Why Wouldn’t You Want Apps?

I’ve been having fun fooling around with Google’s Cr-48 notebook, the experimental machine which runs its Chrome OS. (The company is doling out thousands of Cr-48 test units, but Chrome OS laptops won’t go on sale until next year.) I even took the Cr-48 on a long-weekend trip and pretty much got everything done that I needed to do. (For instance, I wrote this column on it, using Google Docs.)

But when I returned home from my trip, I put the Cr-48 away and haven’t returned to it since. I’m sure I’ll revisit it. But for now, given a choice between a Chrome OS laptop and a traditional laptop (my MacBook Air), I’m opting for the latter.

How come? It’s simple, really: Chrome OS both giveth and taketh away. What it giveth is simplicity and security–since it’s pretty much just a Web browser that’s sprouted stubby little legs that let it function (just barely) as an operating system, there’s very little that can go wrong. It boots and snaps out of suspend mode in a jiffy; it’s almost impossible to lose data, since it’s all stored in the cloud; it should be as close to impervious to viruses and trojans as a computing device can be.

But Google accomplished all this by creating an operating system that can’t run local applications. And for now, at least, losing local apps is a gigantic downside. If you’re in love with the notion of a Web-only computer, you may love the Cr-48; if you just want to accomplish stuff, it’s a work in progress at best.


(Note: Google will presumably address some of Chrome OS’s current limitations, such as the near-impossibility of transferring photos from an SD card, before commercial machines go on sale.)

In late 2010, there are applications that work far better in Web-based form than they ever could as a desktop program. (Can you imagine Facebook as a piece of Windows software?) There are ones which work well both on the Web and in desktop form, such as e-mail. And there are ones that are useful in at least certain circumstances on the Web, such as office suites.
But there are also applications that just plain work better as desktop software. Photo-editing, for instance–I love the Web-based Picnik, but I’d go bonkers if it were the only image editor I had. (It’s fun for casual editing of one or two pictures, but not so good for blasting through a bunch of photos as fast as possible.)

I also don’t know of a Web-based presentation service that’s a truly satisfactory PowerPoint replacement, at least for single users. (SlideRocket is far better than PowerPoint in some respects, but it’s really designed and priced for workgroup use.)

And then there’s any instance in which you can’t get online. Chrome OS has a few features for offline usage–the Google Docs word processor can run without a connection, for instance–but for the most part, it’s meant to be used online. Even the best purely Web-based app can’t compete with desktop software if you just can’t get to it.

So as I used the Cr-48, I kept thinking to myself “this is neat–but it would be even neater with a local app or two.” Slate’s Farhad Manjoo makes a similar point in a story called “I Want Chromedroid.”

Google clearly doesn’t agree–here’s a recent blog post titled “Nothing but the Web,” a title which is meant as a manifesto, although it’s also a summary of Chrome OS’s limitations. Turning Chrome OS into a more traditional operating system would be tantamount to admitting it was a bad idea; I’m guessing Google would kill it (or merge it into Android) first.

I don’t want to sound like a Luddite. I use Web-based apps around 85 percent of the time, and that percentage will only grow. It may hit 100 percent. For now, though, the desktop apps I use
25 to 15 percent of the time are essential to my work. They’re not options, and I don’t see why I should give them up.

So I’m sticking with traditional computers for now. Yes, they’re imperfect. But you can install Google’s Chrome browser on a Windows PC or Mac, run it in full-screen mode, and then load local apps whenever the urge strikes. Isn’t that much closer to the best of both worlds than using an operating system that offers Chrome and nothing else?

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Shamelessly stolen from: http://technologizer.com/2010/12/24/cr48-apps/
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The ten worst products of 2010

We’ve seen some absolutely brilliant kit this year. Stand-outs include the obvious (think the Apple iPad) and the less obvious (why hello there, Sony VAIO Z13), but this blog is to celebrate the rubbish. The stuff that, with any luck, may already have been pulled off the shelves due to its sheer stupidity.

In a very particular order, here goes:

10. HTC Smart

Oh the irony of HTC’s naming schemes. HTC was attempting to be clever, to release what we described as “a poor man’s smartphone”, but it got everything wrong.

Wrong OS: Brew MP was designed not by a world-renowned software developer but by Qualcomm, a chipset maker, and boy it showed. Wrong price: £25 per month on a 24-month contract? Hello? Wrong sync options: jump through hoops and get nowhere. Thankfully, the HTC Wildfire came along and saved HTC’s cheap phone blushes.

