Some of the most important Open Source Software

The ability of open source software is to provide the best quality, elasticity and dependability. The following is a list of roughly 50 of the best Open Source Applications, which really help make Linux more practical for public. For present Linux users (like me), I think this will deliver an excessive reserve in discovery of applications that might better suit your requirements. Pointless to say that these are just some of the selected of the thousands of existing applications!

Now I have also categorised them so that it would be easier for you to understand:
 1.       Browser and Email clients
Firefox- It provides helpful new features to make your online experience more productive. Select from over a thousand suitable add-ons to personalize and make it your own.
Thunderbird helps you to improve and manage your disruptive inbox, balances to the most sophisticated administrative requirements while making it easy to catch what you need.

 2.       Address Book
Corvalis – is used to export to/import from other common e-mail programs such as Outlook etc. It has many enhanced search features and group management .
Rubrica – is an address book administrator for the 'GNOME' Environment. It lets you to add individual data like name, web links, address, IRC, email addresses, notes and much more.
 3.       Audio Tools
MediaCoder – is a free universal batch media transcoder, which nicely integrates most popular audio/video codecs and tools into an all-in-one solution. It converts file formats, giving you a great deal of control over the output. It can also save you plenty of hard disk space by shrinking media files. There are also lots of extensions you can download that expand the programs' capabilities, such as make it easy to transcode files for specific media players.
Audacity – is a free, easy-to-use audio editor and recorder for Windows, Mac OS X, GNU/Linux, and other operating systems. It allows users to record live audio, convert tapes and records to digital formats, or mix pre-existing digital audio tracks. Supported formats include Ogg Vorbis, MP3, and WAV sound files. Operating system: Windows, Linux/Unix, OS X, Classic Mac.
Moosic – is a music player for Unix systems. It focuses on convenient and powerful playlist management. The key feature of this music player is its playlist management/queuing abilities. By default, Moosic supports MP3, Ogg, MIDI, MOD, and WAV files, but it can be configured to support other file formats as well. Operating system: Unix.
StreamRipper – allows you to record and save Shoutcast streams and other Internet audio. Its key feature is the ability to find silences and mark them as possible points of track separation. Operating system: Windows, Linux/Unix.
 4.       Databases
Firebird -is a relational database many present ANSI SQL typical structures that runs on Linux, as well as on Windows.
PostgreSQL- is an progressive PostgreSQL-based search engine that delivers online indexing of data and significant ranking for database searching. Close integration with database allows practice of metadata to confine search results. Operating system: Windows, Linux/Unix, OS X.
 5.       Content Managers
Joomla- is one of the most prevailing Open Source Content Management System. It is used all over the world for entirety from modest websites to complex commercial applications. It is easy to install, simple to manage, and dependable.
Drupal- is an open source content management platform. Armed with a commanding combination of features, it supports a diversity of websites ranging from personal blogs to large community-based websites.
WordPress- is a personal publishing platform with an emphasis on aesthetics, web ethics, and usability.
 6.       Developer Tools
OpenOffice- is a multi-platform and multi lingual office set and an open-source project. It is compatible with all main office suites. This product is free to download, use, and distribute.
phpMyAdmin- holds the management of MySQL over the Web. It does many database administrations like executing SQL statements, adding, editing or deleting tables or fields or even databases. Operating system: OS Independent.
XAMPP- is an easy to install Apache distribution containing MySQL, Perl and PHP. It is really very easy to install and use. Operating system: Windows, Linux, OS/X, Solaris etc.
Notepad++- is a free code editor that supports numerous programming languages running under the MS Windows environment. Notepad++ is designed to be an enhancement for Notepad.
jEdit- is an editor written in Java. It supports auto indentation and syntax highlighting for about 125 different languages, as well as numerous of independently developed plug-ins to make programming easier. Operating system: OS Independent.
Ghostscript- allows users to alter, view, or print PostScript and PDF files. Different forms of the software are available either as open-source or as viable distributions. Operating system: Windows, Linux/Unix, Classic Mac.
