This is the continuation of my posts journaling my effort to disconnect from Microsoft. The initial posts focused on the operating system itself, but the operating system is really just the skeleton. It is the framing in the house, so to speak. If it is doing its job properly, you should largely forget it is there. It is the applications that actually matter.
I have been taking inventory of the applications I currently rely on or am tinkering with. I have created a quick list below (Alphabetical). Below that, list each application is presented with some additional detail, including:
- What the application is used for
- Is there a version which runs on Linux
- What reasonable alternative applications have I found
- Any notes regarding the status of testing, findings, etc...
This would probably be better residing in a wiki or something similar, as it will go through a few changes as I progress, but... here it is for what it is worth. Let me know if you think I am missing something.
7-Zip
Audacity
Calibre
Draw.IO
Edge
GIMP
Git
Gnu Cash
GnuPG
Handbrake
KDEnlive
KeePassXC
Kleopatra
Minecraft
MP3Diags
MP3Tag
MS Office (Word, Excel, Powerpoint)
MS OneDrive
MS OneNote
MS Outlook
Notepad++
OBS Studio
Outlook.com
Phone Link
Putty
Steam
Visual Studio
Vmware Workstation
WinSCP
Yubico - Yubikey Key Manager
Zoom
7-Zip
What? File/Folder compression/decompression
Linux Version? Yes
Alternative? NA
Notes:
Audacity
What? Audio Editing
Linux Version? Yes
Alternative? NA
Notes:
Calibre
What? eBook Management
Linux Version? Yes
Alternative? NA
Notes: I have just started playing with this, to see if It can be useful in my authoring endeavors.
Edge
What? Web Browser
Linux Version? NA (Microsoft)
Alternative? Chrome (Google), Firefox, Falkon, Brave
Notes: Google is on my list of companies to detangle from in the future. I stopped using Firefox after they forced out one of the directors for his personal donation to a political cause (which, shouldn't have even been public knowledge). I am reluctant to go back, as I have no indication their culture has changed. Playing with Falkon at present, as it was bundled with Arch/KDE. It is built on Chrome source, but with Google stripped out. So far so good. Brave is popular with priacy experts, but I haven't tried it out yet.
GIMP
What? Graphics editing
Linux Version? Yes
Alternative? NA
Notes:
Git
What? Version Control (software, documents, etc...)
Linux Version? Yes
Alternative? NA
Notes:
Gnu Cash
What? Person(/Business) Finance (Like Quicken or Quickbooks)
Linux Version? Yes
Alternative? NA
Notes:
GnuPG
What? Cryptography Platform (encryption and digital signatures)
Linux Version? Yes
Alternative? NA
Notes: I've only just started playing with this., for privacy and authenticity puproses.
Handbrake
What? Video Conversion tool
Linux Version? Yes
Alternative? NA
Notes: I used this to make backups of my DVD's (No, I don't pirate them. I am strictly in compliance with copyright fair-use). I have also used it a few times to convert old video files to more modern (supported) formats.
KDEnlive
What? Video Editing
Linux Version? Yes
Alternative? NA
Notes: Another one I have just recentlty started tinkering with, so I don't know much about it yet.
KeePassXC
What? Password Management
Linux Version? Yes
Alternative? BitWarden
Notes: I am happy with KeePassCX, but have been keeping an eye on BitWarden as an alternative option.
Kleopatra
What? Digital Certificate Management (Front end for GnuPG)
Linux Version? Yes
Alternative? NA
Notes:
Minecraft
What? Entertainment
Linux Version? Yes (But Microsoft Owned)
Alternative?
Notes: I like this game as a diversion, and have even been recording my game sessions, which I have just started posting to YouTube as an educational experience. I am aware of a few alternatives people are building, but nothing which looks like a viable alternative for me at present. I am willing to give it up.
MP3Diags
What? MP3 Repair tool (Fixes audio and metadata issues in mp3 audio files.)
Linux Version? ???
Alternative?
Notes: There used to be a Linux version, but it appears it is no longer supported except on windows. I still need to find an alternative. I can move forward without it, however, as need is very low, and I could probably accomplish the same things in Audacity, albeit with a learning curve.
MP3Tag
What? MP3 metadata editor
Linux Version? No
Alternative? Tagger, EasyTag, Kid3, Amarok
Notes: Haven't evaluated these yet. I use this to fix MP3 metadata (i.e. add Genre, which is often missing from purchased MP3 files.) Need is low.
MS Office (Word, Excel, Powerpoint)
What? Staple Office applications
Linux Version? NA (Microsoft)
Alternative? Libre Office
Notes: I have already converted to Libre office. Interestingly, It did a better job of converting my old office files than MS Office could.
