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The union of open source software into the Windows market is becoming ever more commonplace. So I've compiled another, albeit short list, of some of my latest favorites. All of these are great products for the IT pro that rival their commercial counterparts and come with that loveable, open-source price.
Zenoss Core
IT pros need to monitor their networks and applications but it can be a costly endeavor. There are lots of alternatives to
the commercial packages on the market and I blog about them frequently. Even still, Zenoss Core is a project that not only
caught my attention but seems to be one of the darlings of the entire open source software (OSS) community. Sourceforge.net
gives it a sixth place overall ranking and with good reason. Zenoss Core is an easy to manage, easy to read monitoring tool
with lots of features. I downloaded the VMware file, powered it on and was ready to go in no time. The dashboard style was
easy to learn and the core product handles most of what you need to monitor. But wait, there's more! You can download ZenPacks from the community Web site to extend the features and functionality of Zenoss Core. Download Zenoss Core from the Web site
VirtuaWin
Multiple monitors are great for extending the "real estate" you have to work with on your desktop. Sometimes you need to go
beyond having more space. Sometimes you need to separate your workspaces according to functionality. If you have ever been
the project manager, help desk, network administrator, Exchange admin, etc., VirtuaWin is the perfect tool to help you out.
Rather than have many different windows on a single desktop, VirtuaWin allows you to create many virtual desktops that can
be customized and set up according to functionality. I like knowing I am working in defined workspaces. VirtuaWin also offers
numerous modules and is highly customizable. If you wear many hats or if you just need to get your desktop more organized,
VirtuaWin is great solution for you. Download the program here and check out the modules as well.
Bochs
Legacy software, testing and incompatible file formats are all scenarios where you need to keep another system around. While
virtualization has made it simple to toss out that old Windows NT 4 machine and run the application without the extra hardware,
Bpchs offers another alternative. Bochs uses emulation to create systems that are not only portable but capable of running
any OS within any OS. Run Linux on a Windows Vista machine and then move that image to Mac OSX without needing to do anything
to the image file itself. The latest infusion of cross platform computing has made file compatibility a bit easier to deal
with, however many applications still need file conversion utilities to work. And many times these are only one-way conversions.
That means transferring the data back to the original format and that can be difficult if not impossible. With Bochs you could
simply load the file into its native file format and work on it without needing to convert something in order to make the
file reusable. Bochs is lightweight and easy to configure and run. The images pull little in the way of resources on the host
machines. I also enjoyed the idea of keeping a bunch of emulated legacy systems around. Who knows, perhaps I can break out
some of my old DOS and Windows 95 games again? It could be fun to run them on my Vista machine. You can download Bochs and
several image files from the Web site
Recuva
Backup and disaster recovery are essential in every IT environment but can only take care of the files that are backed up.
Most times, users' systems are not part of the backup/DR plan, so what action can you take? Undelete and recovery tools are
nothing new and there are many solutions. I have even blogged about a few commercial packages in the past (Nothing is lost forever and Nothing is lost forever part II). Recuva is an open source iteration of recovery software. What I enjoyed about this software package is that it did everything
the commercial packages did, had an easy-to-use GUI interface and it cost nothing. To me that makes Recuva a no-brainer. To
management, it will make you a resourceful team player. To the executive who loses that critical file (the picture of his
kids), it will make you a hero. You can download Recuva here. And while you are at it, with the money you save, donate something to support this project and keep it around.
PINs
Remembering passwords of your user account, admin account, Exchange admin account, personal computers, online banking, LinkedIn
profile, job sites, and any other can be tedious and painful. I don't know about anyone else but as an IT professional I have
enough things on my plate already. PINs is a secure password manager that not only makes it easier to keep track of them all,
it reminds you when passwords have expired, creates password for you and can even paste the username and password into the
app for you – in over 25 languages. PINs uses 448-bit encryption to secure your data. The setup is very easy as well. Now
that you know about PINs, isn't it time for you to generate a new password for some of those important online accounts (Gmail?)
that haven't been changed in months? Download PINs here.
Honorable Mentions
I'm including this category because every time I write about open source Windows tools, I invariably get comments and e-mails
asking how I could possibly have overlooked the following highly popular tools. I haven't overlooked them, I just prefer to
blog about Windows open source projects that are not sitting in the bull's-eye of the collective radar. But, since no list
is complete without mentioning these Windows OSS projects here we go ...
Firefox– The granddaddy (grandfox?) of all Windows OSS projects. Firefox has become the standard on which Internet browsers are judged. And while Internet Explorer 8 hopes to catch up, Firefox may be too far ahead in the game.
