Software I Use
Mozilla Firefox
I love Firefox. It's simply the best browser out there (maybe Opera is close). If you've never used it, you don't realize how much you've been missing out. There are so many problems with Internet Explorer that it's not worth using, like:
- IE must be about the slowest browser I've ever used. It's not very responsive, and is big and ugly.
- IE doesn't support the standards. Microsoft does things their own way, not the way it's supposed to be done. It's like the United States choosing not to use metrics because they feel like it.
- Using IE is asking for trouble. There are lot's of holes and vulnerabilities in IE. Most IE users' computers are full of adware and junk they never asked for.
- IE has much fewer features. People have written extensions for Firefox that do just about anything imaginable. Extensions, like the Google Toolbar, let you do more in a shorter time. Also, you should be able to choose how your browser displays information, with tools like Greasemonkey that change pages on the fly.
Firefox puts the power where it should be: the user. You'll do yourself a big favor if you switch from IE.
OpenOffice.org
OpenOffice.org is the open-source office suite that gives Microsoft Office a run for its money. OpenOffice.org gives you features you won't find in MS Office, like the ability to export to PDF, all while having less bloat and better integration. Additionally, it stores its data in an open, standard format. You can tell I like standards - Even the State of Massachusetts realized that they couldn't store government documents in a proprietary format that essentially locks them in with Microsoft. Do what they did, and dump Microsoft Office for something better.
amaroK
AmaroK is the greatest music player ever. It manages your music collection and includes fancy features like MusicBrainz, lyrc, and last.fm integration, all in a cool inteface. Look: I now have my own last.fm favorite artists chart!
Kate
I'm writing this right now with Kate - the advanced KDE text editor. With file browser and terminal integration and syntax highlighting for just about anything imaginable, it's the most versatile text editor out there. It's simply amazing.