Switching from Windows to Linux
A roundup of the best Linux alternatives to popular Windows software, from office suites to media players and photo tools.
Introduction
One of the most common questions about Linux concerns software compatibility. While exact Windows applications may not be available on Linux, numerous alternatives exist for popular programs.
This guide explores the best Linux applications as replacements for Microsoft Office, Internet Explorer, Photoshop, Adobe Reader, Windows Media Player, and more.
Alternative to the Microsoft Office Suite
- LibreOffice — http://www.libreoffice.org
- Open Office — https://www.openoffice.org
- Calligra — https://www.calligra.org
- AbiWord — http://www.abisource.com
- Gnumeric — http://www.gnumeric.org
Alternative to Notepad / Wordpad Text Editors
- gedit — https://wiki.gnome.org/Apps/Gedit
- Sublime Text — http://www.sublimetext.com
- Notepadqq — https://notepadqq.com/s/
Alternatives to Edge or Internet Explorer Web Browsers
- Chromium — https://www.chromium.org/chromium-projects/
- Firefox — https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/new/
- Brave — https://brave.com/
Alternatives to Photoshop Graphics Editor
- Gimp — http://www.gimp.org
- Inkscape — http://www.inkscape.org
- Krita — https://krita.org
Alternatives to Movie Maker Video Editor
- OpenShot — http://www.openshot.org
- Kdenlive — http://www.kdenlive.org
- Shotcut — http://www.shotcut.org
- VideoLAN Movie Creator — http://www.videolan.org/vlmc
- Cinelerra — http://cinelerra.org
- Open Movie Editor — http://www.openmovieeditor.org
- Pitivi — http://www.pitivi.org
Windows Media Player Video Viewer
- VLC — http://www.videolan.org/vlc
- Mplayer — http://www.mplayerhq.hu/
- Parole Media Player — http://docs.xfce.org/apps/parole/start
- SMPlayer — http://smplayer.sourceforge.net/
- KPlayer — http://www.kde.org/applications/multimedia/kplayer
Alternatives to Adobe Reader PDF Reader
- Adobe Reader (For Linux) — http://get.adobe.com/reader
- Evince — https://wiki.gnome.org/Apps/Evince
- Okular — http://okular.kde.org
- Foxit Reader — http://www.foxitsoftware.com
Alternative to Windows Photo Viewer Photo Manager
- digiKam — https://www.digikam.org
- Shotwell — https://wiki.gnome.org/Apps/Shotwell
- F Spot — http://f-spot.org
- gThumb — https://wiki.gnome.org/action/show/Apps/gthumb
Alternatives to Yahoo Messenger / AOL Instant Messenger Chat Clients
- Pidgin — https://www.pidgin.im
- Element — https://element.io/
- Empathy — https://wiki.gnome.org/action/show/Apps/Empathy
- Kopete — http://kopete.kde.org
- Gajim — http://gajim.org
Alternative to Nero Burning Rom CD/DVD Burner
- Nero Linux — http://www.nero.com/enu/promo-linux.html
- Brasero — https://wiki.gnome.org/Apps/Brasero
- K3b — http://www.k3b.org
- Xfburn — http://goodies.xfce.org/projects/applications/xfburn
- GnomeBaker — http://sourceforge.net/projects/gnomebaker
- X CD Roast — http://www.xcdroast.org