Linux Guide/Software equivalents
This table lists commonly used proprietary software and their open source equivalents. The open source programs are usually also available for Windows and Mac OS.
| Purpose | Windows
|
Mac
|
Linux
|
|---|---|---|---|
| Web Browser | Edge, Safari, Firefox, Opera, Chrome | Safari, Firefox, Camino, Chrome, Opera | Firefox, Epiphany, Konqueror, Galeon, LibreWolf, Opera, Dillo, Chromium, Rekonq |
| Office suite | Microsoft Office: Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Access, LibreOffice, Calligra, Corel WordPerfect Office | iWork, Microsoft Office, NeoOffice, LibreOffice, Calligra | LibreOffice: Writer, Calc, Impress, Draw, Base; Calligra: Words, Sheets, Stage, Kexi, Flow, Plan, Braindump |
| Note-taking | Microsoft OneNote, Evernote, SimpleNote | Apple Notes, Bear, Evernote, SimpleNote | Joplin, BookStack, Xournal++, Freeplane |
| Text editor | Notepad, Crimson Editor, UltraEdit | TextEdit, TextMate, BBEdit, TextWrangler, Smultron, SubEthEdit, Vim, Emacs, GEdit, Nano | Nano, GEdit, Kate, Geany, Bluefish, Vim, Emacs, JuffEd |
| Multimedia player | Windows Media Player, Winamp, iTunes, VLC | Quicktime, iTunes, VLC, MPlayer | Totem, VLC, XMMS, Rhythmbox, Amarok, Audacious, Xine, MPlayer |
| E-mail client / PIM | Microsoft Outlook | Mail, Thunderbird, Entourage | Thunderbird, Evolution, Kontact |
| Internet messenger | MSN Messenger, ICQ, AIM, Yahoo! Messenger, Gadu-Gadu | iChat, Adium, AIM, Yahoo! Messenger | Pidgin (supports multiple protocols), Kopete |
| Bitmap graphics | Paint, Paint Shop Pro, Adobe Photoshop, GIMP | Adobe Photoshop, GIMP | Tux Paint, GPaint, GIMP, GIMPShop, Krita, mtPaint |
| Vector graphics | CorelDRAW, Adobe Illustrator | Adobe Illustrator, EazyDraw, Inkscape | Inkscape, Xara Xtreme |
| Desktop publishing | Microsoft Publisher, Scribus | iWork Pages, Adobe InDesign, Quark, Scribus | Scribus |
| Desktop effects | Aero (Vista only, built-in) | Aqua (Mac OS X only, built-in) | Compiz Fusion |
| Sound editing | SoundForge, Nero Wave Editor | Garageband, Logic Studio, Logic Express, Audacity | Audacity, Ardour |
| Integrated development environment | Eclipse, NetBeans, Visual Studio Code, PhpStorm, Microsoft Visual C++ | Eclipse, NetBeans, Visual Studio Code, PhpStorm, Code::Blocks, Xcode | Eclipse, NetBeans, Visual Studio Code, PhpStorm, Code::Blocks, KDevelop, Geany |
| iPod management | iTunes | iTunes | gtkpod |
| Guitar effects rack | Guitar Rig | ? | JACK Rack, Creox |
| Font editing | FontLab Studio, FontCreator | Font Book | FontForge |
| Tablet PC Journal | Microsoft Journal | None (no official Mac Tablet PC) | Xournal, Jarnal |
| Numerical computations | Matlab | Matlab, GNU Octave | GNU Octave |
| Graphs, plots, charts | Origin | Graph Sketcher, Gnuplot | Gnuplot |
| Virtual CD-ROM drive | Alcohol 120%, Nero InCD, Daemon Tools | Disk Image Mounter, Daemon Tools | mount command (works with ISO images) |
| CD Burning | Nero, Roxio | Built into OS | Brasero, K3B |
| Automatic software installation | ? | App Store, Homebrew, MacPorts, Fink | Click N Run, Synaptic, Aptitude, YaST, RPM |
| Antivirus | Norton AntiVirus, AVG, etc. | Norton AntiVirus (not really necessary) | Not necessary! For e-mail scanning on servers - ClamAV |