9. Super Talent MasterDrive GL 16GB

This product was so appalling we never actually put the review up on the website: only readers of issue 188 could savour its one-star review. A low price of £71 inc VAT might mean “it’s tempting to give the MasterDrive a whirl,” we wrote. “If you do, you’ll regret it. It came last or second to last in eight of our ten tests.” When we used it as a boot drive, freezes “were a frequent, unpredictable occurrence”. One to avoid folks.

8. Norton Utilities

I’ll admit some bias: we’ve never been big fans of utility suites. If we had collective eyebrows, we’d raise them whenever a new one appeared on our desk. Although we have more than one desk and, between us, many eyebrows, so perhaps it’s best to leave that metaphor at this point.

There are some good ones (utility suites, that is, not metaphors). We were pleasantly surprised by TuneUp Utilities 2011 earlier this month, for instance. How disappointing, then, that Norton Utilities failed to deliver when we reviewed it at the tail-end of 2009; it went on sale “proper” in 2010, which is why it squeezes into this list.

A one-click “Optimize” button is probably the highlight, and it did knock off three seconds from our boot-up time – but in doing so dropped our available memory by 113MB. There are many better ways to spend £39.

7. iPad made simple

In June, Apress released a 704-page book called “iPad made simple”. Let me repeat that: a book containing 704 pages of advice on how to use a device that’s universally acknowledged as being ridiculously easy to use.

Even accounting for the fact that readers aren’t its target audience, it beggars belief that anyone would resort to a book costing more than £16 rather than just experimenting with the darn thing or picking up a much cheaper, briefer guide.

6. BeBook Club

 So it’s November 2010. Amazon has hit the headlines for all the right reasons by releasing a bargain Kindle for £109, complete with seamless integration with Amazon’s bookstore. What does BeBook do? It releases a more expensive eReader – £149 to be exact – that doesn’t beat the Kindle on any major features, doesn’t integrate with any eBook stores, and doesn’t even have Wi-Fi for direct downloads from the internet.

To add insult to injury, it uses inferior screen technology so text looks worse! We like many of BeBook’s products, but this one goes straight into the remainders bin.

5. Energy Sistem 7502

 What makes the Energy Sistem 7502 so disappointing, apart from its appalling name, is that we had such high hopes for it. This media player promised so much that the iPod touch can’t deliver, with the highlight being Digital TV playback. Sadly, it was rubbish.

“The EPG… is woeful,” wrote our reviewer. “While you can select channels and see the next week’s programmes, there’s no way to access programme information or actually watch shows being broadcast from within the EPG. Instead, you need to exit the EPG, open up the TV section, navigate to the channel and tune back in.”

Add a sluggish interface and only 2GB of storage, and another great idea was consigned to the garbage heap of dashed hopes.

4. ATI Radeon HD 5830

ATI – strictly speaking, we should now say AMD, but we won’t because life’s confusing enough already – had more hits than misses in 2010, but the HD 5830 falls decisively into the latter category. It was ATI’s attempt to offer top-end performance for an affordable price, although by affordable we’re still talking £200. Why, we kept asking, would anyone pay that much when around £20 more could get them the faster HD 5850?

With wide gaps in performance in more demanding tasks, the answer was a great big no-one. All the HD 5830 did was create more confusion for potential buyers and eke a bit more life out of the ageing Cypress core that powered 2009’s ATI Radeon HD 5870 to A List success. We don’t know who’s more cynical, ATI or us.

3. Apple Mac mini

Grerrk. That sound? That’s me girding myself up for the mound of criticism about to come my way for daring to list an Apple product as one of the worst of 2010.

In many ways, I agree, it’s unfair. The new Mac mini looks beautiful in its minimalist magnesium casing and includes some stunning design moves to make it so small. There’s an HDMI port, Gigabit Ethernet, four USB 2 connectors, FireWire 800, 802.11n Wi-Fi: in port terms, it’s well hung.

Delve inside, though, and it disappoints. A Core 2 processor released in 2008, stingy 320GB hard disk and 2GB of RAM. What killed it for us, though, was the price. The base model was expensive at £650, but if you want to upgrade to a larger hard disk or faster processor Apple was charging double or sometimes triple the “real” price difference. Great design, but what a rip-off.

2. Dell Inspiron Duo

 Oh Dell, you great big lovable ball of hardware goodness, how could you do this to us? We so wanted to love the Inspiron Duo, and at first glance it seems so fantastic, but in the end we were more let down than a student who voted Lib Dem.

