Networking
| Windows apps | Linux apps | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Microsoft Internet Explorer, Firefox, Netscape, Opera, Lynx, etc. | Epiphany, Firefox, Galeon, Konqueror, Lynx, Mozilla, Nautilus, Netscape, Opera, SeaMonkey, IceWeasel | Internet browsers for the World Wide Web. |
| Outlook Express, Outlook, Thunderbird, Pegasus, Lotus Notes | Kontact, Evolution, Thunderbird, Sylpheed-Claws Lotus Notes | Email clients. |
| ICQ, MSN Messenger, AIM (AOL Instant Messenger), Trillian, Pidgin | Mercury, Pidgin (formerly Gaim), Kopete, aMSN, KICQ, Gabber, Centericq | Instant messaging software. |
| Microsoft Netmeeting | Gnomemeeting | |
| Microsoft HyperTerminal | minicom | |
| FileZilla FTP Client, WS FTP, Bullet Proof FTP, CuteFTP | FileZilla FTP Client, GFTP, KFTP (KFTPGrabber), Kasablanca, FireFTP, Konqueror, KBear, CrossFTP | FTP client’s for browsing an FTP servers. |
| mIRC | Konversation, KVIrc, XChat, BitchX | Internet Relay Chat client’s. |
| UltraVNC, TightVNC, RealVNC, builtin remote desktop | TightVNC, RealVNC, rdesktop, FreeNX, x11vnc, Synergy, XDMCP, x11 forwarding | Allow remote desktop viewing or control. |
| MailWasher | KShowmail | |
| Forte Free Agent, Thunderbird, Pan | Thunderbird, Pan, Sylpheed, See More Clients Here | News Reader (Usenet newsgroups) |
| eMule | aMule | P2P Filesharing software |
| Azureus | Azureus, Qtorrent, Ktorrent, bittornado, Deluge | BitTorrent clients |
| Skype, Voipbuster | Skype, Linphone, OpenWengo, Ekiga | VOIP software |
Multimedia
| Windows apps | Linux apps | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Adobe Photoshop, GIMP, GIMPShop | GIMP, GIMPShop, Krita, Pixel (non-free high quality), LightZone (non-free high quality) | |
| Corel Draw, Corel Designer | Inkscape, Sodipodi | |
| Irfanview, ACDSee | XnView, GQView, Mirage | |
| 3D Studio MAX, Blender | Blender, Maya, Softimage, K-3D | |
| Windows Media Player, PowerDVD | MPlayer, Xine, Totem, Kaffeine, VLC | |
| SIA Smaart Live, | BRP-PACU | |
| Winamp, Sonique, iTunes | amaroK, XMMS, BMP, Audacious, juke, noatun, RhythmBox, xine will play aac and wma, Banshee | |
| Windows Movie Maker, Adobe Premiere Elements | Cinelerra, KDenlive, LiVES, Kino, AviDemux | Video Editing Tools |
| Audacity, Cubase, CoolEdit, Goldwave | Ardour, Rosegarden, Audacity, GNUsound, Beast | |
| Audio Catalyst, dbpoweramp, CDex | Grip, Audacity | |
| Cakewalk | kmid, kmidi | |
| Microsoft Paint, Kid Pix, Tux Paint | Tux Paint KolourPaint | |
| Videora | thinliquidfilm |
Office
| Windows apps | Linux apps | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Microsoft Office, OpenOffice.org | OpenOffice, KOffice, Siag Office | Office package |
| Word | OOWriter, AbiWord, KWord | Wordprocessing |
| Access, dBase, Foxpro, Paradox | Kexi, PgAccess*, Rekall*, Knoda*, OOBase | database |
| Excel, Lotus123, QuattroPro | OOCalc, Gnumeric, KSpread | Spreadsheet |
| Visio | Kivio, Dia, OpenOffice.org oodraw | |
| PowerPoint | OOImpress, KPresenter | Presentation |
| Microsoft Project Manager | MrProject, Imendio Planner, Kplato | Project Management |
| Outlook, Thunderbird + Lightning, Sunbird | Evolution, Kontact, BALSA, Thunderbird + Lightning, Sunbird | |
| Quicken, Microsoft Money, TurboTax | GnuCash, KMyMoney, jGnash, MoneyDance, Grisbi, PLCash, CrossOver Office with Quicken, lazy8ledger | Money |
| WinEdt, TeXnicCenter | Kile, Texmaker |
*PgAccess, Rekall, and Knoda are front-ends to an SQL server.
