- MySql - Open Source relational database software. It's fantastic and behind some of the largest internet sites in the world.
- FileZilla - Open Source FTP/SFTP software.
- Putty - SSH to a linux box from Windows. This is great for gaining access to your hosted servers from a client PC running windows.
- PocketPutty - Same as above, but from your Windows Mobile/Pocket PC device. In my case, Treo 700wx cell phone.
- Ruby on Rails - Open Source Web Development framework built around the MVC (Model-View-Controller) design pattern. Hey, it's great in my opinion and I built a solution for our company on it in no time.
- TightVNC - Like PCAnywhere, but Open Source. Remotely control other computers from this lightweight, low-footprint tool. Note: TightVNC is built upon VNC.
- OpenOffice - I use this to avoid licensing costs from Microsoft. When starting a small company, you have to save as much money as possible. This was a tough one for the kids - because they all use MSOffice at school. They have gotten used to it though! One very valuable feature that I like about it: I can save all my documents to PDF NATIVELY, without having to use Acrobat or some other print driver. It does a good job of preserving the format from MS Office documents. It's not just a writer, but also a spreadsheet tool that works very much like Excel, a presentation tool, etc...
- Thunderbird - An Open Source Mail client. Hey, this isn't as good as Outlook (IMHO), but it does the job. Besides, I don't have Outlook! I choose this tool over Outlook Express.
- RadRails (now Aptima Studio) - Development environment for Ruby on Rails development.
- Apache - Open Source Web Server. I don't know the current market saturation, but if not number one then number two behind IIS.
- ... If I come up with others, then I will make a new post for them. If too many others, then I'll consolidate into a new post. I think this is it for now. BTW, I'm ONLY putting down items for Open Source Software that I use, or use regularly! The list of tools available via OpenSource is AMAZING and my list doesn't even touch the surface of what's available.
Showing posts with label Open Source. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Open Source. Show all posts
Sunday, December 23, 2007
Open Source Software that I use
I mentioned Ubuntu and Asterisk in a different post, because it related to an easy and nearly free PBX solution. In addition, I find the following tools valuable:
Phone System for the poor...FREE, almost...
I'm a big believer in Open Source software, and some of the best software available today is open source (Linux, Apache, MySQL, etc...).
As we were starting our service business two years ago, which shouldn't be recommended to anyone :-), I needed a phone system that would work in my home. As mentioned in a previous post, we use AccessLine so that we can have a remote work force. However, I needed something that would allow me to have multiple lines within my home that would all be tied together, allow transfers, etc... Also, before I knew about AccessLine, I had already gone down this different path.
Asterisk - It's an open source PBX system! With very little money (just hardware which is very inexpensive), you can have your business up and running with a full-fledged PBX. We have one vonage line and four land-lines from our cable provider running into an old computer that's only purpose in life is to route phone calls. You can do some VERY fancy stuff with Asterisk. We use it for bare minimum functionality but it works great. You can also set it up so that it can support your entire remote workforce too, but I am just too afraid to put it on the outside of our firewall. Thus, the multiple systems (Asterisk and AccessLine). The actual software is found here: http://www.asterisk.org. You may want to check into Asterisk@Home as well. Apparently, it is now called TrixBox (as I found out when trying to get a linke to their website). Here ya go: Asterisk@Home
BTW, we have found success running it on the Ubuntu distribution of Linux. It gave us problems ONE time in TWO years and that's because I had debug logging enabled and didn't realize it and the disk ran out of free space! Other than that, it's been a great performer! An entire history of inbound and outbound calls are stored in a database for your archival purposes.
Hope this helps...
As we were starting our service business two years ago, which shouldn't be recommended to anyone :-), I needed a phone system that would work in my home. As mentioned in a previous post, we use AccessLine so that we can have a remote work force. However, I needed something that would allow me to have multiple lines within my home that would all be tied together, allow transfers, etc... Also, before I knew about AccessLine, I had already gone down this different path.
Asterisk - It's an open source PBX system! With very little money (just hardware which is very inexpensive), you can have your business up and running with a full-fledged PBX. We have one vonage line and four land-lines from our cable provider running into an old computer that's only purpose in life is to route phone calls. You can do some VERY fancy stuff with Asterisk. We use it for bare minimum functionality but it works great. You can also set it up so that it can support your entire remote workforce too, but I am just too afraid to put it on the outside of our firewall. Thus, the multiple systems (Asterisk and AccessLine). The actual software is found here: http://www.asterisk.org. You may want to check into Asterisk@Home as well. Apparently, it is now called TrixBox (as I found out when trying to get a linke to their website). Here ya go: Asterisk@Home
BTW, we have found success running it on the Ubuntu distribution of Linux. It gave us problems ONE time in TWO years and that's because I had debug logging enabled and didn't realize it and the disk ran out of free space! Other than that, it's been a great performer! An entire history of inbound and outbound calls are stored in a database for your archival purposes.
Hope this helps...
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