The idea behind the Duo is great. A cheap netbook that converts, with one very sexy flip of the lid, into a tablet. We were so impressed we wrote, “the Duo’s transformation from notebook to tablet is almost balletic”. Meanwhile, the “rounded, rubberised edges practically beg to be touched, and the 1.36kg chassis oozes a solidity and class that belies the budget price [of £449]”.

The first sign of disappointment came from a battery life of less than four hours under light use. The kick in the teeth, though, became obvious once we’d used it in tablet mode for a while. Over to the review to explain why:

“Tap an icon and you’re unceremoniously shunted [from Dell’s finger-friendly DuoStage software] back to the Windows desktop as it labours into view. And while we’d have expected each application to form part of a slick unified user-interface, the reality is amateurish at best.

“The Internet icon simply launches Internet Explorer; the Games icon lazily shunts you back to the paltry selection of games included with Windows 7; and the Paint icon loads up CyberLink’s YouPaint software, which regularly moans that ‘The current screen resolution is not recommended for this application’.”

As we went on to say, “when a tablet leaves you longing to return to a keyboard and a touchpad, there’s clearly something wrong”.

1. Next 7in media tablet

 Never mind worst product of the year, this is probably the worst product of the century. Normally when reviewing a product we can find something positive to say, but the highlight for the Next tablet was its eight-page Quick Start Guide.

Imagine, if you will, a product “designed” for surfing the web that makes the experience of web browsing so painfully slow you want to head butt a nearby wall.

Imagine an interface so unresponsive and poorly designed you have a better chance of reaching your intended destination by prodding randomly than trying to reason with it.

Imagine a portable device that won’t even last for two blinking hours away from the mains without collapsing in a sulky heap.

If you’ve imagined all that, then you’re very close to imagining the appalling Next 7in media tablet. If you got one for Christmas, don’t open it, just beg for the receipt. If that fails, head to your nearest Next, fall to your knees and beg for a pair of Argyll socks in exchange.

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50 Open Source Replacements for Popular Financial Software

Whether you just want to balance your checkbook or you need to track the finances of a large global corporation, you can find open source software to do the job. For our list of open source financial tools, we cast a wide net and included applications related to enterprise resource management, point-of-sale and even employee time tracking. Not to mention traditional accounting and financial management tools.

One trend worth noting -- a huge number of the open source tools on this list, particularly the business applications, are now available on a software-as-a-service (SaaS) basis. For businesses, this model seems to make sense, as it gives them access to support and reduces the need for in-house staff to deploy and monitor applications. It also enables a more mobile workforce and keeps costs low. And of course, this model is also great for open source vendors as it gives them another way to monetize their open source projects.
Without further ado, here are fifty open source applications that might be able to replace the financial software you currently use for your home or business.

Open Source: Accounting

1. TurboCASH Replaces: QuickBooks, Sage Peachtree
Specifically designed to replace QuickBooks and Sage, TurboCASH offers a handy chart on its Web site that let's you compare features. It's easy to setup, offers comprehensive reporting, and is one of the most robust accounting programs available for small business owners. Operating System: Windows

2. FrontAccounting Replaces: QuickBooks Online
Offering some basic ERP functions as well as fairly advance accounting functions, FrontAccounting lets you access your books from any browser. Unlike most commercial Web-based accounting systems which store your data in the cloud, you'll need your own Web server in order to use FrontAccounting. Operating System: OS Independent

3. Phreebooks Replaces: QuickBooks, Sage Peachtree
This Web-based accounting and ERP solution offers many advanced features, like sales forecasting, data backup, and bill pay, that cost extra with commercial products. It's also available as a hosted service in addition to the free version. Operating System: OS Independent

4. GnuCash Replaces: Quicken Home and Business
GnuCash offers a complete personal finance manager, as well as basic business accounting features best suited for very small businesses. It includes investment management and tracking capabilities, plus accounts payable, accounts receivable, invoicing, etc. Operating System: Windows, Linux, OS X

5. FriFinans Replaces: QuickBooks, Sage Peachtree

Aimed at small to medium-sized organizations, FriFinaans offers a cross-platform, multi-user client-server based accounting system. It tracks accounts, debtors, creditors, products, and more. Operating System: OS Independent

6. osFinancials Replaces: QuickBooks, Sage Peachtree
Designed to be simple, osFinancials can be used by anyone. The basic software is free, but plug-ins and support are available for a fee. Note: because it is developed by a team in the Netherlands, a lot of the osFinancials Web site and documentation is in Dutch, but English is also available. Operating System: Windows