Desktop Publishing
| Windows apps | Linux apps | Description | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Netscape Composer, Dreamweaver, NVU, KompoZer | OOWeb, NVU, KompoZer (fork of NVU 1.0), Quanta Plus, Mozilla, Screem, Bluefish, Amaya | ||
| Quark, Quark Express, Microsoft Publisher | Scribus, OpenOffice.org oodraw | ||
| Adobe Acrobat PDF Reader | Adobe Acrobat Reader, Xpdf, Kpdf, Ghostview, Evince | PDF Reader | |
| Adobe Acrobat Distiller, PDFCreator | With Ghostscript, many Linux apps can print or export to PDF, OpenOffice.org, kprint — can fax, convert to pdf, and combine pages, | convert to PDF tools | |
| Adobe Acrobat PDF editor | pdftk, pdfedit, pdfjam | PDF editing tools | |
| SilverFast | VueScan | flatbed and film scanning | |
| FinePrint | page-crunch, mpage, Kprinter, psnup/PSutils, pdfnup/PDFjam | Document Printing/Reformatting Tools |
Utilities
| Windows apps | Linux apps | Description |
|---|---|---|
| 7-Zip, Winzip, Winrar | Karchiver, File Roller, ark, hjsplit; command line: zip/unzip, tar, gzip, bzip2/bunzip2, lha, zoo, rar (shareware), unp (unpacks most common formats: tar[.gz,.bz2], gz, bz2, Z, ar/deb, rpm, shar, rar, arj, zip, LHa, cab, ace, tnef, uu (mail, news), mime, hqx, sea, zoo, pmd, cpio, afio, lzop) | |
| Alcohol 120%, Discjuggler, Easy CD Creator, Nero Burning ROM | Arson, Eroaster, gcombust, K3b, XCDRoast, serpentine, GnomeBaker | |
| Daemon Tools | mount | |
| Disclib | gWhere | |
| Edit (DOS) | vi, jed, ne, pico, nano, Emacs, Minimum Profit, Joe | |
| Google Desktop | Beagle, Kerry, Recoll, Google Desktop | Desktop Search |
| Norton Ghost | Partition Image, g4u, Mondo | |
| Norton Partition Magic | QTparted, GParted | |
| Notepad, Wordpad, TheGun, EditPlus, SciTE | KWrite, Kate, BlueFish, Leafpad, Gedit, Joe, Beaver, Cream, SciTE; see also EditPlus Wiki: Alternative Editors | |
| Disk Size Explorer | File Light | ‘disk space used’ explorers |
| Fanout (scroll down) | Fanout (scroll down) | remote cmd execution to any number of machines running SSH. |
| Filemon, Regmon | Changedfiles, strace, syscalltrack | system call tracking (file monitor & others) |
| Veritas Backup Exec, Cobian Backup | BackupPC, Bacula, Amanda, Veritas Netbackup, Simple Backup Suite, RESTORE | Backup Tools |
| Bitvise Tunnelier | gSTM[1] | gSTM is a front-end for managing SSH-tunneled port redirects. |
| WinMerge | Meld[2] | Meld is a visual diff and merge tool. You can compare two or three files and edit them in place (diffs update dynamically). |
Server
| Windows apps | Linux apps | Description |
|---|---|---|
| IIS, Apache | Apache, Zeus, iPlanet, thttpd, iServer, lighttpd, YAWS ZOPE | Web servers for hosting a website. |
| Fileserver\Print Services | Samba | Share files and printers between Windows and Linux systems. |
| FileZilla FTP Client & Server | proftpd, vsftpd, pure-ftpd | FTP servers, for hosting files. |
| NetLimiter | Trickle, Level 7 Filter, ClarkConnect, Bandwidth Arbitrator | Bandwidth (re)shaping/management. |
| Exchange | Citadel zimbra Open-Xchange | Store appointments, contacts, tasks, mails, bookmarks, documents, and many more elements and share them with other users. |
| Sharepoint | KnowledgeTree | Manage and secure documents, collaborate around document creation and editing, full document contents indexing |
Scientific
| Windows apps | Linux apps | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Maple, Mathematica | Maple, Mathematica, Maxima, Axiom, SymPy | Computer Algebra |
| Matlab | Matlab, Octave, SciLab | Numerical Computing |
