Free Software, Tools, & Resources
Free software is becoming increasingly popular because it's providing the same powerful tools as its costly counterparts. The free software license gives you the freedom to copy, distribute, modify, and use it for FREE. If you publish it, you must provide the same licensing freedom and make the source code available.
The purpose of this web page is to make you aware of this free software because it may help you accomplish your objectives or assignments for your courses without having to purchase additional software. This site does not endorse or support any free software that is listed.
Sand Box
click2try: A Community site where it's easy to try Open Source software--for free.
Free Software Directories
Free Software Directory: The Free Software Directory is a project of the Free Software Foundation (FSF) and United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). We catalog useful free software that runs under free operating systems — particularly the GNU operating system and its GNU/Linux variants.
Webi: Free and Open Source Software Directory.
osalt.com: Open Source as Alternative (osalt), lists well-known commercial products and then provides suggestions for high quality open source alternatives to those commercial products.
3D Art & Animation
Blender: Blender is the free open source 3D content creation suite for 3D modeling, animation, rendering, post-production, interactive creation and playback., available for all major operating systems under the GNU General Public License.
SketchUp from Google: Google SketchUp is software that you can use to create 3D models of anything you like. You can build models from scratch, or you can download what you need. People all over the world share what they've made on the Google 3D Warehouse. It's a huge, searchable repository of models, and it's free.
Desktop Publishing
Scribus: Scribus is an Open Source program that brings award-winning professional page layout to Linux/UNIX, Mac OS X, OS/2 Warp 4/eComStation and Windows desktops with a combination of "press-ready" output and new approaches to page layout. Underneath the modern and user friendly interface, Scribus supports professional publishing features, such as CMYK color, separations, Spot Colors, ICC color management and versatile PDF creation.
Image Editors: Online
Adobe Photoshop.com: Photoshop.com is the complete solution for managing, editing, storing, and sharing your photos online, with tutorials, inspiration, and more. Photoshop.com is available from any web-enabled computer, compatible mobile phones, and directly from within Adobe Photoshop Elements 7 or Adobe Premiere Elements 7 software.
Aviary: A free, powerful suite of browser-based design tools for people who love to create. Photo-editing, logos, web templates, filters, color palettes, screen capture & more.
Flicker: An online photo management and sharing application.
Image Editors: Desktop
GIMP: GIMP is an acronym for GNU Image Manipulation Program, like Photoshop. It is a freely distributed program for such tasks as photo retouching, image composition and image authoring.
It has many capabilities. It can be used as a simple paint program, an expert quality photo retouching program, an online batch processing system, a mass production image renderer, an image format converter, etc.
GIMP is expandable and extensible. It is designed to be augmented with plug-ins and extensions to do just about anything. The advanced scripting interface allows everything from the simplest task to the most complex image manipulation procedures to be easily scripted.
GIMPshop: GIMPshop is a modification of the free/open source GNU Image Manipulation Program (GIMP), intended to replicate the feel of Adobe Photoshop. Its primary purpose is to make users of Photoshop feel comfortable using GIMP.
Paint.NET: Paint.NET is free image and photo editing software for computers that run Windows. It features an intuitive and innovative user interface with support for layers, unlimited undo, special effects, and a wide variety of useful and powerful tools. An active and growing online community provides friendly help, tutorials, and plugins.
Picasa: Picasa is free photo editing software from Google that makes your pictures look great.
Drawing, Painting, Drafting, & Sketching
Krita by KOffice: Krita is a creative sketching and painting application based on KOffice technology. Whether you want to create art paintings, cartoons, concept art or textures, Krita supports most graphics tablets out of the box.
Inkscape: An Open Source vector graphics editor, with capabilities similar to Illustrator, CorelDraw, or Xara X, using the W3C standard Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) file format. Inkscape supports many advanced SVG features (markers, clones, alpha blending, etc.) and great care is taken in designing a streamlined interface. It is very easy to edit nodes, perform complex path operations, trace bitmaps and much more.
Artweaver: Artweaver lets you paint creatively with the help of a huge range of painting tools. You can create sketches from photos or just experiment with colors. For professional users, Artweaver offers layers, group layers and support for the PSD file format.
QCad: QCAD is an application for computer aided drafting in two dimensions (2d). With QCAD you can create technical drawings such as plans for buildings, interiors, mechanical parts or schemas and diagrams. QCAD works on Windows, Mac OS X and many Linux and Unix Systems. The source code of the QCAD community edition is released under the GPL (Open Source).