MS OneDrive
What? Cloud Storage, file syncing, DR
Linux Version? NA (Microsoft)
Alternative? DropBox, Sync, ProtonDrive, SynchThing, NextCloud
Notes: There are tons of options for this out there. Trick is finding the right mix of convenience and privacy. Currently playing with syncthing, which is self-hosted. Probably more work than most want to do. ProtonDrive seems to be very strong on privacy, with end-to-end encryption. I still need to work on this one.
MS OneNote
What? "Second Brain" Note-taking and management platform
Linux Version? NA (Microsoft)
Alternative? Obsidian, Notion, Logseq
Notes: I have been using Obsidian for the past year and a half, after OneNote corrupted a bunch of my data. OneNote appears to store files in a proprietary, binary format, which puts the data at risk. Obsidian, on the other hand, uses plain text files with Markdown. It is incredibly powerful - much more so then OneNote as a personal knowledge management tool. You can build in capabilities to allow project and task management, calendaring, habit tracking, data library management, and so much more. They also provide built-in syncing of data, for a subscription. They are closed source, so it is difficult to gauge how they are with respect to privacy. They seem to be good. Logseq looks interesting as well, so I may explore it, but at present, Obsidian is the clear winner for me.
MS Outlook
What? Email client
Linux Version? NA (Microsoft)
Alternative? Thunderbird
Notes: I don't entirely love Thunderbird. It is a bit slow and clunky, and it is owned by Mozilla (Firefox). I've not yet found any other viable alternative, however.
MS Visio
What? Diagraming software (flowcharts, network diagrams, etc...)
Linux Version? NA (Micorosoft product)
Alternative? Draw.io
Notes: Still new to this one. Need to play with it more to come to a conclusion, but thus far it seems okay.
Notepad++
What? Text file editor.
Linux Version? Yes
Alternative? NA
Notes:
OBS Studio
What? Video recording.
Linux Version? Yes
Alternative? NA
Notes:
Outlook.com
What? email hosting.
Linux Version? NA (Microsoft)
Alternative? Protonmail
Notes: My primary email address is an outlook.com email. This will be a pain in the backside to detangle. I may opt to break it out: one for family/friends, hosted at proton (better privacy, though less convenient), and one for bills, etc. hosted... somewhere else. Still not sure about this one.
Phone Link
What? Enables interaction between my phone and my computer, such as being able to see and respond to text messages from my computer. My primary use is to copy one time passcodes sent by SMS, to the requesting website on my PC.
Linux Version? NA (Microsoft)
Alternative? KDE Connect, GSConnect
Notes: I have just started playing with KDE Connect on my test system (Broke my connection to my computer in the process. Presumably I can connect to only one system at a time.). So far so good. Not quite a polished or convenient, but sufficient for my needs.
Putty
What? Terminal software. Used for connecting to (via SSH, or Telnet) the management interface of devices (network switches, wireless access points, Linux servers, etc...)
Linux Version? Yes
Alternative? NA
Notes:
Steam
What? Entertainment (Video Games)
Linux Version? Yes
Alternative?
Notes: I only have a couple of games on Steam (Half Life 2, Skyrim). I haven't played them in ages. There is a Steam client for Linux, though I don't know if that means my games will "just run" (i.e. are they emulating windows, so you can play windows games?), Or if I would be given access to Linux versions of the games, assuming they exist. I may or may not take the time to investigate this. I can live without it, at any rate.
Visual Studio
What? Software development environment.
Linux Version? NA (Microsoft)
Alternative? Eclipse, VSCodium (Visual Studio Source code, but with Microsoft removed)
Notes: I don't do much coding, so this hasn't been a priority. I have used eclipse before, and it works well enough. VSCodium should work fine too.
VMware Workstation
What? Virtualization Platform
Linux Version? Yes (But Broadcom?)
Alternative? VirtualBox (Oracle? Not any better), (QEmu)
Notes: I have mostly used VMWare workstation to demo Linux systems. I may be able to get by using Docker once I am moved to Linux as the underlying OS. For now, I will probably continue to use VMWare, but Broadcom is making me nervous.
WinSCP
What? File transfer utility
Linux Version? Yes
Alternative? NA
Notes:
Yubico - Yubikey Key Manager
What? Hardware Security (Physical key with digital certificates, to enhance secure access)
Linux Version? Yes
Alternative?
Notes: I've just started using this for privacy/security (might do a post about it- how i use it, best practices, what safeguards I use, etc...). Basically, it is a physical key, which you can bind to password managers, such as KeePassXC, and to Financial and other critical websites. In addition to entering your username and password. the site will require the key to be present (connected to your pc via a USB port, or you can 'tap it' to your phone, just like you do with newer credit cards) in order to allow you to log on.
Zoom
What? Video conferencing.
Linux Version? Yes
Alternative?
Notes: I still need to test this. I really only use it to chat with family at present, so usage it fairly rare, (more so than it should be).
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