| SPSS, Stata, EViews | R-project, PSPP, S-Plus | Statistical Analysis |
| Verilog | iverilog | Verilog Simulator |
| Google Earth, NASA World Wind, Celestia, Stellarium | Google Earth, Celestia, Stellarium; see also Geody, a geospatial search engine and web tool that support such applications. | Geography and Astronomy |
Security
| Windows apps | Linux apps | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Norton/McAfee Antivirus, ClamWin, AVG, AntiVir | ClamAV, AVG Antivirus, Avast Home for Linux | Antivirus Software |
| ZoneAlarm | Guarddog, Firestarter | Firewall Software |
Other
| Windows apps | Linux apps | Description |
|---|---|---|
| ActiveSync | SynCE | |
| DemoStudio(GPL) | vnc2swf, rafb.net | |
| Endnote | Pybliographer, Tellico | Bibliography Manager |
| CDisplay Sequential Image Viewer | Comix, Comical | Comic book reader (.cbz, .cbr) |
| Windows Update, Add/Remove programs | apt-get, Aptitude, portage, urpmi, yast, yum | |
| µBook, Ice Book Reader | PyBookReader, Kniga, yBook with wine | |
| Freemind | Freemind | MindMapping Software |
| WinRunner | xautomation, expect | automating interactive applications |
| KTouch | Learn how to touchType | |
| VMWare | QEMU, KVM, VirtualBox, VMWare | Virtual Machine Emulator |
| SyncToy | Unison | File Synchronization |
Application Finder / Windows programs and OSS/Linux based equivalents
Alternative programs list for users that have Windows programs but dont know the actual OSS/Linux based equivalents. Thanks to the beauty of the open copyright, we can reproduce the orginal table found here
| Windows Program | OSS/Linux Equivalent |
| Photoshop | The Gimp *, Krita, Pixel image editor (commercial application) |
| Microsoft Office | OpenOffice * |
| Internet Explorer | Mozilla Firefox *, Opera *, Epiphany |
| Winamp | XMMS, BMPx (was: Beep-Media-Player) |
| iTunes | Rhythmbox, amaroK (Playing) – GTKPod (Synching), Banshee |
| Mirc | XChat *, XChat-GNOME, Konversation, irssi * |
| AIM, ICQ, MSN, Yahoo!, Jabber | Gaim *, Kopete, Centericq |
| MSN (with voice and video support) | AMSN, Mercury |
| Premiere (Movie Editing) | Kino *, Cinelerra |
| DreamWeaver, FrontPage | Nvu *, Bluefish, Quanta-Plus |
| Cdex | SoundJuicer |
| Nero | K3B, Gnomebaker, Nero for Linux |
| Outlook Professional | Evolution, Kontact |
| Outlook Express | Thunderbird *, Balsa, Sylpheed, Kmail |
| Partition Magic | Gparted, QTparted, Fdisk, Cfdisk |
| Download Accelerator (Flashget) | D4X, Wget, Kget |
| WSFTP, CuteFTP | GFTP, Kbear, NCFTP, (Nautilus), (Konqueror) |
| NetMeeting | GnomeMeeting or Ekiga |
| Voice Chat (Ventrilo) | TeamSpeak |
| VOIP (Skype, Gizmo) | Skype *, Gizmo *, Wengo * |
| Firewall (ZoneAlarm, BlackIce) | Firestarter, Guarddog |
| WinFax | HylaFax |
| Windows Picture and Fax Viewer | Eye Of Gnome, Gwenview |
| DVD playing (InterActual) | Ogle, Mplayer, Kaffeine |
| Visio | Dia, Dia-Gnome, Kivio [1] |
| Publisher | Scribus |
| WordProcessor (StandAlone) | Abiword * |
| Notepad | Emacs, Gedit *, Kedit, Vim, Nano * |
| Spreadsheet (StandAlone) | Gnumeric |
| Quicken | Gnucash, KMyMoney, Moneydance |
| Cakewalk (Audio Engineering) | Audacity, RoseGarden, Rezound, LMMS |
| AcroBat Reader | AcroRead, XPDF, Evince, KPDF |
| RealPlayer | RealPlayer, Mplayer |
| Remote Desktop | Rdesktop, VNC *, Terminal Services Client |
| CAD | QCad |
| News Feeds/Aggregation | Akregator, Straw, Knode, Liferea |
| Project Management | Planner |
* These are cross-platform programs you can recommend to Windows users hesitant to make the switch to linux.
Filed under: Windows Equivalent to Linux
