Best open source software of 2020: free software for home …

Open source software has long been the powerhouse behind the development of the internet, not least LAMP configuration servers that run on Linux, Apache, MySQL, and PHP.

While there is a variety of free software programs out there, many are proprietary, meaning that the development company owns the code. With open source software, anyone can add to, edit, and adapt the source code as they see fit.

This is one of the key strengths of open source software, because not only does it invite close scrutiny from a wide range of parties with different interests and skill sets, it also invites wide ranging collaboration.

Because of this, many open source projects have dedicated communities behind them, with developers adding to and evolving features along new coding lines, directions, and standards.

Of course, where open source projects become particularly big their communities can end up splitting into different groups working in different directions, a process known as forking. Perhaps the most famous example of this is the Linux operating system, which now comes in many flavors or distros.

Either way, despite the power of proprietary software programs, platforms, and operating systems, open source software remain key in the modern world. Even better, open source can offer users free alternatives to paid-for programs without necessarily sacrificing on features, and you can even customize the software to suit you.

Here then is the best in open source software by type, to show some of the range of open source software opportunities.

There's no need to pay for Office with this open source alternative

Full feature range

Fully compatible with MS files

Lots of templates

Not cloud-based

LibreOffice is an office software suite that is available for Windows, Mac, or Linux, offering documents, spreadsheets, presentations, and databases.

While Microsoft Office remains the most popular application for office use, it's pricing model hasn't always been the most accessible. Worse still is that alternative office suites such as Open Office can struggle to preserve formatting from Microsoft files, and others such as Google's G Suite just isn't so feature-rich.

LibreOffice manages to counter both frustrations by being not only fully compatible with Microsoft file formats, but also offers a feature-packed full service office suite that can do most anything that existing ones can offer.

The one drawback is that it's software to download rather than run in the cloud, but there are hundreds of templates available to use and edit.

LibreOffices huge community of contributors have compiled a brilliant collection of support materials, including a forum and even live chat if you need a hand.

Our favorite open source photo editor, packed with powerful tools

Supports layers

Advanced editing

Many plugins

Powerful and flexible, open source image editor GIMP is as close to Adobe Photoshop as you can get without opening your wallet. It supports layers, and is packed with advanced tools for enhancing your pictures or creating new ones from scratch.

You can adjust every aspect of your pictures appearance manually, or use the dozens of customizable filters and effects to achieve amazing results with just a few clicks. GIMP comes with a huge array of user-created plugins pre-installed, and adding more is a piece of cake.

If you dont need the power of GIMP and prefer a simpler interface, check out Paint.NET another superb open source photo editor thats a little lighter on features, but easier to master.

An open source media player than can handle virtually any file format

Works with almost all audio formats

Optimize playback

Streams internet radio

VR audio

VLC Media Player is one of the worlds most popular free media players, and for good reason it can handle just about any audio file, video file, or media stream you can throw at it, without the need to mess around installing additional codecs. VLC Media Player gives you an amazing degree of control over playback, letting you optimize video and audio for your specific hardware configuration.

VLC Media Player is ideal for streaming podcasts, as well as internet radio stations like Last.fm and TuneIn Radio. Theres also a superb archive of extensions and skins, and the WYSIWYG Skin Editor lets you create your own custom designs.

The latest addition to VLC is 360-degree playback, which lets you enjoy immersive videos with a VR headset, and more exciting developments are on the horizon to keep pace with new video technology.

Great for new users, and an excellent substitute for Windows Movie Maker

Power features

Layered filters

Drag and drop

Basic interface

If youre looking for a great open source video editor, give Shotcut a whirl. It might look a little stark at first, but add some of the optional toolbars and youll soon have its most powerful and useful features your your fingertips.

Some of its best tools include quick filters for audio and video (which are non-destructive and can be layered to achieve different effects), advanced white balancing, wipes and other transitions, color grading, click-and-drag import, and straightforward trimming and compositing of clips.

The perfect tool for recording and editing podcasts and music

Wide range of features

Lots of extensions

Noise filtering

Even if you have the ready cash for an audio editor, you might choose to stick with open source alternative Audacity. It has almost all the tools you need for recording and refining sound files, and any features it lacks can be plugged with its extensive catalog of extensions.