Reading, Free Text Books, & Web Libraries
Scribd: Scribd is the largest social publishing and reading site in the world. We've made it incredibly simple for anyone to share and discover informative, entertaining and original written content on the web and mobile devices. Our vision is to liberate the written word, to connect people and organizations with the information and ideas that matter most to them.
Flat World Knowledge: We preserve the best of the old - books by leading experts, peer-reviewed and developed to high editorial standards, fully supported by review copies, teaching supplements and great service. Then we change everything. Our textbooks are: Free online, Affordable offline, Open-licensed and, Customizable by educators.
Community College Consortium for Open Educational Resources (CCCOER): is a joint effort by the OER Center for California, Foothill-De Anza Community College District, the League for Innovation in the Community College and many other community colleges and university partners to develop and use open educational resources (OER) and especially open textbooks in community college courses.
Connexions: A place to view and share educational material made of small knowledge chunks called modules that can be organized as courses, books, reports, etc. Anyone may view or contribute: authors create and collaborate; instructors rapidly build and share custom collections; learners find and explore content.
Textbooksfree.org: A web site with links to free textbooks, free lecture notes, and free courses.
Global Text Project: The project will create open content electronic textbooks that will be freely available from a website. Distribution will also be possible via paper, CD, or DVD. Our goal initially is to focus on content development and Web distribution, and we will work with relevant authorities to facilitate dissemination by other means when bandwidth is unavailable or inadequate. The goal is to make textbooks available to the many who cannot afford them.
Project Gutenberg: Project Gutenberg is the place where you can download over 30,000 free ebooks to read on your PC, iPhone, Kindle, Sony Reader or other portable device.
Bartleby: Bartleby.com - after the humble character of its namesake scrivener, or copyist - publishes the classics of literature, nonfiction, and reference free of charge.
Archive.org: The Internet Archive is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit digital library based in San Francisco that specializes in offering broad public access to digitized and born-digital books, music, movies and Web pages.
Screencasting, Flash, & Sharing/Interacting Software
Jing: Select a window or region and Jing will record up to five minutes of video of everything that appears in that area. If your computer has a microphone, Jing can record your sparkling commentary at the same time.
ScreenToaster: ScreenToaster is the easiest way to rapidly create and share tutorials, demos, training and more. ScreenToaster is a free web-based screen recorder designed to capture your screen activity, audio and webcam images in real-time then publish and share your video in blogs and websites. Unlike others, ScreenToaster works in all browsers and doesn't require any download so that you can use it anywhere, anytime.
VoiceThread: A powerful new way to talk about and share your images, documents, and videos.
BubblePLY: Add Bubbles to any video and post it anywhere you wish!
Scratch: A programming language that makes it easy to create your own interactive stories, animations, games, music, and art -- and share your creations on the web.
SlideShare: Upload and share your PowerPoint & Keynote presentations, Word & PDF documents on SlideShare. Add audio to make a webinar.
vTute.com: A simple software for creating tutorials on how to use software.
Wink: Wink is a Tutorial and Presentation creation software, primarily aimed at creating tutorials on how to use software (like a tutor for MS-Word/Excel etc). Using Wink you can capture screenshots, add explanations boxes, buttons, titles etc and generate a highly effective tutorial for your users.
CamStudio: CamStudio is able to record all screen and audio activity on your computer and create industry-standard AVI video files and using its built-in SWF Producer can turn those AVIs into lean, mean, bandwidth-friendly Streaming Flash videos (SWFs).
uTIPu: Record videos of your screen and then share those videos immediately (no post-processing).
FreeScreencast.com: Screencasting is a very simple concept: record your computer screen and sounds while talking about your actions. You benefit: no more taking loads of screenshots, tweaking things in photoshop and writing loads of text trying to describe the nuances of your actions. Screencasts are produced in a fraction of the time. Publishing your screencast with FreeScreencast.com is one click away: no HTML, no coding, no hosting, no cost. One click, your screencast is on the internet.
Multimedia
TeacherTube: An online community for sharing instructional videos. We seek to fill a need for a more educationally focused, safe venue for teachers, schools, and home learners. It is a site to provide anytime, anywhere professional development with teachers teaching teachers. As well, it is a site where teachers can post videos designed for students to view in order to learn a concept or skill.