OpenOffice.org 3– For years the MS Office price tag has been a hard pill to swallow for many organizations. But business being what it is, many had no choice, until OpenOffice.org that is, the latest version of which includes support for Office 2007 files. Compare its price (free) to the retail cost of $379 for Office 2007 professional. Need I say more?
Thunderbird– Many would agree that Outlook Express or Windows Mail is not an effective replacement for Microsoft Outlook as an e-mail client. If you were to go with OpenOffice.org 3 then Thunderbird would be a good companion. Thunderbird comes with a host of features like message tagging, advanced search options and even the ability to save searches, all of which makes it a viable replacement for Outlook.
MySQL– I am a big fan of Microsoft SQL Server but have many times been working on projects where I thought to myself that I had no need for all that power. SQL Server Express editions have left much to be desired in the area of managing those databases. MySQL is a popular alternative and it has gained a large following in the OSS community. Not surprisingly it has been gaining ground in the Windows world as well.
phpMyAdmin– If you are going to have MySQL, then you should have phpMyAdmin to administer your databases over the Web. The project has numerous themes and allows you to control all the features that MySQL has to offer making this a popular management tool.
ClamAV– Antivirus protection is in a lot of ways a double-edged sword. On the one side, it is absolutely needed to keep your system and data safe. On the other, many AV applications are extremely bloated and slow your system down. ClamAV is a great solution for providing necessary safety without all the resource overhead and there is no upgrade costs to continue to get new virus patterns…need I say more?
SugarCRM– Is a full CRM solution that has grown in popularity over the years. The community edition offers the ability to track leads, create marketing campaigns, share calendars and manage accounts. You can even use SugarCRM as an e-mail client or project management tool. Commercial solutions cost tens of thousands of dollars to deploy; the community edition of Sugar CRM gives you the most essential CRM tools without the cost.
I believe we are heading to a world where OSS will converge with proprietary software. In the meantime, please stay tuned to my blog as I continue to hunt down, and test, interesting fully open source projects for Windows that can help enjoy A Better Windows World.
Like this? Check out my other lists of tools:
20 great Windows open source projects you should get to know
12 cool cross-platform tools for Windows, Macs and Linux
Library of Tools reviewed in A Better Windows World
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Five great Windows open source toolsBy Anonymous on February 13, 2009, 1:29 pm
The union of open source software into the Windows market is becoming ever more commonplace. So I've compiled another, albiet short list, of some of my latest favorites. All of these are great products for the IT pro that rival their commercial counterparts and come with that loveable, open-source price. (Click on the product in table to jump directly to the product's review.)
Zenoss Core VirtuaWin Bochs Recuva PINs Honorable MentionsIf you must know, right now, without clicking on page 3, we'll name the Honorable Mentions now (drum roll, please): Firefox, OpenOffice.org 3, Thunderbird, MySQL, phpMyAdmin, ClamAV and SugarCRM.
Zenoss Core
IT pros need to monitor their networks and applications but it can be a costly endeavor. There are lots of alternatives to the commercial packages on the market and I blog about them frequently. Even still, Zenoss Core is a project that not only caught my attention but seems to be one of the darlings of the entire open source software (OSS) community. Sourceforge.net gives it a sixth place overall ranking and with good reason. Zenoss Core is an easy to manage, easy to read monitoring tool with lots of features. I downloaded the VMware file, powered it on and was ready to go in no time. The dashboard style was easy to learn and the core product handles most of what you need to monitor. But wait, there's more! You can download ZenPacks from the community website to extend the features and functionality or Zenoss Core. Download Zenoss Core from the website
VirtuaWin
Multiple monitors are great for extending the “real estate” you have to work with on your desktop. Sometimes you need to go beyond having more space. Sometimes you need to separate your workspaces according to functionality. If you have ever been the project manager, help desk, network administrator, Exchange admin, etc., VirtuaWin is the perfect tool to help you out. Rather than have many different windows on a single desktop, VirtuaWin allows you to create many virtual desktops that can be customized and setup according to functionality. I like knowing I am working in defined workspaces. VirtuaWin also offers numerous modules and is highly customizable. If you wear many hats or if you just need to get your desktop more organized, VirtuaWin is great solution for you. Download the program here and check out the modules as well.
