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- noamsml, on 10/12/2007, -3/+48My personal take:
1. Apache - Great app, but it isn't usually used by home/desktop users. Also, it can run on Windows.
2. Synaptic - True, package managers are awesome
3. Konqueror - Meh. I like nautilus. Still, I get why people enjoy the "swiss army knife" approach.
4. Beryl - Been there, done that, back with Metacity.
5. AmaroK - never tried it, but I've heared some serious praise about it.
6. K3B - Great app. I'm too gnomified to use it on a regular basis, but it comes in handy when some serious burning needs to be done.
8. Mplayer + Mencode - They run on Windows (along with Media Player Classic and Windows Media Player).
9. Deskbar - cool, but a serious resource hog.
10. Screem - Quite a nice editor if you are using only HTML/XML in your document. If you are using PHP, ASP, or JSP, I suggest you stick to Vim.
Now, let me add some of my own:
1. Vim - Greatest. Editor. Ever.
2. GNU+Bash - It's often much more comfortable to use a CLI than to mess around in the GUI.
3. Bash scripting - It's easy and useful!
4. Liferea - Very good RSS reader. - etabb, on 10/12/2007, -2/+27Linux killer app:
kill -9
eta - DarkStalker, on 10/12/2007, -2/+146. I dont need to argue that ahead's nero is way superior to k3b... its no contest
Actually, yes, you do have to argue it because Nero is a usability/GUI nightmare. - schestowitz, on 10/12/2007, -2/+14> 3. Konqueror - Meh. I like nautilus. Still, I get why people enjoy the "swiss army knife" approach.
It's big, it's heavy, but it's a good toolkit (atop a filemanager).
> 4. Beryl - Been there, done that, back with Metacity.
Same with shadows and translucency (Composite)... Lo and behold, then disable. Just like with Aero Glass or the Teletubby/lipstick theme in XP...
> 5. AmaroK - never tried it, but I've heared some serious praise about it.
It's great. Better than commercial products for sure. - dgh1973, on 10/12/2007, -2/+14Sorry it's actually the opposite...
1) Sure, not everyone needs a web server.
2) EVERYONE installs software at one point or another.
3) EVERYONE browses files on their computer using tools like explorer.
4) OK, eye candy isn't for everyone but it's certainly not specific to sysadmins, Mac users have been enjoying this stuff for a little while now.
5) EVERYONE enjoys listening to multimedia or podcasts or SOMETHING on their computer from time to time for entertainment.
6) I doubt sysadmin/netadmin types are the only people that burn cd's....
7) P2P file sharing is another thing that is not JUST something that sysadmin types do.
8) Hello... a lot of people play movies on their computer, you know.
9) This is a bit like the google desktop app or what have you, again not really a sysadmin thing but I'll grant you, it's a bit geeky. I don't use it but I'm a geek.
10) Yes, certainly editing html/xml files IS in fact limited to the geek types, that's solid hit #2.
I have NO clue what you read, but you obviously understood very little of it. - dgh1973, on 10/12/2007, -1/+12Agreed, I find nautilus to be a lot cleaner... more in line with the UNIX philosophy of "do one thing well instead of trying to 20 things poorly".
I noticed a few KDE apps in there... I think it's been true for a while now that GNOME needs more killer apps, a CD burner like K3B, a DVD creator and stuff like that.
While it's true you can run these apps outside of KDE it tends to bloat your system a bit, with extra library packages needed to support their install that you wouldn't use otherwise and extra processes (like dcop) that you don't need. The cosmetic effect is a tad annoying to.
/rant off
Anyhow, good article. - ptaylor, on 10/12/2007, -4/+15I triple booted my PC (MCE2K5, Vista RC2, Fedora Core 6) and Linux runs circles around the other two OSs. Only reasons why I still sometimes boot to Windows is to record shows (I can't get MythTV to install), for my wife (she's slowly crossing over), and some minor Windows Web compatibility issues. I have the NTFS read/write ability and I can enjoy my media, I'm good. Linux is killer already, to me anyway.
- dgh1973, on 10/12/2007, -2/+12See, the ease of switching between viewing my local file system and web sites it's what makes me a tad bit nervous about konqueror... it's very IE like in that regard.
In fact there was a recent announcement about a vulnerability in konq related to that same feature.
Plus it just breaks the Unix philosophy, give me a file manager, give me a web browser. Don't give me one program trying to do both at once. I find web sites don't always look right in it and it's too cluttered as a file manager. KDE in general I find a bit cluttered and "all over the place" as an environment.
