Linux equivalents to Windows software

[pokerfan]

With the recent release of Ubuntu 10/04 LTS (long term support) I thought I would post this. It applies to all Linux varients (distros) of course, not just the 'buntus.

Some personal background. I started using Linux regularly with Ubuntu 8.10 (Itrepid Ibex) once I realized that I was already using a bunch of Free Open Source programs: A few years ago I discovered that I had lost my registration codes for MS Office (I could have sworn that I had stored them with the discs but...) so I happily switched over to Open Office and I haven't looked back. I couldn't really justify the expense of Photoshop and I refused to download an illegal cracked version so I got to know the GIMP (Gnu Image Manipulation Program) and I've been using Firefox for so long, it wasn't even called Firefox when I started using it. WindowsMedia Player wasn't capable of playing all my videos so I had started using VLC Player which plays just about everything.

I don't hate Microsoft and I never got viruses but one day a Windows Update came along that severed my internet connection (along with hundreds of thousands of other users) and after fixing that I decided I needed an alternative. Well, that, and having to buy operating system upgrades every 3-5 years. So I decided to sever my twenty-five year relationship with MS. (Actually I dual booted for about a year so it's really not an either/or decision.) Some people I know simply run out and buy a new machine every time MS releases an upgrade (2000->XP->Vista->7) but that seems rather silly and wasteful to me. That's akin to buying a new care just because you wore out your tires. I buy new hardware when my hardware is no longer capable of doing what I need it to do. In my case I needed a SATA hard drive interface and a faster USB if I wanted to back up my data in a timely manner.

I found that one of the more overwhelming things about Linux is the sheer number of applications. Depending on what repositories you have installed you can have upwards of 20,000 apps available to download with a couple of mouse clicks. Some kind of road map is a must. So without further ado, a massive list of Linux alternatives to Windows software...

The table of equivalents / replacements / analogs of Windows software in Linux.
Last update: 16.07.2003, 31.01.2005, 27.05.2005, 04.12.2006, 07.07.2007, 25.11.2007 (in progress)

You can always find the last version of this table on the official site:
http://www.linuxrsp.ru/win-lin-soft/.

This page on other languages: Russian, Italian, Spanish, French, German, Hungarian, Chinese, Polish.

One of the biggest difficulties in migrating from Windows to Linux is the lack of knowledge about comparable software. Newbies usually search for Linux analogs of Windows software, and advanced Linux-users cannot answer their questions since they often don't know too much about Windows :). This list of Linux equivalents / replacements / analogs of Windows software is based on our own experience and on the information obtained from the visitors of this page (thanks!).

This table is not static since new application names can be added to both left and the right sides. Also, the right column for a particular class of applications may not be filled immediately. In future, we plan to migrate this table to the PHP/MySQL engine, so visitors could add the program themselves, vote for analogs, add comments, etc.

http://www.linuxrsp.ru/win-lin-soft/table-eng.html