Top 5 Open Source Operating Systems

If CPU is the brain of computer then Operating System is the heart of computer. It’s just because of operating system that we are able to work and manipulate files in such a comfortable user interface. So selecting a good operating system is very much important for your computer because there are lots of functions that are performed by an OS. Some of them are: memory management, device management, user interface etc. So coming back to open source, we have great and large number of FOSS operating system available in the market that are absolutely free of cost. FOSS stands for free and open source.

When the user is selecting the FOSS operating system he or she must keep few important points in mind. So these important points are: hardware and software compatibility, commercial support, intended use and the community that has developed that OS. So depending on the work and functionality one can select the open source operating systems that suits best for the job.

Though there are many OS in the domain of open source but today I will take top 5 open source operating system based on my usage and experience. So let’s discuss one by one:

Ubuntu

Ubuntu is one of the most broadly used operating system of the open source platform. Ubuntu is available with the source code and anyone can read and modify the source code. Ubuntu is Linux based OS. The user interface of Ubuntu is very fantastic and very user friendly. It has desktop icons and one can work on four different screens. It also has cloud storage facility. Just create the account and save everything in cloud. Updates are released frequently. Some applications included in Ubuntu are GIMP image editor, Mozilla Firefox, libre office and so on. It also includes online services and integration of broadcast is also provided.

FreeBSD

FreeBSD is highly advanced operating system that is mostly preferred by developers of networking because it provides highly advanced networking, security, compatibility features and performance. It is AMD 64 compatible and is also x86 compatible. Many of the Linux binaries are capable of running on FreeBSD. One of the highly advanced features ofFreeBSD also includes support for encryption software, secure shells, Kerberos authentication, “virtual servers”.

OpenSolaris

OpenSolaris is also one of the most used operating system world-wide. OpenSolaris is developed by Sun Microsystems. It not only runs well on desktops, laptops but also it has great efficiency to run on the platforms like servers and data centers. The user interface is based on somewhat Ubuntu and it has great graphical desktop that helps in easy navigation. It is free of cost. The file system is ZFS. It can be downloaded from the official website of Oracle.

Debian

Debian is the free open source operating system that is developed under Debian project which is a group of lot of people that have a common goal to create free operating system. Debian uses the kernel of Linux or FreeBSD to operate. If we look at the history at Debian then we can see that it all started from august 1993 and the leader of the association was Ian Murdock. Initially it was having only few developers who were basically hackers but slowly and gradually many developers were attracted and now people from all over the world contribute to create it. Communication is done through mails and IRC channel. The best part of Debian is its user interface and it can support almost every personal computers including the older ones also. So one must try this OS in his old system.

RED HAT

Red Hat is one of the most trusted flavors of Linux and it has really given the open source technology a new platform. It is the world’s foremost provider of open source solutions. It has its own community that work under various aspects like high-performing cloud, storage, Linux, virtualization, and middleware technologies. It includes Libre Office and various data base applications. It comes with KVM virtualization that allows to run windows application on the Linux desktop. So it’s really amazing and has lot more features.

So that’s all about the top open source operating system and I think if anyone wants to take a different experience of working in desktop then try these amazing operating system.

Top 5 Open Source Software

Open Source Software are the software that are available for free and anyone can use it, modify it and redistribute it. Open Source is one of the most emerging trends in the domain of IT and computing companies. Every day new open source projects are launched and new open source communities are formed. To be a part of any open source project you don’t need to be present physically but you can join online forums and some websites are also there where you can register and then you can select the open source project and start working on it. So in this way you can be the part of developing team of many open source software.

Open source software are now days used not only at company level but also at basic level on our desktop. For every proprietary software we now have open source software. Just like we have “Internet Explorer” which is a proprietary software, so similarly we have great “Mozilla firefox” as the open source solution. And it is very well known that internet explorer is used very less as compared to Mozilla firefox. So we can see that how open source is replacing closed source software.

So now let us discuss some amazing Open Source Software that is most commonly used worldwide.