Bochs (pronounced “BOX”)
Legacy software, testing and incompatible file formats are all scenarios where you need to keep another system around. While virtualization has made it simple to toss out that old Windows NT 4 machine and run the application without the extra hardware, Bochs offers another alternative. Bochs uses emulation to create systems that are not only portable but capable of running any OS within any OS. Run Linux on a Windows Vista machine and then move that image to Mac OSX without needing to do anything to the image file itself. The latest infusion of cross platform computing has made file compatibility a bit easier to deal with, however many applications still need file conversion utilities to work. And many times these are only one-way conversions. That means transferring the data back to the original format and that can be difficult if not impossible. With Bochs you could simply load the file into its native file format and work on it without needing to convert something in order to make the file reusable. Bochs is lightweight and easy to configure and run. The images pull little in the way of resources on the host machines. I also enjoyed the idea of keeping a bunch of emulated legacy systems around. Who knows, perhaps I can break out some of my old DOS and Windows 95 games again? It could be fun to run them on my Vista machine. You can download Bochs and several image files from their website
Recuva
Backup and disaster recovery are essential in every IT environment but can only take care of the files that are backed up. Most times, users systems are not part of the backup/DR plan, so what action can you take? Undelete and recovery tools are nothing new and there are many solutions. I have even blogged about a few commercial packages in the past (Nothing is lost forever and Nothing is lost forever part II). Recuva is an open source iteration of recovery software. What I enjoyed about this software package is that it did everything the commercial packages did, had an easy to use GUI interface and it cost nothing. Recuva however offers just about all of the functionality of the commercial brands without the hefty cost. To me that makes Recuva a no-brainer. To management, it will make you a resourceful team player. To the executive who loses that critical file (the picture of his kids), it will make you a hero. You can download Recuva here. And while you are at it, with the money you save, donate something to support this project and keep it around.
PINs
Remembering passwords of your user account, admin account, Exchange admin account. personal computers, online banking, LinkedIn profile, job sites, and any other source of password can be tedious and painful. I don’t know about anyone else but as an IT professional I have enough things on my plate already. PINs is a secure password manager that not only makes it easier to keep track of them all, it reminds you when passwords have expired, creates password for you and can even paste the username and password into the app for you – in over 25 languages. PINs uses 448-bit encryption to secure your data. The setup is very easy as well. Now that you know about PINs, isn't it time for you to generate a new password for some of those important online accounts (Gmail?) that haven't been changed in months? Download PINs here.
Honorable Mentions
I'm including this category because every time I write about open source Windows tools, I invariably get comments and e-mails asking how I could possibly have overlooked the following highly popular tools. I haven't overlooked them, I just prefer to blog about Windows open source projects that are not sitting in the bull's-eye of the collective radar. But, since no list is complete without mentioning these Windows OSS projects here we go …
Firefox – The granddaddy (grandfox?) of all Windows OSS projects. Firefox has become the standard on which Internet browsers are judged. And while Internet Explorer 8 hopes to catch up, Firefox may be too far ahead in the game.
OpenOffice.org 3 – For years the MS Office price tag has been a hard pill to swallow for many organizations. But business being what it is, many had no choice, until Open Office that is, the latest version of which includes support for Office 2007 files. Compare its price – free—to the retail cost of $379 for Office 2007 professional. Need I say more?
Thunderbird – Many would agree that Outlook Express or Windows Mail is not an effective replacement for Microsoft Outlook as an e-mail client. If you were to go with OpenOffice.org 3 then Thunderbird would be a good companion. Thunderbird comes with a host of features like message tagging, advanced search options and even the ability to save searches, all of which makes it a viable replacement for Outlook.
MySQL – I am a big fan of Microsoft SQL Server but have many times been working on projects where I thought to myself that I had no need for all that power. SQL Server Express editions have left much to be desired in the area of managing those databases. MySQL is a popular alternative and it has gained a large following in the OSS community. Not surprisingly it has been gaining ground in the Windows world as well.
phpMyAdmin – If you are going to have MySQL, then you should have phpMyAdmin to administer your databases over the web. The project has numerous themes and allows you to control all the features that MySQL has to offer making this a popular management tool.
ClamAV – Anti Virus protection is in a lot of ways a double edged sword. On the one side it is absolutely needed to keep your system and data safe. On the other many AV applications are extremely bloated and slow your system down. ClamAV is a great solution for providing necessary safety without all the resource overhead and there is no upgrade costs to continue to get new virus patterns…need I say more?