7.       Emulators
DOSBox- is used for emulating games as well as other programs. Just install and execute the program, then you can run any DOS game or DOS application inside it. When you run it, it automatically sets any sound-system associated variables, so that your sound scheme will work appropriately with your older games.
Wine- is an Open Source application of the Windows API on top of OpenGL and UNIX. It lets you to run Windows programs on x86-based UNIX systems.
 8.       P2P
BitTorrent- is the worldwide standard for bringing high-quality files over the Internet. It enables you to issue your own content. Operating system: Windows, Linux/Unix.
DC++- is an open source client for Windows for the Straight Join system which allows you to share files over the Internet without limitations. The user is totally free of ads and has an easy to use interface. Firewall support is united and is easy and appropriate to use functionality like multi-hub connections and resuming of downloads.
Shareaza P2P- is identified by its provision for numerous P2P networks, including Gnutella, eMule, and BitTorrent. And its "Collections" part allows users to see the album covers, song lists, etc. from a single screen. Operating system: Windows.
 9.       File Transfer
WinSCP- permits users to allocate files securely via FTP and SFTP. It integrates Secure Shell (SSH) technology. Operating system: Windows.
cURL- is a command line s/w for shifting files having URL syntax and supporting FTP, FTPS, HTTP, HTTPS, SCP, DICT, TELNET and LDAP. It supports SSL certificates, HTTP-POST, HTTP-PUT, proxies, cookies, FTP uploading, user-password authentication (Basic, Digest, NTLM, Kerberos etc.), resume options, tunnelling and many other useful tricks. Operating system: Windows, Linux/Unix, OS X, Solaris
 10.   Mobility Tools
BitPim- is a program which lets you to see and use data on CDMA phones like LG, Samsung, Sanyo and other manufacturers. This comprises of the Phone Book, Calendar, Ringtones and the File scheme for most Qualcomm CDMA based phones. Operating system: Windows, Linux/Unix, OS X.
PortableApps- intents to make the entire applications portable. This makes it easy to transfer s/w and data from one PC to a USB drive like iPod, portable hard drive, or any other device. Operating system: Windows.
 11.   Instant Messaging
aMSN- is an open source MSN Messenger clone. It lets you to link with users on numerous networks. It also permits you to show pictures and emoticons and improve skins to your chat window. Operating system: Windows, Linux/Unix, OS X.
Pidgin- is a platform independent instant messaging client that lets you to connect with all your friends from a single application, even if they are in diverse networks. It supports MSN, AIM, Yahoo, ICQ, IRC, XMPP and many more.
12.   Security
IPCop Firewall- delivers a good choice for home users and small offices. It is steady, secure, and easy to configure and sustain. Operating system: Linux.
 13.   Remote Desktop
UltraVNC- is powerful, user-friendly and free software that can show the screen of another computer on your own screen (via internet or LAN). It permits you to use your mouse and keyboard to govern the other PC remotely. Its key features include File Transfer, MS Logon, Video Driver, Encryption Plugins, Text Chat, and others. Although it is designed mainly for the Windows, the Entrenched Java Viewer lets you to transfer files to and from other OS as well. Operating system: Windows.
 14.   System Administration Tools
Webmin- is a web-based interface for administration for UNIX. You can setup user accounts, Apache, DNS, file sharing and much more through this.
Wireshark - is the world's leading network protocol analyser. It chains hundreds of different protocols in several platforms, and can also analyse VoIP traffic. Operating system: Windows, Linux/Unix, OS X, All BSD Platforms.
 15.   Video/Multi-Media Tools
MPlayer OS X- is binary distribution of MPlayer and comes with inherent Guilin MacOS. After setting up you can just play almost all 3ivx, DivX 3, 4, 5 and many other codecs files in the window mode or full screen mode. Interpretation of very nice anti-aliased text-based subtitles (srt) is also reinforced.
VLC Media Player- is an extremely portable multimedia application for various audio and video formats like MPEG-1, MPEG-2, MPEG-4, DivX, mp3, as well as DVDs, VCDs, and numerous other streaming protocols.
 16.   Wikis
MediaWiki- is a free s/w wiki package initially carved for Wikipedia. It permits collective editing on documents within an accustomed interface. It was planned to be run on a big server farm and needs Apache, PHP, and MySQL.
 17.   Window Manager
Fluxbox- is constructed on very similar platform as compared to the Black box window manager. Though, it enhances several new features, including customisable window tabs, wheel scroll changes workspace,  icon configurable title bar, KDE support, and many others.
Open sources are and will be boon to technology… hope you find this article interesting.