open source software alternatives to well-known commercial software by smruti

"Open Source" is a software-licensing model where the source code of the software is typically made available royalty-free to the
users of the software, under terms allowing redistribution, modification and addition,though often with certain restrictions. The
support, training, updates and other services for the software may be provided by a range of entities, increasingly under commercial
arrangements. Open source programs are often, though not exclusively, developed through a collaborative effort in which a
number of persons contribute elements of the final software. Software companies are also contributing paid programmer time and
programs developed in-house to the open source community.

* "Commercial Software" is the model where the software developed by a commercial entity is typically licensed for a fee to a customer (either
directly or through channels) in object, binary or executable code. The commercial entity often provides support, training, updates and
other similar services needed by customers to efficiently use that software. The source code of the software may be made available1 to
certain users of the software through special licensing or other agreements, but is usually not distributed to the general public, and may
not be copied or modified except in a manner provided for in such agreements

Businesses exist and can be sustained because they generate profit through their activities. Shareholders primarily measure business
performance by the profit levels. While there are some basic differences between the business models of open source and commercial software
providers, providers of both models must each find their means to create sustainable revenue. Creating software for software's sake is not
sustainable economically. The focus of commercial software providers is on the functionality, features and innovativeness of
their technology to meet the customer's needs, as their revenue model is based on the customer licensing their software. Customers purchase
new versions of software when it provides new functionality, features and value. This incentive drives a tremendous flow of
research and development spending into new software, the results of which include higher productivity, lower costs of business, and new
tools for learning.

Open source vendors create revenue from supporting services and hardware that they package around open source software and for
which they charge fees. For instance, some companies package open source software, sell it with their personal computer or server hardware.
The companies sell such hardware and charge the customer separate fees for the service they provide to enable their software and hardware to
work together. Another example is a system integrator who earns revenue by creating customized solutions for customers by using
existing open source software as the starting point, and charging the customers for the time and resources to do the necessary
customizations to meet the specific user requirements. Another model is to allow free downloads of an open source application and to
convert this base of users into paying customers for a full-featured version. In other instances, the pooling of development resources in support of
an emerging technology can also provide indirect revenue or benefits to a company that provides open source software, such as the sale of the
commercial software and/or hardware they offer beside the open source software4. It is recognized that in the open source
community, there is also a group of contributors who are motivated not by direct revenue generation, but by an altruistic notion that all
software should be free and that even though revenues should not be derived from software, the code will be improved by volunteers who
willingly make their work available for anyone's use and reference.

From the customer's perspective, the value that a
customer derives from a commercial software product typically correlates with the licensing fee, software functionality and product support. While
the customer can correspondingly hold the commercial software vendor directly accountable for the software, there is no "owner" of most
open source software and thus it is difficult to assign accountability. A number of open source vendors have approached this concern by
providing customers with similar assurances through licensing terms and the payment of corresponding fees5. In making their procurement
decisions, customers from businesses and governments should weigh each one of the above factors according to their individual needs,
concerns and environment

open source software alternatives to well-known commercial software

"Miro" alternate to "Windows Media Player"

"Mozilla Thunderbird" alternate to "Microsoft Office Outlook"

"VLC " alternate to "Quicktime"

"OpenOffice" alternate to "Microsoft Office"

"AbiWord" alternate to "Microsoft Word"

"GIMP" alternate to "Adobe Photoshop"

"Celestia" alternate to "Google Earth"