Thread: Open-Source Software

Most of us use open-source software. Quite quite a few of us aren't aware of it!

For example, Chromium is the open-source software project behind Google Chrome. I switched to Google Chrome a few months back, and have found it to be quicker than the others, even the latest version of IE, which is a DOG compared to Chrome. Ignore the Microsoft lies, er, "commercials" intended to confuse the easily confused. I also use Open Office. It's highly interchangeable with Microsoft Office, and was originally developed by Sun. I thought it'd be dumped when Sun was taken over by Oracle, but apparently, they're supporting it, as well.

What has open source done for us people around the planet? For one, it's saved us about $60 Billion U.S. That's $8.75 for every man, woman, and child on the planet. However, since computer users are only a fraction of the world's population as a whole, it's probably saved daily computer users closer to $100, on average. I calculate it's saved me closer to $1,000, but I'm a fairly heavy user of computers.

The Free Software Foundation distinguishes open-source software as being different than free software:

"The term “open source” software is used by some people to mean more or less the same category as free software. It is not exactly the same class of software: they accept some licenses that we consider too restrictive, and there are free software licenses they have not accepted. However, the differences in extension of the category are small: nearly all free software is open source, and nearly all open source software is free." - Source

Thus, the two are not synonymous, but are closely related.

The Open Source Initiative's definition is much more detailed, and can be found here.

Linux, Firefox, Gnome... There's a TON of outstanding open-source software packages out there, and the best thing about them is that they are all FREE!

If you've ever surfed the Internet, you've undoubtedly hit a web server running on Apache, which is open-source. In fact, 100 million http servers run on Apache, more than any other web server on the planet. Without Apache, the Internet wouldn't be half of what it is today.

In fact, there is so much open-software on the market today, covering so many subjects, that there's little need for anyone to buy any software package again. Ironically, I'm sticking with Windows for now, as I have a few open-source software packages I like that will run on Windows, but not Linux...

Mugs, Free and Open Source are indeed great ideas. Imagine people sharing the product of there labour with others and getting the same in return. A new dimension to modern life, free from interest in the almighty buck. An excellent site for such software is Sourceforge:
LINK: SourceForge.net: Find, Create, and Publish Open Source software for free

My own contribution to free software (not open source though) is Cycles Analysis & Timeseries Software or CATS:
LINK: Cycles Research Institute C.A.T.S. Software

I do try to use open source, but I keep getting sucked back into the world of propietary. I have pretty much kicked the propietary habit for email clients and browsers, but much of my work is still done on a computer running a proprietary operating system. I do try to use OpenOffice, but have trouble producing graphs like the one I just produced in Microsoft Excel. I don't know if it is lack of skill on my part or lack of features on OpenOffice's part, and I really really hate to be using a Microsoft product, but I do

Originally Posted by Coelacanth

I do try to use OpenOffice, but have trouble producing graphs like the one I just produced in Microsoft Excel. I don't know if it is lack of skill on my part or lack of features on OpenOffice's part, and I really really hate to be using a Microsoft product, but I do

Technical challenge! Let's hear it!

Originally Posted by grapes

Technical challenge! Let's hear it!

The graph is here:

NASA Budget

Originally Posted by Coelacanth

I do try to use open source, but I keep getting sucked back into the world of propietary. I have pretty much kicked the propietary habit for email clients and browsers, but much of my work is still done on a computer running a proprietary operating system. I do try to use OpenOffice, but have trouble producing graphs like the one I just produced in Microsoft Excel. I don't know if it is lack of skill on my part or lack of features on OpenOffice's part, and I really really hate to be using a Microsoft product, but I do

Yes, I agree. I use Open Office and it is entirely satisfactory for word processing. The graph production is possible, but the spreadsheet does not have all the excel features. My main reasons for being stuck on windoze are that I really like Irfanview and a couple of other non-Linux available programs (notably xplorer2 and notetab). If I can some time master wine then I will be away. I promised myself when I got Win-XP that it was my last. Also use Firefox and Thunderbird.

Originally Posted by Coelacanth

The graph is here:

NASA Budget

Pshaw. I bet you can leave off the labels of the green and blue lines in opensource too!!

Originally Posted by grapes

Pshaw. I bet you can leave off the labels of the green and blue lines in opensource too!!

Oh, it may well be possible, if so, I haven't figured out how to do it. (Not sure what you mean about the labels, though.)

Here is the source data.

NASA Budget - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The "nominal" figure for 1977 has an obvious error, with a decimal point in place of a comma.

I want to learn how to use gnuPlot.

Originally Posted by Coelacanth

Oh, it may well be possible, if so, I haven't figured out how to do it. (Not sure what you mean about the labels, though.)

Here is the source data.

NASA Budget - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The "nominal" figure for 1977 has an obvious error, with a decimal point in place of a comma.

I want to learn how to use gnuPlot.

In my version of openoffice (and in all the ones i have used), there is a shortcut button in the top row of shortcuts. It looks a bit like a pie chart, just hover over them and a tooltip will appear so you know you got the right one. Click it, and fill in the necessary info. I find it as easy (if not easier) as excel, i reproduced the NASA graph in under a minute.

Originally Posted by caveman1917

In my version of openoffice (and in all the ones i have used), there is a shortcut button in the top row of shortcuts. It looks a bit like a pie chart, just hover over them and a tooltip will appear so you know you got the right one. Click it, and fill in the necessary info. I find it as easy (if not easier) as excel, i reproduced the NASA graph in under a minute.

It may well just be lack of familiarity with the software on my part. I'll try harder in the future