Open Source

os.gifI’m extraordinarily proud to have developed this website, as well as others (Great River Shakespeare Festival, Shanara Gabrielle’s site, Marcus Doshi’s lighting design site) on Open Source software. I also use almost exclusively Open Source software on my Mac for day-to-day tasks – particularly those jobs usually reserved for the Microsoft Office suite. This site, for instance, runs on the extraordinarily versatile WordPress platform, using a host of plugins that are freely available for download at the WordPress site. Developers spend thousands of hours creating useful applications, plugins, and utilities to help you design and update your site – and then make the fruits of their collective labor available for nothing to the general public. Amazing.

Open Source software abounds on the internet, and there’s almost always a free program that does what an expensive application does – and almost always just as well, if not better. I use OpenOffice exclusively for my word processing needs – it can even save and open Microsoft Word documents (as well as a host of other document formats)! It comes with a spreadsheet (to replace Excel), a presentation program (to supplant PowerPoint), and database, drawing, and formula programs to boot. Why pay homage to the Microsoft monster when you can use this extraordinary software for nothing? And it’s developed and maintained by a vast community of developers, programmers, and users, so there’s plenty of support out there for the technically challenged.

Below I’ve listed the Open Source applications I use on a daily basis. Though I use a Mac, most of these are available on Windows, Linux, and other platforms. Download one today and try it! Once you go Open Source, you won’t want to go back.

  • Audacity – Terrific sound editing software
  • Celestia – Astronomy software
  • Celtx – Script-writing software for plays, television and movies. Incredible!
  • Cyberduck – FTP client
  • Firefox – the one and only web browser. To list the plugins available would take too long.
  • FreeMind – Mind mapping software.
  • Gimp and Gimpshop – Photoshop alternatives.
  • Inkscape – Why use Illustrator?
  • Miro – TV for everyone. And it plays nearly every kind of movie file you throw at it.
  • NeoOffice – A version of OpenOffice.
  • Nvu – Open source HTML editor.
  • OpenOffice – As lauded above.
  • Scribus – Page layout program that rivals InDesign and Quark XPress.
  • Virtual Box – Instead of buying Parallels or VMFusion to run Windows on your Mac, try this Open Source alternative. Works like a charm!
  • VLC – Another movie player that can play anything.

    • And along with WordPress, I use an enormous list of plugins. Here they are:

    Akismet 2.2.7  Akismet 2.2.7
    » Matt Mullenweg (url)
    Akismet checks your comments against the Akismet web service to see if they look like spam or not. You need a WordPress.com API key to use it. You can review the spam it catches under “Comments.” To show off your Akismet stats just put <?php akismet_counter(); ?> in your template. See also: WP Stats plugin.

    All in One SEO Pack 1.6.10.2  All in One SEO Pack 1.6.10.2
    » Michael Torbert (url)
    Out-of-the-box SEO for your Wordpress blog. Options configuration panel | Upgrade to Pro Version | Donate | Support | Amazon Wishlist

    Core Control 0.8  Core Control 0.8
    » Dion Hulse (url)
    Core Control is a set of plugin modules which can be used to control certain aspects of the WordPress control.

    Daiko's Text Widget 0.9.4  Daiko's Text Widget 0.9.4
    » Rune Fjellheim (url)
    Works basically like the Text widget, but it will also take PHP code and includes conditional tags to specify where to show. An extension of the Execphp widget by Otto at http://ottodestruct.com.

    DefiThis 0.1  DefiThis 0.1
    » Gary of Devoracles (url)
    Brings Google’s (but not only) word definition feature one step closer to your blog by enabling for your users to look up the definition of the words they highlighted. This plug is useful if you have visitors from all around the World and your blog is in English. This is a beta release and we’d like to hear your thoughts about the plugin. Thanks for using this plugin.

    Exec-PHP 4.9  Exec-PHP 4.9
    » Sören Weber (url)
    Executes <?php ?> code in your posts, pages and text widgets.

    Free Dictionary 1.0.0  Free Dictionary 1.0.0
    » Baris Efe (url)
    Free Dictionary Sidebar Widget for WordPress provides an English Dictionary that gives you English definitions, synonyms, pronunciation, spelling and more.