Audacity is the tool of choice for many podcasters, musicians and audiobook narrators thanks to its professional quality results. You can use it to combine clips, copy and paste sections of audio, remove noise and other unwanted noises, strip vocals from songs, alter frequencies, and apply effects like echo and reverb.

An powerful, fully customizable browser with a plugin for every purpose

Lots of plugins

Private browsing

Memory hog

The browser wars show no sign of ending, but Firefox's open source heritage makes it incredibly flexible. Its main appeal is its collection of extensions. With thousands of plug-ins available at the click of a mouse, its easy to transform Firefox into your perfect browser.

Firefox is updated every five to eight weeks, and you can get an early taste of the latest features by installing the beta or taking part in Firefox Test Pilot a way to sample experimental tools that might be incorporated into future releases.

Firefoxs source code forms the basis of many specialist projects, including the security-focused Tor Browser and speed-centric Waterfox, which is designed with power users in mind.

However, despite Firefox's rise in popularity, the browser has traditionally struggled to handle Flash, resulting in Firefox becoming unstable and consuming processor resources or simply shutting down unexpectedly.

A free and open source alternative to Microsoft Outlook

Lots of features

Additional plugins

Not cloud-based

If you have multiple email accounts even if theyre with the same provider open source email client Mozilla Thunderbird will save you time and hassle flicking between browser tabs and logins. Like Firefox, Thunderbird is an open source project published by the Mozilla Foundation, and is almost infinitely adaptable.

Thunderbird's standard features include an RSS reader and the ability to link to files too large to send as attachments, and its optional extras include weather forecasts and Google app tabs. Other plugins include privacy protection and enhanced security.

However, the one negative is that there is no cloud version so emails have to be stored on your PC, so take care to keep these backed up.

Generate strong passwords for accounts and store them in a secure vault

Easy to use

Strong encryption

Portable program

Theres no shortage of free password managers, but KeePass Password Safe is our favorite open source option. Its not flashy, but its packed with all the tools and features you could want, including AES encryption of your entire database of login details (not just the passwords themselves), two-factor authentication via both a master password and key file, and secure random password generation.

KeePass is tiny, and because its a portable program you can carry it on a USB stick, and thanks to an extensive library of plug-ins, its easy to integrate with your preferred browser and cloud storage provider.

The open source FTP software client

Easy to use

Drag and drop

Fully featured

If you run your own website, the chances are you'll need FTP software to upload files directly to your server. While there are some good existing FTP clients out there, FileZillais probably the best free version you can use.

It does all that you need to with a file upload client, which remains relatively simple anyway. On the left pane, FileZilla presents you with a view of your folder selection (from Windows Explorer, if using Windows) where you can ensure you select your folder of files to upload - on the right, the pane shows your location on the server, which will be a similar-looking file tree.

You just need to ensure you click through the folders on the right pane to the place where you want to upload your files, such as within thePublic_HTML folder on many Linux servers. Then it's simply a matter of using drag and drop to move your files to upload from the left pane and into the right pane.

Simple, easy, and usually very painless. The main stumbling block for most first-time users is not selecting the correct files to upload, or especially the correct locations.

If you need to CHMOD permissions for files, that's as easy as a right-click on any files or folders you need to apply them to, and that's about it.

The open source operating system

Increasingly accessible

Good features

Strong security

Overwhelming choice of distros

It used to be the case that Linuxwas solely the preserve of geeks and code junkies - it made little attempt to appeal to a wide user base. Those days are long since over, and varieties of Linux have made a big effort to be a lot more user-friendly for people with little if anything coding knowledge, and present a serious rival to Windows and Apple Mac iOS as alternatives for running your desktop.

These efforts have helped to edge Linux toward the mainstream, as underlined by computer giant Dell moving to sell Linux desktops and laptops directly to the public. Better still, Windows remains the target of choice for hackers, so Linux presents itself as a more secure alternative, so long as you keep updates fresh.

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Best open source software of 2020: free software for home ...