Magma: Magma is an entry point for finding, watching, and tracking videos from all over the web. We aggregate viewing metrics and social chatter to provide real-time statistics and analysis about the hottest videos online.
Audio
Audacity: Audacity is a free, easy-to-use and multilingual audio editor and recorder for Windows, Mac OS X, GNU/Linux and other operating systems. You can use Audacity to: Record live audio. Convert tapes and records into digital recordings or CDs. Edit Ogg Vorbis, MP3, WAV or AIFF sound files. Cut, copy, splice or mix sounds together. Change the speed or pitch of a recording.
Free Audio Editor 2010: FAE 2010: The easy way to record, edit and enhance your audio files. FAE is an ideal solution for audio editing and mastering. The program contains everything you need to create great sounding recordings and audio CDs, including professional tools for recording, analysis and editing. The FAE user interface was designed with speed, accuracy and ease of use in mind.
Zinf: The Zinf audio player is a simple, but powerful audio player for Linux and Win32. It supports MP3, Ogg/Vorbis, WAV and Audio CD playback, with a powerful music browser, theme support and a download manager.
Voki: A free service that allows you to create personalized speaking avatars and use them on your blog, profile, and in email messages.
Video
Virtual Dub: A free, open source application that is an all-in-one tool for capturing and editing video files.
VideoLAN VLC Media Player & Converter: VLC media player is a highly portable multimedia player and multimedia framework capable of reading most audio and video formats (MPEG-2, MPEG-4, H.264, DivX, MPEG-1, mp3, ogg, aac ...) as well as DVDs, Audio CDs VCDs, and various streaming protocols. It can also be used as a media converter or a server to stream in unicast or multicast in IPv4 or IPv6 on networks.
MythTV: A Free Open Source software digital video recorder (DVR) project distributed under the terms of the GNU GPL.We like to think of MythTV as the ultimate Digital Video Recorder and home media center hub. Think of it as a Free and Open Source alternative to Windows Media Center or Tivo.
Golden Videos: A software that helps you convert your old VCR tapes to DVDs or digital files using your PC (avi or mpeg files).
Thwapr: Thwapr is a free service for reliably sharing photos and videos to mobile phones and social networks. Share a video to your friend's phone, Twitter, or Facebook. All you need is text messaging and a mobile browser. Thwapr works on more than 200 phones across major carriers in the U.S. and Canada. Check it out now and start Thwapping.
Streaming Video Service
Ustream.TV: Create a live interactive video broadcast streamed from your camera or mobile. This platform enables anyone with a camera and an Internet connection to quickly and easily broadcast to a global audience of unlimited size People can chat while you stream live.
Video Downloaders
Video Downloader: Allows you to download videos (to your computer) directly (and easily -just one click-) from most video sites.
aTube Catcher: It is a simple freeware application focused to individuals and students for personal, private and non-commercial purposes, this application allows you to download videos from social sites like YouTube, XTube, Pornotube, Dailymotion, MySpace, Google, Yahoo, etc. and export to many formats (MPG,AVI,MP4,3GP,3G2,WMV,PSP,MOV,FLV) with the quality that you choose, also has templates, so you can encode your videos to standard formats as DVD,VCD,IPOD,PSP, etc.
File Converters
MediaCoder: MediaCoder is a free universal media transcoder since 2005. It integrates most popular audio/video codecs and tools in an elegant and transparent manner into an all-in-one transcoding solution. With a flexible and extendable architecture, latest codecs and tools are updated and added in constantly. MediaCoder intends to be the swiss army knife for media transcoding.
Super: If you need a simple, yet very efficient tool to convert (encode) or play any Multimedia file, without reading manuals or spending long hours training, then Super is all you need. It is a Multimedia Encoder and a Multimedia Player, easy-to-use with 1 simple click. Note: You have to click through a few pages to get the actual download file link.
Switch: Switch is one of the most stable and comprehensive multi format audio file converters available, is very easy to use and is completely free.
Web Conferencing Systems
Yugma: Yugma free web conferencing allows anyone, anywhere to instantly share their desktop and ideas online with others. To start hosting your own meetings, sign up today for FREE. Your Yugma Free web conferencing account allows you to invite up to 20 attendees
DimDim: Dimdim lets anyone host and attend live meetings,
demos and webinars using just a web browser. Save money, time and travel by instantly sharing documents, web pages, whiteboards, audio, video - even record your events - with no software to install. Dimdim is free for small meetings and starts at only $25 per month for
unlimited use with more participants.
