What a Wonderful List: 480+ Open Source Applications

Mashable.com has delivered again: an excellent list of over 480 Open Source applications.

Naturally, you won't need ALL of them, but a few might be extremely useful. It's very interesting to see how much open source has become part of the life of the computer user - many times without them knowing that they are using open source software.

What's really amazing to me, is the amount of times that these programs prove to be a hell of a lot better than the "regular" commercial programs. I think Pidgin is an excellent example - it's an Instant Messenger that allows you to use all of your IM accounts in one place. There's nothing new about that, but Pidgin does the job wonderfully.

It's simple, it connects instantly, it has all of the options of the "regular" IMs and it looks better than most of them. I enjoy using it, and I love the fact that it was made by people who really understand the needs of a computer user.

I also love Media Player Classic, which easily and effortlessly solved a lot of codec and drivers problem I had while playing videos on my computer.

These programs are the proof that it can be done better, lighter, more efficient and more fun. When I enjoy a program very much, like the amazingly efficient Taskbar Shuffle (Microsoft, oh Microsoft - how in the hell didn't YOU think about that), I also make it a point to donate the creator. In this case, it's not open source, but I don't really care. It's the only time that I really ENJOY paying for a piece of software.