Software

PiTiVi is a GTK-based film editor that shows promise but lacks enough refinement to be much more than a "lite" version of other film packages. Its interface is simple enough to use as it was designed, with both newbie and seasoned film fanciers in mind. PiTiVi was created in 2004 by a team of studen...

Eqonomize is a personal accounting package that is fast becoming my app of choice for all things financial. It is packed with features and is simple to learn. Plus, its KDE interface makes it an ideal solution to handle my small household economy. Keeping track of personal and business finances is o...

Less than a month after Mozilla evangelist Aza Dotzler blew off enterprise users of the company's Firefox Web browser, triggering an avalanche of angry responses, the Mozilla Foundation is seeking to make nice with corporate America. The Foundation has announced that it's re-establishing the Mozilla...

When I first left the Big Blue OS behind for the world of Linux, I wallowed in guesses over how my disk space was filling up. One thing that was hard to replace from my Windows XP days was the colorful pie chart of disk ingredients that resulted from right-clicking the lettered drive names. Linux of...

For years, a staple tool I have relied on is a clipboard manager to keep tabs on reusable text snippets. The Linux desktop has several noteworthy clipboard managers. Some are much handier than others for working with parcels of text that I can easily swap from a clipping queue to a document or Web p...

I've been tracking the Top500 Supercomputer List with a particular eye on Linux for some time now, highlighting how Linux continues to power the majority of the world's fastest supercomputing systems. So it's no surprise to see continued dominance for Linux, but there are some interesting changes ev...

When it comes to image viewers, one app is not always hands-down better than others. It is rare to find an image viewing tool that has every feature stockpiled on your wish list. So having a collection of go-to viewing tools to meet a variety of graphics needs is a better strategy. That said, the Ge...

Converting media files can be a huge chore. The lack of standardization results in competing audio and video file standards. The file conversion fiasco is further compounded by a lack of choices that do not require a computer degree to use. Frustration mounts in using various media players and conve...

The face of the Linux desktop is drastically evolving. While the Linux communities struggle to bring more business and home users to the Linux desktop, existing users face choices about adopting redesigned desktop shells or finding suitable replacements. The fallout might well be the start of a Grea...

Keeping up to date with multiple calendars, tons of information and never-ending to-do lists can pose Herculean challenges if one doesn't have a proper set of tools. An effective way to solve that problem is with a well-oiled personal information manager. However, it is not always easy to find a PIM...

Technology growth has a subtle way of turning useful apps into obsolete solutions. For instance, Web-based services like Google Calendar, Remember the Milkand the FireFox Web browser add-on ReminderFox go a long way to rendering unnecessary standalone apps to send reminders to your computer desktop....

The Linux OS makes listening to your music collection quick and simple. For instance, Xine, MPlayer and Amarok let you track and play your musical selections with a point and a click. In fact, we have reviewed these and other audio players in this space. Not so easy to manage, however, is labeling y...

Skype's code has been hacked and its innards published on the Web by Efim Bushmanov, a self-described freelance researcher in the tiny Komi Republic, about 870 miles from Moscow. His aim, he said, was to make Skype open source. Another goal: to find "friends who can spend many hours for completely r...

Constantly testing software and tinkering with a variety of Linux operating systems puts my multiple test-bench computers to constant use. Granted, Linux comes with a lot fewer security risks. But dealing with unknown factors and beta glitches can be time consuming to correct when they take down an ...

It is rare that I lament about a task I cannot do in Linux better than when I used that Redmond OS that rhymes with lindows. But you can hear me pining for those commercial and shareware programs every time I have to create a printing job around business cards or mailing labels on my Linux rigs. Fo...