SugarCRM – Is a full CRM solution that has grown in popularity over the years. The community edition offers the ability to track leads, create marketing campaigns, share calendars and manage accounts. You can even use SugarCRM as an email client or project management tool. Commercial solutions cost tens of thousands of dollars to deploy; the community edition of Sugar CRM gives you the most essential CRM tools without the cost.
I believe we are heading to a world where OSS with converge with proprietary software. In the meantime, please stay tuned to my blog as I continue to hunt down, and test, interesting fully open source projects for Windows that can help enjoy A Better Windows World.
aaaaBy Anonymous on November 19, 2009, 2:44 amThank you very much for sharing the information .Very helpful .Best wishes !
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the benefit of using Bochs--an older emulation technologyBy Anonymous on August 21, 2009, 9:24 amIn 1950 Tiffany's had its biggest boost in popularity as Truman Capote's Breakfast at Tiffany's was published. Tiffany's was shot to worldwide fame in 1961 when the film adaptation staring Audrey Hepburn was released. This film and its star became icons Tiffany Tiffany jewellery Of course tiffany, the ladies' favorite. Want to see her smile? It is absolutely right to buy Tiffany co for her. Exquisite tiffany jewelries in high quliat , bracelet jewelry, tiffany jewelry, necklace jewelry, ring jewelry, finger ring jewelry, earring jewelry. Tiffany Jewellery offering bangle jewelry, bracelet jewelry, eardrop jewelry, necklace jewelry, ring jewelry, finger ring jewelry and earring jewelry Tiffany Necklaces Tiffany Bracelets Tiffany Rings links of london
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Recuva is not Open SourceBy Anonymous on March 25, 2009, 10:40 pmAll of the Piriform products are fantastic but none of them are Open Source, they are Freeware. As with many other people I would recommend KeePass or KeePassX. KeePassX is better because it is compatible with most Operating Systems.
ClamAVBy Anonymous on March 3, 2009, 12:15 amI have been using many of the Windows Open source tools mentioned here. While most tools are definitely good, ClamAV definitely leaves a lot to be desired. My PC was inundated with viruses within 2 days of having ClamAV. I've moved to other Antivirus tools since then.
PasswordSafe - a more up-to-date OS password managerBy Anonymous on February 26, 2009, 1:15 amPasswordSafe is the Open Source password manager endorsed by security guru Bruce Schneier. http://pwsafe.org
New GameBy Cheekz on February 24, 2009, 9:11 pmHey Hey Great new thingfs for the internet buffs love your thoughts and I find it all very helpful Thx Theresa
How come you didn't mention KeePassBy Anonymous on February 24, 2009, 11:07 amI've been using keepass for more than two years, and I very much like it. IMO, it is far better than commercial competitors. It definitely deserve a place for top 5.
Yes I know spice works. UsedBy Pompjoggie on February 23, 2009, 9:41 pmYes I know spice works. Used it for more than a year but still it cannot beat the paid products. I will not recommend it to anybody. Just my opinion
How about Spiceworks?By Anonymous on February 23, 2009, 8:55 amAlong the lines of free Admin tools, has anyone every dabbled with Spiceworks (http://www.spiceworks.com/product/)? It sounds very intriguing.
We use it in our 300 personBy Anonymous on May 1, 2009, 8:47 amWe use it in our 300 person organization and I feel it works really well. It has an excellent helpdesk system and works great for inventorying our network. I did demo a product that I felt was a little better but cost 2,000 dollars. Going with Spiceworks was an easy choice and we have never looked back.
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Why use Bochs over VirtualBox?By Anonymous on February 20, 2009, 6:02 pmWhat's the benefit of using Bochs--an older emulation technology--over a full virtualization product like VirtualBox? Back when Bochs was developed, virtualization was not common and that product was more or less intended to be a "open source VMWare", similar to other projects like Qemu and Freevmware.
Keepass FeaturesBy Pompjoggie on February 20, 2009, 5:07 pmKeepass Features http://keepass.info/features.html I use keepass and i must say I love the tool. I cannot see myself without it. I would like it to form fill for me but for a free tool it is great. They have some addons and stuff to fill forms but cannot get it to work in Firefox3. The other nice thing is that you can have a portable version of it.
Keepass is the better optionBy Anonymous on February 20, 2009, 4:48 pmI went to the PINs website and looks outdated. Copied from the website "Current version: 4.50.0.86, 19 Mar 2003 " I would've suggested Keepass (http://keepass.info/) and it's open source and free too.
newer = better?By Anonymous on February 25, 2009, 9:11 amWhat difference does the date make? If it works, it works. It's a password manager, it really shouldn't need to be constantly updated.
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