    Gallery Widget 1.1.8  Gallery Widget 1.1.8
    » Oliver Schaal (url)
    Simple widget to show the latest/random images of the WordPress media gallery as a Widget, using a shortcode or directly with a php-function.

    GreyBox Integrator 1.0  GreyBox Integrator 1.0
    » Ajay D'Souza (url)
    GreyBox is a script can be used to display websites, images and other content in a beautiful way. GreyBox Integrator provides a one-click installation of GreyBox on your WordPress blog.

    Improved Include Page 0.4.7  Improved Include Page 0.4.7
    » Vito Tardia (url)
    This plugin is an improved version on the Include Page plugin by Brent Loertscher (http://beetle.cbtlsl.com/categories/include_page). It adds an iinclude_page() function that allows you to include the contents of a static page in a template with several options. It also adds a shortcode allowing you to include the same page into a post or static page.

    My Page Order 2.9.1  My Page Order 2.9.1
    » Andrew Charlton (url)
    My Page Order allows you to set the order of pages through a drag and drop interface. The default method of setting the order page by page is extremely clumsy, especially with a large number of pages.

    NextGEN Gallery 1.3.6  NextGEN Gallery 1.3.6
    » Alex Rabe (url)
    A NextGENeration Photo gallery for the Web 2.0.

    Ozh' Admin Drop Down Menu 3.3.9  Ozh' Admin Drop Down Menu 3.3.9
    » Ozh (url)
    All admin links available in a neat horizontal drop down menu. Saves lots of screen real estate! For WordPress 2.8+

    pb-embedFlash 1.5.1  pb-embedFlash 1.5.1
    » Pascal Berkhahn (url)
    A filter for WordPress that displays any flash content in valid XHTML code offering the possibility to specify attributes and parameters individually. With admin panel, widget, TinyMCE popup and playlist/media manager!

    Post Layout 2.1.1  Post Layout 2.1.1
    » Satollo (url)
    Adds HTML o javascript code before, after or in the middle of the content of pages or posts without modify the theme. For any problem or question write me: satollo@gmail.com.

    Post Tabs 2.9.1  Post Tabs 2.9.1
    » Leo Germani (url)
    postTabs allows you to easily split your post/page content into Tabs that will be shown to your visitors

    Reveal IDs for WP Admin 1.1.5  Reveal IDs for WP Admin 1.1.5
    » Oliver Schlöbe (url)
    WordPress 2.5+ only. Reveals hidden IDs in Admin interface that have been removed with WordPress 2.5 (formerly known as Entry IDs in Manage Posts/Pages View for WP 2.5). See Options Page for options and information.

    SlidePress 1.12  SlidePress 1.12
    » Palms Development Company (url)
    WP Admin interface for SlideShowPro gallery management

    Thesis OpenHook 2.2.5  Thesis OpenHook 2.2.5
    » Rick Beckman (url)
    This plugin allows you to insert arbitrary content into the many hooks that the Thesis Theme Framework provides. Never again edit a file! Based on K2 Hook Up and GPLed.

    Twitter for Wordpress 1.9.7  Twitter for Wordpress 1.9.7
    » Ricardo González (url)
    Displays your public Twitter messages for all to read. Based on Pownce for Wordpress by Cavemonkey50.

    Widget Logic 0.47  Widget Logic 0.47
    » Alan Trewartha (url)
    Control widgets with WP’s conditional tags is_home etc

    Wordpress Download Monitor 3.3.3.5  Wordpress Download Monitor 3.3.3.5
    » Mike Jolley (url)
    Manage downloads on your site, view and show hits, and output in posts. If you are upgrading Download Monitor it is a good idea to back-up your database first just in case. You may need to re-save your permalink settings after upgrading if your downloads stop working.

    WP-PluginsUsed 1.50  WP-PluginsUsed 1.50
    » Lester 'GaMerZ' Chan (url)
    Display WordPress plugins that you currently have (both active and inactive) onto a post/page.

    WP Post Columns 2.2  WP Post Columns 2.2
    » Sam Burdge (url)
    Allows you to easily create columns within your posts for a magazine / newspaper style layout. Idea for extra columns credited to RickHap http://www.flyhypersonic.com/wordpress

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