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Below are some pathways to finding the right Open Source Software for you. Another way to see what is useful locally in Australia is to look at the Case Studies we are continually adding to our website, to see what software other people are using. We would also recommend you carefully look at the licence of the software you choose, as well as scrutinising the standards used (is the software based on Open Standards), the documentation (manuals, HOWTOs, install guides, forums etc) and the community around the software, as all of these are a useful way to determine whether the software will meet your requirements. Do keep in mind, the average GNU/Linux distribution has anywhere between 3000 and 10000 packages available as part of the distribution. So if you are running a GNU/Linux distribution, ensure you explore what software is available as part of the distribution before looking to other repositories.
Software Matrices There are several useful software matrices comparing, describing and defining Open Source projects to make what you need easier to find. Then you can simply find the software from your GNU/Linux distribution or from the project website which is usually linked. Open Source Repositories Below are some good repositories of Open Source Software, most that runs on GNU/Linux, but some that runs on Windows, Macs, and many other operating systems. - Freshmeat - a collection of Open Source software some of which runs on several operating systems
- SourceForge - a very large repository with over 100,000 projects and over a million contributors. Some software runs on several operating systems
- The Open CD - a project focused on culminating useful Open Source Software for Windows on one easy to use CD. All components are usually installed from the CD, so simply order it online or download the CD image and copy to a CD to use
- SchoolForge and EduForge - two repositories for education specific Open Source Software repositories
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