seems a bit slow, but is still faster than IE, much more so if you count the time saved waiting for reboots when IE crashes, or waiting for popup windows to be drawn (which Moz kills).
Of course, true to any Open Source project, Moz is expandable. An entire community has developed making it all it can be: MozDev. Some of my favorite offerings:
- GoogleBar – better than the IE version made by Google
- Yahoo Companion – if you Yahoo.
- AdBlock – dial up feels like DSL when you don’t have to wait on ad banners and popups to load. I would reccomend you download a pre-made filter set of items to block, however you can create your own
- WebDeveloper Toolbar – Lets you make sure that the pages you make will work on older browsers, without going into your preferences
- CSS Editor for Composer – A visual stylesheet editor.
All in all, I would still prefer using Linux. No app can protect you from crashes caused by an inferior operating system. But running Open Source makes the Windoze “experience” almost bearable.