Please note in my responses, I'm not digging anyone down here... I'm just expressing my own opinions on the subject. - Pestilence, on 10/12/2007, -1/+10The author of the blog doesn't understand the definition of a killer app. Wikipedia defines a killer app as follows:
A killer application (commonly shortened to killer app) is a computer program that is so useful that people will buy a particular computer hardware, gaming console, and/or an operating system simply to run that program.
So far, the only killer app I've encountered in Linux is MythTV. Since I've switched all my personal machines to Linux and only use Windows on my work laptop because I'm forced to, I've realized that if I'd known how much better Bash is than the windows command line, it would have accelerated my switch to Linux also. - dgh1973, on 10/12/2007, -1/+10@AICkieran
Dude you didn't even spell it right... - Xilon, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6Imo the best File Manager is Thunar... it seriously kicks ass. Simple, fast, flexible, extendable, great selection filters, great file renaming capabilities... still in early stages of development.
I really like how XFCE is going, I love the applications; Thunar is great, Xarchiver is nice and simple, xfburn is simple though I wasn't able to get it burning (I can't do it at all - not xfburn's fault), in general the DE is just great, though I prefer ot use Openbox and only some applications from it. - TheOther1, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6@ lagartoflojo
I like VLC. It handles everything pretty well, including DVDs. It's not like Amarok, but does play damn near anything. And it's ported to several platforms. - dgh1973, on 10/12/2007, -4/+10phooey!
1) Python
:-) - Shirokun, on 10/12/2007, -3/+8That Guy is obviously a KDE User.
Konqueror, K3B, etc.. it's all from KDE.
Well, about Beryl... I tried it and switched back to Metacity.
Amarok is Top, but I got too much used to Banshee for Gnome. - stmiller, on 10/12/2007, -2/+7Digikam should be on everyone's list:
http://www.digikam.org/
Supports 16bit images, RAW importing, and has tons of plugins for touching up photos. Organizes everything. This is a monster program. I show my family/friends this program in particular when they ask about good programs in Linux. Check it out. - Xilon, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4Confusion? You download Ubuntu, you have no option... GNOME is all you're gonna get, you don't CHOOSE which packages to install, all the default packages are installed.
When you ask someone which distro would be best for a Linux n00b, I'm pretty sure they'd say Ubuntu... maybe Suse, but I don't think anyone likes that Distro anymore due to Novells crappy agreement. - int19h, on 10/12/2007, -2/+6Konqueror does only one thing, and it does it well: it's a kio-viewer
- frodo1977, on 10/12/2007, -2/+6>>Plus it just breaks the Unix philosophy, give me a file manager, give me a web browser.
>>Don't give me one program trying to do both at once
Just to make it clear, it's not breaking the UNIX philosophy, in fact all of this functions come from different parts that are put together in Konqueror. That's exactly the philosophy of UNIX. There is a KParts technology, then the khtml engine and the ioslaves. All different parts of the system.
But i can imagine, how one can think it is bloated. For me it is a great help in my daily work.
greetings - Sairgem, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5"a CD burner like K3B"
Gnomebaker. - edzieba, on 10/12/2007, -2/+6Blackbox is still my favorite. And being cross-platform means I can have the same UI on XP and Ubuntu.
Beryl is hardly a killer app though. Ooh, look! Flashy effects and swirling windows! Neat! Now how do I turn it off and get back to work? - dbr_onix, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5Not killall ?
- Ben - trylleklovn, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4Dude.. why do you stick with winamp 2?
Winamp 5 is not Winamp 3, and performs much better .. And yes, it comes with original skin :P - teknotant, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4The list is pretty good but it is also common. I was expecting to see applications that were a little unknown and deserved some attention.
- Doomhammer, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4"3. Konqueror - a file manager? oh come on linux needs a seprate program for that?"
Yeah, tell me about it, it sucks so much. I mean instead of being FORCED to use whatever app Microsoft wants me to use, I have the ability to choose whatever app I want to use on Linux... How awful... :P - MoneyShot, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3The killer app that firmly got me back into Linux is Asterisk. It doesn't run under Windows (well, reliably) and there isn't another product out there that has both the level community support and flexibility. Asterisk is an amazing application.
- Xilon, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4"Install stuff on the Mac and PC without Synaptic, they run."
Well by the same logic why not just make a spreadsheet on a piece of paper with a pencil?
Synaptic (or Apt) is just an automation of software installation. Everyone has been whining about how hard it is to install stuff under Linux because you have to compile and bla bla bla... The Linux community (namely Debian) came up with a great solution - Package Managers. Now software installation is easy, faster and better on Linux than on any other OS.
