Software Guide

[Kirby Gotenks absorbed]

You should add Audacity to the list.

[Andrew]

You should add Audacity to the list.

It has been there for a long time under "Multimedia" :)

[Andrew]

Added

List of Open Source CRM software

wikipedia link. Some ok looking software (some I already listed). Most have online demos.

EDIT:

Slashdot just had a discussion on open source apps for businesses. Lots of good stuff recommended.

Best Open Source Alternatives To Enterprise Apps

xTuple is a nice looking package (postbooks version is only free opensource one).

Watching a 20 min intro video now.

OpenGoo looks like a nice collaborative web office

[Dunenewt]

Is it worth mentioning Terragen in this thread?

[Andrew]

Yes!

I had so much fun with that many years ago. I imagine it would run a lot faster on my new computer too.

I think I tried running it once but it crashed my computer or something.

Terragen - a scenery/landscape generator

EDIT:

Also adding Google Chrome to web browsers.

It has come out of beta, and the reasoning for doing so is that it will come preinstalled on computers.

Google Chrome - Google web browser

Doubt I'll try google chrome until adblock+ is ported to it.

[MrFlibble]

Hm, I've been using AVG Anti-Spyware Free for some time, but now it looks like the freeware version is no longer available. Any ideas of a good freeware replacement? SpywareBlaster seems to be good, especially in that it really blocks spyware before it gets on your PC (at least, it's supposed to), but AVG Anti-Spyware would detect an occasional Hijacker sometimes (maybe a false positive, but who knows) which the SpywareBlaster could not block.

[Andrew]

I thought AVG antispyware was free? At least it was a year or two ago when they bought out the other guys. Hmm it seems it is only available in a paid suite now.

As for spywareblaster, it is basically a hosts file. You can accomplish similar thing just by replacing hosts files in windows folder. See here. All it does is prevent your computer from connecting to known spyware/virus websites. You might still need a spyware program. I havn't used one in years. I use ccleaner and it does a decent job at removing some stuff, but is not a spyware cleaner.

EDIT:

Openoffice 3.0.1 RC released today. click link for changelog.

New feature: Grammar checker. No idea how this will work.

And bug fixes.

3.0.1 is scheduled for release January 22, 2009.

[nemafakei]

Grammar checker? Can't wait to see it - and the source code!

[Andrew]

http://specs.openoffice.org/appwide/linguistic/Spelling_and_Grammar.odt

Contains lots of info about grammar checker. File contains macros, but didn't seem to do anything bad when I opened it.

Link found at this bug: http://www.openoffice.org/issues/show_bug.cgi?id=85999 (which was linked to in the original bug at changelog)

EDIT:

Apparently on Christmas Day OOo3 got to 25 million downloads. download counter - source

[D2k Sardaukar]

If you add Terragen, then you can also add: LuxRender, open-source, free software rendering system for physically correct, unbiased image synthesis. Rendering with LuxRender means simulating the flow of light according to physical equations. This produces realistic, photographic-quality images.

www.luxrender.net

And two other free/open renderers: Indigo and Yafray.

And I can't believe you missed IrfanView in the list. It's the best image program. Quick start-up, multi options, multi formats and fast. Okay, it's no photoshop or Gimp, but for quick editing and saving it's the best.

VirtualDub should also be in the list. It's a free video editor/saver. You can apply filters (like resize, sharpen, colour etc.) to movies and save them with almost all codecs (I mean you can choose out a lot of codecs, like xvid, divx, fourcc).

[Andrew]

Added lux render

yafRay has been integrated into blender according to wikipedia, so no need to add it.

Added link after blender.

Added indigo

I've heard of IrfanView, but never really tried it (no need for it). Added it anyways. Would it compete with google picasa (same functions)?

Added virtualdub. had no other video editors on the list.

[Andrew]

Open office 3.0.1 released

http://www.openoffice.org/

Changelog is the same as the RC.

Basically lots of bug fixes for 3.0

[nemafakei]

Does v3 come with an actual working updater so you don't have to reinstall every update?

[Andrew]

Does v3 come with an actual working updater so you don't have to reinstall every update?

Sadly still no small updater that I know of.

Internet hasn't worked since Friday, so I'm catching up on internet stuff!

