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Open Source Reviews

  • Review

    Stop spyware in its tracks with Open-Source HijackThis

    Posted May 10, 2012 - 3:05 pm

    Reviewing HijackThis is like talking to an old friend for the first time after a lengthy communications hiatus. I lost track of the program's development shortly after Trend Micro took it over. Not that I or my repair colleagues ever stopped using it--it's too darn handy when it comes to spotting malware and removing detritus from your system. Now, Trend Micro has placed the program in open source, so perhaps development will continue beyond the version 2.0.4 that it's been stuck at for a while.
  • Review

    WampServer delivers a smart, Windows-friendly platform for Apache, MySQL and PHP-based apps

    Posted April 23, 2012 - 12:36 am

    While many popular website applications (WordPress, Drupal, Joomla, etc.) are open source and therefore freely available, running these PHP-based apps on a Windows IIS web server requires a bit of retrofitting.
  • Review

    Roll your own Wiki with open source MoinMoin

    Posted March 26, 2012 - 3:20 pm

    If you've ever wanted to roll your own wiki and are not intimidated by having to deal with some of the technical underpinnings that come with an industrial-strength wiki solution, you might want to take a look at MoinMoin. This open source, Python-based wiki features revision tracking, wiki formatting, data import and export, and more.
  • Review

    Open-source freeware fave GIMP ready to take on Photoshop

    Posted March 17, 2012 - 7:21 am

    GIMP, or GNU Image Manipulation Program, is an entirely free, open-source image editor and creator that---now in its seventeenth year of development---finally seems ready to take on the big guns. Criticized for years for being too oddball, too unstable, too un-Photoshop-like, GIMP has finally edged its way into the mainstream. Yes, it's still really different from Photoshop, but after two decades of Photoshop, is that really a bad thing?
  • Review

    10 open source shopping carts to run your ecommerce business

    Posted January 18, 2012 - 4:04 pm

    For businesses that rely on online transactions, open source shopping carts are a good alternative to proprietary ecommerce software: They are a fraction of the cost and are supported by large communities of users and developers.
  • Review

    Mint is fun, client-focused Linux distro

    Posted January 6, 2012 - 8:32 pm

    When Ubuntu decided last year to abruptly replace the familiar Gnome UI with its own Unity interface, many users were upset. And according to the latest numbers from DistroWatch, Linux Mint has been the major beneficiary, so we decided to test Linux Mint 12.
  • Review

    A user's guide to Android Ice Cream Sandwich

    Posted December 26, 2011 - 9:26 pm

    After months of waiting, the Galaxy Nexus (and by extension, Android 4.0, aka "Ice Cream Sandwich") is finally here. We've already done an extensive review of the hardware, so here we will be looking much more closely at Ice Cream Sandwich. Whether you are an Android veteran or a smartphone first-timer, this new version of Google's mobile operating system has a few things you should know about before getting started.
  • Review

    Finestra manages virtual desktops with panache

    Posted November 28, 2011 - 9:18 pm

    If Finestra Virtual Desktops (free/donationware) hadn't crashed on me once or twice, it would've scored at least a half star higher than the 3 stars that I gave it. It's that elegant and suited to the task. The program allows you up to 100 virtual desktops (four's plenty for most folks), has a host of options so that you can control which programs open on which desktop, etc., and even makes great use of the Windows 7 live window thumbnails.
  • Review

    Alfresco: An open-source ECM alternative for SharePoint

    Posted November 7, 2011 - 3:03 pm

    In any business organization, the need to effectively communicate and collaborate in a timely manner is very important. Contending with mobile workers and shifting schedules, many businesses look toward enterprise content management (ECM) systems such as Microsoft's SharePoint. Their purpose is to allow users within organizations to collaborate and share work inside of a commonly accessed website framework.
  • Review

    Manage music on Android without iTunes

    Posted October 28, 2011 - 8:00 am

    Music lovers will appreciate any of the options presented here. While there are vast differences in how they work, these tools enable your Android device to have access to the same music as any iOS device especially if it's DRM-free.
  • Review

    Site builders: Drupal vs. Joomla vs. WordPress

    Posted September 14, 2011 - 2:01 pm

    Building a website has never been easier. Gone -- mostly -- are the days of having to hand-code HTML and PHP scripts in order to get a slick, fully functional website, thanks to the capabilities of content management systems that do most or all of the heavy lifting for site creators.
  • Review

    Putting Oracle's VirtualBox to the test

    Posted June 22, 2011 - 11:31 am

    The free virtualizatin systems scores high, as does a new PC maintenance tool Slimware. The Syllable operating system, not so much.
  • Review