Oh, and it's one of the things that keeps me with Linux. Mac OSX is comparable but it just sucks at installing apps... so I stay with Linux. - captjc, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Beryl has it's ups and downs. I find the transparency (especially for terminal windows) and the Expose-like functions to be useful. The desktop cube (desktop switcher) is neat (but unnecessary) as well.
Personally, I do not like the "wobbly windows" stuff. I find the useless eye candy to be a waste. Though the functional eye candy is pretty nice to have. - Pestilence, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4Anything (like VLC) that runs on other platforms in addition to Linux can not, by definition, be a Linux killer app.
- TheOther1, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3@ noamsml
2. GNU+Bash - It's often much more comfortable to use a CLI than to mess around in the GUI.
That's why I would have listed Perl and/or Python. - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+31) Enlightenment e.17 (with gnome)
2) Thunar
3) Apt-get
4) Tvtime
5) kernel itself
6) Alternative to almost everything
7) Amarok is great but it is there to listen to music which almost every other player does, but if you need more than just audio player then it really is awesome.
but then we are forgetting that linux is for free and is under constant developent and feature addition with more flexibility than any other OS all that in my opinion is the biggest point to use linux. - scabbers, on 10/12/2007, -11/+14"Killer app" refers to something that is so compelling it makes people switch to the platform to use it.
Fail. - dusanmal, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4I'd disagree about the Konqueror. It is very cumbersome, bloated “do-it-all”. No way should it belong in this (otherwise quite fair) list. Unfortunately so are most other Linux file managers (Nautilus is another bad example). I manage large group of Linux workstations at the major University. The main issue with users are these bloated file managers that do many things, all poorly. Application most of my users now use deserve the place in this list instead (and shows real power of the OpenSource). It is “ROX” file manager. It does exactly what file manager should, flawlessly in any environment and FAST.
- Xilon, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4"Synaptic/Adept/YUM - a program to install other programs is a killer app?"
Yeah, it's one of the reasons why I love Linux (Debian) so much. Mac OSX would be a good alternative to Linux, especially since Photoshop works on there and with CS3 it will be native for my Macbook... but installing software is a pain in the ass. Even though it's as simple as dragging and dropping the .app, you still have to go out and search for that application. - Fartag, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Killer apps? There aren't any artificial boundaries forcing these applications to stay on Linux. The only thing standing in your way of running all of these on another capable platform is generally porting effort, not EULAs, not closed source software, not DRM, not other legal restrictions. There are too many incredibly useful "professional level" free (legal and cost) apps to list in 10, there are hundreds at least. The difficulty and b.s. people put up with under proprietary software and licenses becomes more mind boggling if people knew about these and thought it was worth switching for. Freedom is the killer reason to use GNU/Linux. huzzah!
- Orbatos, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Deskbar does essentailly the same thing as quicksilver, though there are a few less plugins so far.
- decoherence, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3The real killer apps for Linux (and UNIX) are piping, assignment, redirection, and control structures (loops/conditionals/etc.)
That said, there are some pretty sweet GUI production programs out there. Here are a few.
Tomboy - possibly the PERFECT desktop notes tool since it generates links between notes automatically and on the fly. Very simple and useful (but uses mono... boo!)
Inkscape and Xara - god I wish Illustrator was this nice to use! While Xara isn't quite finished yet, Inkscape is already a production-ready pro-ball vector drawing program. Much easier to pick up than Illustrator.
Blender - this amazing 3D modeler/animator sports a physics engine, particle/fluid effects, function curve based animation, catmull clark surface subdivision and a complete set of tools for poking and prodding your models. Games can be created within Blender itself and Python can be used for logic. However, this is NOT a program you can just pick up and start using as the interface is tuned for maximum efficiency rather than accessibility. If you're seriously interested in 3D animation, this is an excellent program to invest in learning. Also available for Windows/Mac.
Bluefish - I personally like this better than Screem. It's got good support for different languages and a decent amount of built-in functionality. That said, I'm with the guy who said VIM for teh win!
deb/apt - the original article mentioned Synaptic/Adept/YUM. But the real stars here are DEB and APT, the meticulously documented package format and the tool that reads the documentation and figures out what packages work best with each other, respectively. The reason Synaptic and Adept are killer apps is because of the meticulous work that goes in to creating their software repositories. The reason YUM might be considered a killer app is because it's an RPM based package manager that doesn't completely suck. Sadly, RPMs do suck, so YUM can only get so far :P *prepares for burial*
well, i could go on but i think this is long enough. - Xilon, on 10/12/2007, -5/+7Windows sucks
- trylleklovn, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3Deskbar is indeed a very nice application.. It functions well as an application launcher, much like Google Destop or Spotlight, which makes icons on the desktop/bars not neccesary.