WebHuddle: Simple, small, secure, and open source web conferencing.
ooVoo: Here's what you get with your FREE web conferencing ooVoo plan: 2-way video calls; Record and send 1 minute video messages; Create 1 video chat room to embed on a website; Friends without ooVoo can join a call with you from their browser; 6-way text chat; Send files up to 5MB at a time.
Internet Telephone/Conference Call & Instant Message
Skype: We all love something for nothing. With Skype's free software - by the way, it works seamlessly with your internet connection - you can chat away with free Skype-to-Skype calls and never worry about cost, time or distance. Share the love and get your friends to download Skype so you can talk, instant message (IM) or make video calls for nothing.
Ekiga: Ekiga (formely known as GnomeMeeting) is an open source SoftPhone, Video Conferencing and Instant Messenger application over the Internet. It supports HD sound quality and video up to DVD size and quality. It is interoperable with many other standard compliant softwares, hardwares and service providers as it uses both the major telephony standards (SIP and H.323).
Pidgin: Pidgin is an easy to use and free chat client used by millions. Connect to AIM, MSN, Yahoo, and more chat networks all at once. Supported chat networks: AIM, Bonjour, Gadu-Gadu, Google Talk, Groupwise, ICQ, IRC, MSN, MXit, MySpaceIM, QQ, SILC, SIMPLE, Sametime, XMPP, Yahoo!, Zephyr.
Office Software: Desktop
OpenOffice - Solutions Page: OpenOffice.org is the leading open-source office software suite for word processing, spreadsheets, presentations, graphics, databases and more. It is available in many languages and works on all common computers. It stores all your data in an international open standard format and can also read and write files from other common office software packages. It can be downloaded and used completely free of charge for any purpose.
AbiWord: A free word processing program similar to Microsoft Word. It is suitable for a wide variety of word processing tasks. AbiWord allows you to collaborate with multiple people on one document at the same time. It is tightly integrated with the AbiCollab.net web service, which lets you store documents online, allows easy document sharing with your friends, and performs format conversions on the fly.
Office Software: Online
Google Docs: Online suite for word processing, spreadsheets, presentations, drawings, and forms. Upload files from your desktop. Edit and view your docs from any computer or smart phone. Share your files and folders with others for real-time collaboration.
ZOHO - Online Office Suite: Zoho.com offers a comprehensive suite of award-winning on-line business, productivity & collaboration applications. Customers use Zoho Applications to run their business processes, manage their information and be more productive while at the office or on the go, without having to worry about expensive or outdated hardware or software. To date, Zoho.com has launched 22 online applications - from CRM to Mail, Office Suite, Project Management, Invoicing, Web conferencing and more.
ThinkFree.com: Web storage service exclusively for your documents. Provides 1 GB of Free Internet Storage Space. You can view any type of documents through your web browser without the Office software installed on your PC. You can create a MS Office-compatible document without the Office software installed on your PC. Your documents can be managed on various types of smartphones, not to mention its document sharing function.
PDF Creators
PDF Creator: PDFCreator is a free tool to create PDF files from any program that is able to print.
PrimoPDF: Create PDF files faster with the only free PDF creator to support one-click, drag-and-drop PDF creation. Convert to PDF from any file you can print.
doPDF: doPDF installs itself as a virtual PDF printer driver so after a successful installation will appear in your Printers and Faxes list. To convert to PDF, you just have to print the document to doPDF, the free pdf converter.
Go2PDF: Go2PDF enables you to convert instantly any document into PDF format with a simple click. Go2PDF contains a Virtual PDF Printer, which is a high-quality PDF converter and generator with passwords protection, PDF access control, PDF scaling, PDF version and compatibility control, font embedding options and more.
Database Software
Firebird: Firebird is a relational database offering many ANSI SQL standard features that runs on Linux, Windows, and a variety of Unix platforms. Firebird offers excellent concurrency, high performance, and powerful language support for stored procedures and triggers.
MySQL: MySQL is the world's most popular open source database software, with over 100 million copies of its software downloaded or distributed throughout it's history. With its superior speed, reliability, and ease of use, MySQL has become the preferred choice for Web, Web 2.0, SaaS, ISV, Telecom companies and forward-thinking corporate IT Managers because it eliminates the major problems associated with downtime, maintenance and administration for modern, online applications.
