Open Source software was becoming more and more popular in 2009, even though many of these applications were still little known. According to PCWorld, here are ten of the greatest.
Firefox — The open source browser that challenged Internet Explorer and changed the web.
Chromium — The open source project behind Google Chrome. Fast, clean, and constantly evolving.
OpenOffice.org — The free office suite that could read and write Microsoft Office files.
VLC Media Player — Plays almost anything you throw at it, no codec packs needed.
GIMP — The GNU Image Manipulation Program. Not quite Photoshop but incredibly powerful for a free tool.
Apache — The web server that powered most of the internet.
MySQL — The database behind countless websites and applications.
PHP — The scripting language that made dynamic websites easy.
Linux — The kernel that runs everything from phones to supercomputers.
WordPress — Started as a blogging platform, grew into a CMS that now powers a significant portion of the web.
Check out the original article on PCWorld for the full list with descriptions.
Enjoy!