- Xilon, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2"#5. AmaroK, tried it, but stuck to VLC even though i hate it. On windows i run Foobar2000 and MPC with ffdshow. Blows any Linux alternative out of the water i am afraid."
Well I come from the same background, I just loved foobar2000, and I found a similar player. I am currently running xmms2 which has the potential to be like foobar2000, but if you want the GUI and everything like foobar2000 (though not so many plugins or such a big community) then LAMIP is definitely the player you want... though it's very buggy.
"#10. There are many many many HTML editors on Windows that . You don't have to use Dreamweaver or GoLive. Look at ACE HTML Pro for instance. It's freeware and much better than Screem."
Yeah... the best text editor I have found is TextMate for Mac OSX though. There's a clone being developed called "E" for Windows, unfortunately non for Linux. One that comes close is Scribes, but like Screem it has heaps of GNOME dependencies which I hate. I am running a minimal install of Openbox and can't seem to be able to install most software due to those dependencies... I don't want that much crap on my system :( - Doomhammer, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Why does the name of the program matter...?
- leszek, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2deskbar is really wonderful.
If i want to mail someone, i enter the mail address and BAM i am in the evolution program
If I want to search something on wikipedia, i enter "wiki something" and BAM i see the wikipedia article.
If I want to search some file on my hard disk or some mails about a subject, i find it directly using the deskbar.
For me, it is clearly a killer app. - HerbertScrunge, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3"Konqueror does only one thing, and it does it well: it's a kio-viewer"
This and the comment previous to that hit the nail right on the head, in my opinion - Konqueror breaks the "Do one thing and do it well" rule in exactly the same way that Emacs does, which is "not at all": both are merely lightweight shells into which a variety of third-party apps/ plugins can be embedded. - trylleklovn, on 10/12/2007, -2/+4Beryl is visual feedback, it helps the user understand the system.... although that might not be neccesary for a linux user..
- BT-Wang, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2media player classic uses directshow. directshow really doesn't work well compared to mplayer, media player classic does have a better interface, but mplayer really works better.
all of the projects have reached point where they are being developed to be faster and better than they currently are, they're really not trying to catch up. the developers have their own objectives. - BT-Wang, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2mplayer and xine are just as good as vlc, they all swap code with each other. they are all excellent.
vlc tends to get ignored on linux in favor of mplayer or xine. - surgen, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2All this killer app stuff is starting to bug me, I keep hearing about it so much.
Name one killer app in windows OTHER than DirectX. Thats what linux vs windows usually boils down to when one is not locked into an OS (ie. my windows box for work-related shenanigans). - neko, on 10/12/2007, -3/+5YEAH!!! WMP11 RULES!!!
for example: http://www.bandddesigns.com/blogger/arch/002942.html
and then all you really need to do is update to latest WMP, download Real, download Quicktime, download that lovely DivX;) codec with the watermarks, get a few other codec packs while you're at it, don't you love all those strange programs messing with the DirectShow pipe, gets a bit leaky sometimes but you can just reinstall to fix it, you like reinstalling don't you? - BT-Wang, on 10/12/2007, -0/+13. Konqueror
it's really just like Explorer for windows, the better features are the result of kioslaves, which are available to any kde app that wants to use them. khtml is totally awesome though.
4. beryl/compiz
well. it's pretty good, but it doesn't work with any conventional desktop pager, which is a much more efficient than rotating a cube. window placement is terrible, the only really useful part is the expose style window switcher, which is somewhat countered by the desktop cube being less useful than conventional virtual desktops.
it's young, it locks up if you leave it alone, it sometimes just goes grey and chugs for a while, killer apps have to work and work well, beryl and compiz don't.
5. Amarok
amarok is on par with iTunes not better, it's more customizable, but doesn't work perfectly all the time, and the developers seem to hate fixing bugs when they could be adding new features.
8. Mplayer
mplayer is great, but it's as quirky as any other media player, the interface is bad. xine is the same way, the real killer media players are frontends to either mplayer or xine. - simao, on 10/12/2007, -3/+41) ruby
- gfnw, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1"Always on top" function. In background I have a browser opened on documentation etc and on top I have a fragment of my program. On top I have movie player and in background web browser..."
Yeah, shame they removed the ability to have your windows "always on top" of your panels as well. Something that practically every other DE/WM can do, even windows.
So now I can't maximise my windows properly because some GNOME guy decided that a simple feature that is in every other desktop is too complicated and confusing. -
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