Diagram/ Mind Mapping Software
CmapTools: The IHMC CmapTools program empowers users to construct, navigate, share and criticize knowledge models represented as concept maps. It allows users to, among many other features, construct their Cmaps in their personal computer, share them on servers (CmapServers) anywhere on the Internet, link their Cmaps to other Cmaps on servers, automatically create web pages of their concept maps on servers, edit their maps synchronously (at the same time) with other users on the Internet, and search the web for information relevant to a concept map.
Dia: Dia is a program to draw structured diagrams.
Bubbl.us: Bubbl.us is a simple and free web application that lets you brainstorm online.
FreeMind: FreeMind is a premier free mind-mapping software written in Java.
Project Scheduling/Management Software
Gantt Project: GanttProject is a cross-platform desktop tool for project scheduling and management. It runs on Windows, Linux and MacOSX, it is free and its code is opensource.
Open WorkBench: Open Workbench is an open source desktop application that provides robust project scheduling and management functionality. Already the scheduling standard for more than 100,000 project managers worldwide, Open Workbench is a free and powerful alternative to Microsoft Project.
Doodle: The world’s leading online scheduling tool, Doodle takes the pain out of finding the right date and time for a group of people to meet and makes scheduling virtually effortless. The basic service is a free online coordination tool which requires neither registration nor software installation.
Business & Accounting Software
GnuCash: GnuCash is personal and small-business financial-accounting software, freely licensed under the GNU GPL and available for GNU/Linux, BSD, Solaris, Mac OS X and Microsoft Windows. Designed to be easy to use, yet powerful and flexible, GnuCash allows you to track bank accounts, stocks, income and expenses. As quick and intuitive to use as a checkbook register, it is based on professional accounting principles to ensure balanced books and accurate reports.
Open For Business (OFBiz): The Apache Open For Business Project is an open source enterprise automation software project licensed under the Apache License Version 2.0. By open source enterprise automation we mean: Open Source ERP, Open Source CRM, Open Source E-Business / E-Commerce, Open Source SCM, Open Source MRP, Open Source CMMS/EAM, and so on.
osCommerce: osCommerce Online Merchant is an Open Source online shop e-commerce solution that is available for free under the GNU General Public License. It features a rich set of out-of-the-box online shopping cart functionality that allows store owners to setup, run, and maintain online stores with minimum effort and with no costs, fees, or limitations involved.
TurboCASH: TurboCASH is an open source accounting package that is free for everyone to download and distribute under the terms of the General Public Licence (GPL). TurboCASH is much more than a simple "home finances" or small business bookkeeping system (compare us to Quickbooks and Sage and see why). Small business accounting software providers typically release a low-end product for $200 that excludes such basic features as stock control. TurboCASH includes most functions a business will ever need: debtors, creditors, general ledger, full stock control, VAT accounting, invoicing, bank reconciliation, trial balance, balance sheet and income statements, full reporting and analysis, as well as mutli-company and multi-user capabilities.
Web 2.0 Applications, Web Sites, & Mashups
Go2Web20.Net: Web 2.0 Applications Index
All Things Web 2.0: Web 2.0 Applications Directory
Programmable Web: Web 2.0 Mashups Directory
Podcasting
Juice: If you want to listen to podcasts, this program is for you. Juice is the premier podcast receiver, allowing users to capture and listen to podcasts anytime, anywhere.
Blogging
WordPress.org: WordPress is a state-of-the-art publishing platform with a focus on aesthetics, web standards, and usability. WordPress is both free and priceless at the same time. Host your own blogs by loading this onto your server.
WordPress.com: A hosted version of the open source package where you can start a blog in seconds without any technical knowledge. All you need is an email address. You'll get your own WordPress.com address (like you.wordpress.com, you can switch to a custom address later if you'd like), a selection WordPress.com free storage of great free and customizable designs for your blog (we call them themes), 3 gigabytes of file storage (that's about 2,500 pictures!) and all the other great features listed here. You can blog as much as you want for free, your blog can be public to the world or private for just your friends, and our premium features are completely optional.
Blogger: Creating your blog with Blogger takes just a few easy steps. In a matter of minutes you can start posting text, photos, videos, and more to your blog. Post as often as you want; it's free.