[D2k Sardaukar]

Some cool artistic 2D and 3D tools (only contextfreeart is 2D, others 3D):

http://structuresynth.sourceforge.net/index.php - Structure Synth is an application for creating 3D structures from a set of user specified rules.

http://www.contextfreeart.org/ - Context Free is a program that generates images from written instructions called a grammar. The program follows the instructions in a few seconds to create images that can contain millions of shapes.

http://k3dsurf.sourceforge.net/ - K3DSurf is a program to visualize and manipulate Mathematical models in three, four, five and six dimensions. K3DSurf supports Parametric equations and Isosurfaces.

http://www.topmod3d.org/ - TopMod3d is a free, open source, portable, platform independent topological mesh modeling system that allows users to create high genus 2-manifold (watertight) meshes.

[Andrew]

Added them all.

Are you doing work that involves these types of programs?

[Andrew]

Anyone try the newly released google earth?

It relies on google updater now. Any experience with google updater? Is it as invading as apple updater or any other stupid updater that always runs in the background or installs non related software?

Doing some research it looks like crapware. sigh.

what is google updater and why its running?

What

[Andrew]

Holy shit I just booted into windows again, and google update is still trying to connect to google!?

And there were 3 processes of it running at the same time. But now only one (the other two must have auto closed?).

There is no google udpate in my "add/remove programs", so how do I get rid of this spyware that google installed?

I tell my firewall to not allow it and it keeps trying to connect using different IP addresses.

It asked about 7 times, but I only took 3 screenshots.

Now two google updater processes running...

[Andrew]

More screenshots...

Found out where the .exe was running from.

C:Program FilesGoogleUpdate

Using 2.35mb of space.

I deleted this folder. Will inform what happens when I reboot.

Doesn't show up in startup menu.

Found it in msconfig. see screenshot

Firefox 3.0.6 was released. 1.9mb update. kinda silly since the entire new download is 7mb.

I installed latest pdfcreator, and be warned it comes with "let yahoo.com be default search engine" option and also pdf creator browser addon for firefox/IE. It is basically a yahoo! toollbar crap.

EDIT:

Today slashdot picked up on the google malware.

http://tech.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=09/02/06/1510228

[D2k Sardaukar]

There are some nice save for web programs/plugins (saving images for that web that is).

There is a plugin for in Irfanview. Also stand alone: http://luci.criosweb.ro/riot/

Plugin for Gimp there is: http://registry.gimp.org/node/33

And there is a PNG compression program called PNGGauntlet: http://brh.numbera.com/software/pnggauntlet/

Perhaps for some useful? If you work a lot with the web and images.

By the way, Irfanview also has batch function which is very nice. You can rename a lot image and at the same time resize, sharpen, black border, blur etc.

There is also a thumbviewer in Irfanview, lets you view images in folders very quick. Some might find it useful.

[Andrew]

Openoffice 3.1.0 has been released.

New Features

Release Announcement

Apparently 500,000 lines of code were added/changed

[Vidi]

Hello everyone, been a while since I came here.

For the internet section, SRWare Iron: http://www.srware.net/en/software_srware_iron.php.  It's based on the Google chromium engine, but removes a lot of Google's data collection code, so you can browse the internet without Google looking at what you're doing.  Also comes with an adblocker, but it's not as user-friendly or as elegant as Adblock Plus.

Unfortunately, it also removes the update feature, so you'll have to check manually for any updates to it.

[Andrew]

Couldn't find opera thread.

Opera to 'reinvent the web' June 16

official webpage

No one knows what it will be, maybe just marketing, or maybe they did come up with something useful. Maybe some sort of rsync/torrent for the web to make sure websites never go down, and to share bandwidth between users, so each PC effectivley becomes a server for websites/files etc.

[Khan]

The new opera release is Unite, the link in andrew's post will take you to it. Haven't tried it just yet but it looks interesting, if not a tad less than what they promised. It seems to be about creating a community through the browser so chat, p2p, and the ability to leave notes for people are all included. There is also the ability to host websites on your computer, but I'm not sure how useful that option will turn out to be.

[Andrew]

Miranda 0.8 was released if anyone is using it still. Lots of new features.

Miranda IM v0.8.0 Released

Looks like they should have 0.8.1 bugfix release out in a week or two.

Sadly with me using ubuntu, I don't use it anymore, unless I'm on my winxp partition. Although I simply don't use IM at all, even on ubuntu (pidgin finally works for me!).

EDIT:

0.8.1 Miranda released. Bugs fixed.