VLC media player

VLC media player is one of the most popular and trusted media player that is capable of running audio and video files. It supports almost every format of audio and video that are available till date.
One of the greatest features provided by vlc is its amazing sound quality. Sound is very clear and it can be increased up to 100% which is not provided by other players. Audio normalization is also possible. It is also capable of playing internet radios. One can also use it to download you tube videos. The amazing feature is that you can play video in ASCII mode also that is pixelated mode.

Mozilla Firefox

Mozilla firefox is one of the finest web browsers available. It is an open source browser hence a great competitor of Microsoft’s internet explorer. It is preferred over internet explorer because it works very smoothly even if you open too many multiple tabs. It is available in many languages including Hindi and user interface is just awesome. It enhances the downloading speed and lot of amazing extensions are available that will enhance your browsing experience.

GIMP

GIMP stands for Graphic Image Manipulation Program. GIMP is a strong open source program that allows manipulating not only single image but also multiple images at a time. You can dissolve the two or more images by using the layer concept. Opacity of the images can also be altered. The 3D image can also be created using this open source tool. You can simply download it and start using its great features like never before.

Blender

Blender is the great open source software that is used for creating the 3D objects and is also one of the strongest software for creating the 2D and 3D animations. Working on blender is very simple because it has a great user interface and work space is large enough. Object can be viewed in different modes like front mode, top view mode and wireframe model is also available. Textures tools are also available. So if anyone is interested to create 3D objects and simple basic level animation then simply download it and install it and enjoy the amazing features.

7 Zip

Just like there in win rar in windows platform similarly for open source platform we have this 7 zip. It allows you to compress the huge number of files at very rapid speed and you can also extract all the files within seconds and the best part is that you don’t need to spend money for this because it open source so it’s Free. But win rar is paid and to upgrade it you need money. So prefer open source and feel the freedom of open source.

Open Source Software

Hello guys today we will discuss about one of the most crucial area of computer technology that has proved to be the turning point for many IT and software companies and the name of that domain is “Open Source Software”.

So Open Source Software might be a new name for you but everyone is using open source in daily life. Yes it’s a fact that everyone uses open source in daily life and even big companies like Facebook, Amazon etc. also uses Open Source Technology. Facebook is currently working on “Apache Hadoop project” which is an open source software project which helps in distributed processing of huge data. We will discuss about “Apache Hadoop” in more detail in later blogs. The Android Phones which we use is also one of the most successful projects of open source technology and it has been adopted by every company like Nokia, Samsung, Micromax etc. So you can see that how open source is related to us in everyday life.

What actually is Open Source Software?
 
If we look at the name then we can say that “Open” means everyone can have access to it. “Source” means the code that has been used to develop that software. So it is a software which comes along with its source code and anyone can see the code and edit it and redistribute it hence its “Open Source”.

What are the features of Open Source Software?
 
Many companies have turned themselves towards the open source technology because it has great advantages over the proprietary software. It has great advanced features that are never found in closed or proprietary software. So the features that set open source software far ahead from others are:

· It is “free software” meaning you don’t have to pay to use it. You can simply download it for free from the open source websites.

· You can see the coding of that software and you have right to modify it and redistribute it. So this gives flexibility to the software as millions of people contribute to one software.

· It is highly secured and no virus attack is possible because it’s already open so no one can hack it.
· No vendor lock-in meaning that you are not restricted to one vendor.

· Everyone has right to contribute to the open source project. Communities are formed and ideas are viewed and implemented from all over the world.

· It’s developed from fine algorithm hence its very fast and it never hangs like windows.
· Great GUI (Graphic User Interface).

So these are some key features that are responsible for the success of Open Source world.

What are the examples of most commonly used Open Source Software?
 
You might be thinking that you have never used any open source software because its sounds really technical but guys have you ever used “VLC media player” to play your audio video files. So let me tell you VLC media player is open source software that is developed by open source community.

You might have used “Mozilla Firefox” as your web browser so it’s also the open source product.

Other most commonly used Open Source products are:

Linux (operating system),

Android (mobile OS),

GIMP (image editor),

Blender (3D animation modeling tool),

And many more.

So guys I hope now you have a sound knowledge about the Open Source Software technology and it is very important to know about this topic because it’s the current trend of computer technology and is being adopted by top companies at rapid speed.

We will discuss about some more software of this platform on our later blogs so stay connected.