Edublogs: Edublogs lets you easily create & manage student & teacher blogs, quickly customize designs and include videos, photos & podcasts - it's safe, easy and secure so try out an Edublog today!
CoveritLive: CoveritLive is the world's best live event software, with advanced features to engage and excite your Readers! CoveritLive works seamlessly to provide instant and in-depth event coverage.
Social Networking
Twitter: Twitter is a real-time information network powered by people all around the world that lets you share and discover what's happening now (140 character limit).
Twitterfall: Twitterfall is a Twitter client specialising in real-time tweet searches or tracking trends. New tweets fall into the page.
Yammer: Yammer is the leading real-time communication platform for companies, groups and organizations.
Social Bookmarking & Knowledge-Sharing
del.icio.us: Delicious is a Social Bookmarking service, which means you can save all your bookmarks online, share them with other people, and see what other people are bookmarking. It also means that we can show you the most popular bookmarks being saved right now across many areas of interest. In addition, our search and tagging tools help you keep track of your entire bookmark collection and find tasty new bookmarks from people like you.
Digg: Digg is a place for people to discover and share content from anywhere on the web. From the biggest online destinations to the most obscure blog, Digg surfaces the best stuff as voted on by our users. You won't find editors at Digg - we're here to provide a place where people can collectively determine the value of content and we're changing the way people consume information online.
Diigo: Diigo is two services in one -- it is a research and collaborative research tool on the one hand, and a knowledge-sharing community and social content site on the other.
Virtual Worlds
Second Life: Join the Internet's largest user-created, 3D virtual world community.
Active Worlds: ActiveWorlds, the web's most powerful virtual worlds experience, lets you visit and chat in incredible 3D worlds that are built by other users.
Entropia Universe: Entropia Universe is a 3D, virtual universe on the Internet with an environment for social interaction, entertainment and e-commerce. More than just a game, Participants of Entropia Universe enjoy interactive experience with stunning graphics and a Real Cash Economy.
Wikis
Wiki Spaces: A full-featured wiki that offers unlimited usage and a stellar visual editor.
PBworks: PBworks is the world's largest provider of hosted collaboration solutions for business and education. We host over one million team workspaces, serve millions of users per month, and 96% of PBworks business users would recommend PBworks to a friend.
WetPaint: A Wetpaint website is built on the power of collaborative thinking. Here, you can create websites that mix all the best features of wikis, blogs, forums and social networks into a rich, user-generated community based around the whatever-it-is that rocks your socks. A social website that's so easy to use, anyone can participate.
Google Sidewiki: Google Sidewiki is a browser sidebar that lets you contribute and read information alongside any web page.
Web & Authoring Tools
SeaMonkey (by Mozilla): The SeaMonkey project is an all-in-one internet application suite, containing an Internet browser, email & newsgroup client with an included web feed reader, HTML editor, IRC chat and web development tools, SeaMonkey is sure to appeal to advanced users, web developers and corporate users.
Nvu: Nvu (pronounced N-view, for a "new view") is a complete Web Authoring System that combines web file management and easy-to-use WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) web page editing. Nvu is designed to be extremely easy to use, making it ideal for non-technical computer users who want to create an attractive, professional-looking web site without needing to know HTML or web coding.
eXe - The eLearning XHTML Editor: The eXe project developed a freely available Open Source authoring application to assist teachers and academics in the publishing of web content without the need to become proficient in HTML or XML markup. Resources authored in eXe can be exported in IMS Content Package, SCORM 1.2, or IMS Common Cartridge formats or as simple self-contained web pages.
Google Sites: Google Sites is a free and easy way to create and share webpages.
CourseLab: CourseLab is a powerful, yet easy-to-use, e-learning authoring tool that offers programming-free WYSIWYG environment for creating high-quality interactive e-learning content which can be published on the Internet, Learning Management Systems (LMS), CD-ROMS and other devices.
Content Management Systems (CMS)
Drupal: An open source content management platform. Equipped with a powerful blend of features, Drupal supports a variety of websites ranging from personal weblogs to large community-driven websites.
Joomla!: Joomla! is an award-winning content management system (CMS), which enables you to build Web sites and powerful online applications. Many aspects, including its ease-of-use and extensibility, have made Joomla the most popular Web site software available. Best of all, Joomla is an open source solution that is freely available to everyone.
