Can people recommend the best open-source software that they know and use? (especially if it works for the Mac) "

 I would like to try the replacement for Office and Word, but I forget the titles. I hear there is even a three-dimensional animation program, similar to Maya. Has anyone worked in it?

Will the transformation."-Rilke

Daniel, OpenOffice.org is the open source office replacement. Also... as far as OS's... Ubuntu, a version of Linux, is becoming quite popular. I still run OSX on my main desktop computer, but I have a laptop running Ubuntu and it's fantastic. I also have a file server running Ubuntu. It's breathed new life into older machines for me. http://www.ubuntu.com/

I love that open source means collaboration! Collaboration is good and is necessary. Not enough of it goes on in education that's for sure.

 

During my studies, I mentioned open source, such as the Sakai project, to my professors and a few of them became angry. I didn't understand their negativity. There is so much that can be offered. Not just for techy stuff, but other things too.

Don't laugh but their is open source footwear and open source prosthetics.

Of course the techy stuff can be fun too, like the Daisy MP3 player kit (great for school project I think), and if you want to do photoshop use GIMPshop. I'm sure there are many choices, and I don't know what the best is, but I like that I have choices.

Looks like most already know about Open Office, but did you know there are portable applications? Cool stuff.

Juice Receiver and Podnova and Nvu are something to think about too.

 

Anyone know about an open source lunar calendar?

BTW, the "Open source community" really functions like the ARRL and Ham radio community. Since there are no -or very few- proprietary issues there is lots and lots of help. Also the software in the long run is more robust, as programmers from a knowledge base of all over the world are working to make it always better.... How many programmers does Microsoft employ? -Not near enough! hungyj

...and try writing in a simple, clean text editor like WriteRoom (http://hogbaysoftware.com/products/writeroom). I suspect that you'll be amazed at how liberated you feel from the need to make things look a certain way and the clutter of the buttons strips of mainstream word processors. I've found that Word and the like are harmful to the creative process and only helpful when doing editing/formatting.

 Blender is excellent for 3d, but the docs aren't great and you really need a three button mouse. Have you done much 3D before? If not, you're in for a serious learning curve.

An aside that may interest you:

Edgar Dijkstra (very brilliant computer scientist/philosopher - worth a look on wikipedia) was asked what was the greatest contribution of computers to society. His answer was that they allowed humans to think thoughts impossible without them. There is gathering evidence that the universe itself operates in binary and is an information machine, which could make computers a pretty good toy for understanding things. The whole New Kind of Science business is pretty interesting as well (http://www.wolframscience.com/).

My point is that programming computers as a magical act of spontaneous creation/discovery is a very powerful psychological medium. It is the only setting I'm familiar with in which one can set objective reality in motion without regard to the physical laws that constrain our other activities. It differs from meditation or other altered states in that there is an obvious and quantifiable manifestation of the psychic journey.

 

Predictably, the Bad Guys have had great influence here as well. The problem is that the programming languages that became most popular (BASIC, C/C++, Java) are akin to Roman Catholic dogma in that they require strict adherence to plans made beforehand while the liberating ones (LISP, SmallTalk, Objective C*) are far less popular. I suppose it's the same all over. 

Metta,SC

 

* Thankfully, Apple uses Objective C extensively. Figures... 

It is the classic hockey stick curve on the pragmatic development end but lags a bit on the more contrived by social convention enduser side. A study on wine, the beverage not the program that lets you run windows programs on linux, which is excellent by the way, showed that when people thought that the wine they were drinking was more expensive than it actually was that they enjoyed it more. This is a social convention based on peoples inability to assign value by means other than currency linked numeraire. So how do you overcome this? Put aside some time to evaluate new software for tasks you normally do on a repeating schedule. Make it a time of play and experiment. Only you can determine what software will work best for you and also link together with what others are doing around you. Also, I would have to say that the GIMP really kicks ass and demonstrates the best side of open software by opening the doors of creativity to many that might otherwise been left out. Blender is great but sometimes like swatting a fly with a handgrenade for 3d and so when I just want to sketch something out quickly or am working on equipment w/ limitted resources or compatibility issues I use Art Of Illusion. Ubuntu is my fave flave platform of the moment mostly due to the fantastic user community. Evolution is good for email,news, and contact management because its simple and does everything I need and has a cool name. I've started using Drivel as a journal editor sometimes because I can flip it up w/out opening a web page and running the risk of getting distracted. Even though Vim and Cream are probably better for editing code, I often use Emacs, mainly out of nostalgia, I suppose. Azereus is my torrent client. Ubuntu Studio comes loaded with audio aps so the best bet for a musician is to load that and see what you like.Totem,Kino and the ever changing derivatives based on them (anther cool thing about open source) fill most of the video gaps. XBMC is a nice simple media box server organizer. NVU is a usually adequate web editor but is no longer maintained, sadly, but openwysiwig is quickly filling the gap. I also keep various flavors of damn small linux on keychain,compact flash, sd card, and mini cd and they have saved my butt more than once. Brasero is a nice disk burner so let me know what you want and I can "sneaker net" it all to you.