    Ubuntu breaks from the Linux pack

    Posted June 13, 2011 - 6:45 am

    Ubuntu 11.04 (nicknamed Natty Narwhal) marks a decided change in direction for the Linux-based operating system. The biggest change is that Canonical, the organizer of Ubuntu, is replacing the Gnome/KDE desktop environment with a new user interface called Unity.
  • Review

    Drupal 7 simplifies Web site management

    Posted May 23, 2011 - 1:33 am

    Drupal 7 represents a conscious effort to make Drupal easier to use, but the results are mixed.
  • Review

    Ubuntu 11.04: Is Natty Narwhal the best Linux desktop ever?

    Posted May 5, 2011 - 8:29 am

    With its new Unity interface, Ubuntu 11.04 doesn't look or act like any other desktop Linux you've ever seen. It's not just a new take on the desktop, it's a new take on the interface for all devices.
  • Review

    Seven free security tools for Linux

    Posted April 12, 2011 - 3:22 pm

    One of the big advantages of using Linux is that its security tends to be so much better than that of the competing alternatives. That's due in large part to the way Linux assigns permissions, but it's also certainly true that the open source operating system is targeted by malware writers far less frequently than Windows is, in particular, simply because it's less widely used and so much more diverse.
  • Review

    Universal USB installer

    Posted March 30, 2011 - 12:58 pm

    "Live" distributions of Linux offer a wonderful convenience for those not quite ready to commit to the open-source operating system. By booting Linux directly from a CD (which you burn from a downloaded .iso file), you can try it out without first installing it onto your hard drive. But live Linux CDs have their problems. Optical media is slow. It's also read-only, limiting your ability to configure the operating system. Finally, many of today's netbooks and ultraportable laptops don't have an optical drive. The Universal USB Installer (free) offers a simple and elegant solution to those problems.
  • Review

    OpenSUSE 11.4: A blast from Linux past

    Posted March 21, 2011 - 3:56 pm

    OpenSUSE is back with a new, improved version, but it reminds me of how spoiled I've been by other Linux distributions. I've liked openSUSE since before it was named openSUSE and went by the unlikely name S.u.S.E Linux 4.2 back in 1996. It's come a long, long way since then.
  • Review

    Image gallery: OpenSUSE 11.4

    Posted March 21, 2011 - 3:43 pm

    This image gallery accompanies the ITworld review of OpenSUSE 11.4.
  • Review

    Review: Open source FreeOTFE encrypts disks handily

    Posted March 8, 2011 - 4:02 pm

    FreeOTFE may sound like a political bumper sticker, but it stands for "Free On The Fly Encryption." The "Free" part is self-explanatory; "On The Fly Encryption" refers to the encrypting/decrypting of data as it is written to or read from your hard disk. The data on your disk (either the whole disk or a portion of it, as you see fit) is stored in an encrypted form, and FreeOTFE handles all read and write requests, so that the operating system, applications, etc, operate normally. Despite what you might expect, speed impact is generally minimal and will probably not be noticed by a user under most circumstances.
  • Review

    CrunchBang Linux

    Posted February 22, 2011 - 12:41 pm

    A lot of modern Linux distributions created with desktop users in mind go out of their way to be user friendly. Ubuntu, Mint, openSUSE, Fedora -- and many more. It is a sign of how desktop Linux has matured that even non-techy types can get a fully featured and easy-to-use open source operating system up and running in not much time at all. The creators of CrunchBang Linux, however, haven't quite gone in the same direction.
  • Review

    Open office dilemma: OpenOffice.org vs. LibreOffice

    Posted February 16, 2011 - 10:02 am

    Dueling open source alternatives to Microsoft Office match word processors, spreadsheets, and much more; which one should you choose?
  • Review

    Top 10 free open source tools for network admins

    Posted February 3, 2011 - 11:46 am

    From troubleshooting DNS queries and misbehaving network applications to keeping your configurations and passwords organized, these free open source tools have you covered
  • Review

    Red Hat builds gutsy, green virtualization machine

    Posted January 24, 2011 - 12:53 pm

    Three years in the making, Red Hat Enterprise Linux ( RHEL) 6 is a gutsy, green upgrade that features native support for KVM, the Linux kernel-based virtual machine.
  • Review

    The best hardware and software of the year

    Posted January 12, 2011 - 9:21 am

    InfoWorld's 2011 Technology of the Year Awards recognize the best products at the forefront of today's top data center, desktop, mobile, and programming trends.
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