Owl Intranet Knowledgebase: Owl is a multi user document repository (knowledge base) system written in PHP for publishing files/documents onto the web for a corporation, small business, group of people, or just for yourself.
Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP)
Project Fedena: Fedena is the first open source school ERP based on Ruby on Rails developed by people like you! It is a one stop solution for all school management related issues and helps you manage student databases and all other activities online.
ePortfolio
Mahara: Mahara is an open source e-portfolio system with a flexible display framework. Mahara, meaning 'think' or 'thought' in Te Reo Maori, is user centred environment with a permissions framework that enables different views of an e-portfolio to be easily managed. Mahara also features a weblog, resume builder and social networking system, connecting users and creating online learner communities.
FolioSpaces: FolioSpaces is the world-leading FREE fully featured electronic portfolio, weblog, resume builder and social networking system, connecting users and creating online communities. FolioSpaces free ePortfolio provides you with the tools to set up a personal learning and development environment. At the heart of FolioSpaces is Mahara open source software.
Learning Management Systems (LMS)
Moodle: Moodle is a course management system designed to help educators who want to create quality online courses. The software is used all over the world by universities, schools, companies and independent teachers. Moodle is open source and completely free to use.
Sakai: Designed by educators for educators, Sakai is an enterprise teaching, learning and academic collaboration platform that best meets the needs of today's learners, instructors and researchers. Sakai is distributed as free and open source software under the Educational Community License.
15desks: 15desks is a free course management solution that facilitates the sharing of educational information between Instructors and Students. We don't depend on any Institutions and our system is modularly designed. This means that Instructors don't have to wait for their Institutions to install costly hardware to support an open source solution, or pay yearly fees for a private solution, or spend years developing an internal solution. 15desks is able to manage all of the hardware and software in-house, which virtually eliminates overhead costs for Institutions.
Learning Tools & Software
Wolfram|Alpha: Wolfram|Alpha's long-term goal is to make all systematic knowledge immediately computable and accessible to everyone. We aim to collect and curate all objective data; implement every known model, method, and algorithm; and make it possible to compute whatever can be computed about anything. Our goal is to build on the achievements of science and other systematizations of knowledge to provide a single source that can be relied on by everyone for definitive answers to factual queries.
SweatMonkey: SweatMonkey connects a community's students and organizations through volunteering, jobs, and events. A great way to find service learning opportunities to satisfy service learning requirements, track them, & verify community service.
Moffsoft Calculator: Moffsoft FreeCalc is a basic calculator that makes a great replacement for the Windows calculator. Some features include a printable and savable tape, sizeable display, system tray icon, always on top setting, digit groupings, flat button option, and color schemes.
GeoGebra: GeoGebra is a free and multi-platform dynamic mathematics software for all levels of education that joins geometry, algebra, tables, graphing, statistics and calculus in one easy-to-use package. It has received several educational software awards in Europe and the USA.
Stellarium: Stellarium is a free open source planetarium for your computer. It shows a realistic sky in 3D, just like what you see with the naked eye, binoculars or a telescope.
It is being used in planetarium projectors. Just set your coordinates and go.
GNU Solfege: Solfege is free music education software. Use it to train your rhythm, interval, scale and chord skills. Solfege - Smarten your ears!
Tux for Kids: Tux4Kids develops high-quality software for kids (Math, Typing, & Paint), with the goal of combining fun and learning into an irresistable package. Our software is free: you can download it for use at home or onto hundreds of computers in a school. We support all major platforms, including Windows, Macintosh, and Linux/Unix. Our programs are used by people around the globe, and they have been translated into dozens of different languages. As open-source software, these programs can be freely extended or customized, and they are supported by active communities of volunteer developers.
GCompris: GCompris is a high quality educational software suite comprising of numerous activities for children aged 2 to 10. Some of the activities are game orientated, but nonetheless still educational.
FlightGear: The FlightGear flight simulator project is an open-source, multi-platform, cooperative flight simulator development project. he goal of the FlightGear project is to create a sophisticated flight simulator framework for use in research or academic environments, for the development and pursuit of other interesting flight simulation ideas, and as an end-user application. We are developing a sophisticated, open simulation framework that can be expanded and improved upon by anyone interested in contributing. There are many exciting possibilities for an open, free flight sim. We hope that this project will be interesting and useful to many people in many areas.