Open Source: Billing

7. jBilling Replaces: QuickTel
Although it offers special features for telecom providers, jBilling can be used by any subscription-based service to track and bill customers. Because it uses a rules engine, it adapts as your business changes, and it's much easier than creating your own in-house solution. Operating System: OS Independent

Open Source: Budgeting and Forecasting

8. Adaptive Planning Replaces Prophix, Budget Maestro/Planning Maestro
The "leader in on-demand budgeting, forecasting, and reporting solutions," Adaptive Planning software hopes to move enterprises off spreadsheets to its more adaptive and responsive budget planning and forecasting. In addition to the free open-source version, it's available in Corporate and Enterprise Editions, with all the flavors also available on a software-as-a-service model. Operating System: Windows, Linux

Open Source: Business Intelligence (BI)

9. Jaspersoft Replaces SAP Netweaver, SAS, Oracle Business Intelligence, Cognos
Calling itself the "most widely used open source business intelligence," the Jaspersoft Business Intelligence Suite contains modules for reporting, data analysis, data integration and dashboards. It's available in three versions: the free community edition and the paid professional and enterprise editions. Operating System: OS Independent

10. Pentaho Replaces SAP Netweaver, SAS, Oracle Business Intelligence, Cognos
Like Jaspersoft, Pentaho also claims to be the leader in open source business intelligence. It includes five modules for reporting, analysis, dashboards, data integration and data mining, and it's available in on-demand and commercially supported versions, as well as the free community version. Operating System: Windows, Linux, OS X

11. Palo BI Suite Replaces SAP Netweaver, SAS, Oracle Business Intelligence, Cognos
While not quite as robust as either the open-source or commercial apps above, Palo provides excellent tools for financial reporting, analysis and planning. It's available either as an Excel add-on or as a complete Web-based suite. Operating System: OS Independent

12. JMagallanes Replaces LogiXML, DBxtra
Java-based JMagallanes lets users create charts and tables from a wide variety of data sources, including SQL, Excel, XML, and other file types. It's not as advanced as the other business intelligence tools in this list, but is fairly easy to use. Operating System: OS Independent

13. OpenReports Replaces LogiXML, DBxtra
This Web-based solution makes it easy for end users to create reports using one of a variety of open-source reporting engines. It's also available in a commercial version, which adds capabilities like dashboards and conditional scheduling. Operating System: OS Independent

Open Source: E-Commerce

14. Magento Replaces Big Commerce, Volusion, Yahoo Merchant
This self-proclaimed "world's fastest-growing eCommerce platform" has been downloaded more than 2 million times and has processed more than $25 billion in transactions. In addition to the free community edition, it's available in paid Professional and Enterprise versions with support and additional features. Operating System: Windows, Linux.

15. PrestaShop Replaces Big Commerce, Volusion, Yahoo Merchant
More than 40,000 merchants around the world use PrestaShop. It's lightweight, fast, scalable, modular, and enables Web 2.0 features. Operating System: Windows, Linux, OS X.

16. Order Portal Replaces Mainstreet Commerce, Yahoo Merchant
Designed for mid-size manufacturers, distributors, and rental companies, order portal can be used alone to take e-commerce orders or as part of the Web Business Suite that includes a dashboard, CMS, data migration, and other features. Both Order Portal and the Web Business Suite are available as a free download, as a hosted solution, or can be integrated into existing back-end systems with help from project owner Randr, Inc. Operating System: Linux.

17. Zen Cart Replaces Big Commerce, Volusion, Yahoo Merchant
Zen Cart aims to meet the needs of businesspeople—not programmers. As a result, it's easy to set up and offers a wealth of features, including gift certificates, discount coupons, a newsletter manager, multiple payment options, multiple shipment options, and much more. Operating System: Windows, Linux

Open Source: Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP)

18. Compiere ERP + CRM Business Solution Replaces: SAP, Microsoft Dynamics
This open-source edition ERP/CRM suite offers the same features you'd find in commercial software, like financial management, purchasing, materials management, order management, project accounting, sales, service, ecommerce, and performance management and reporting. Additional modules and commercial support can also be purchased, or you can run an SaaS version in the cloud. The site includes a TCO report to help you see how it compares to more well-known software. Operating System: Windows, Linux, OS X.

19. ADempiere ERP Business Suite Replaces: SAP, Microsoft Dynamics
A more community-oriented fork of Compiere, ADempiere combines ERP, CRM and POS functions into a single download. In addition to the link above, adempiere.com provides a great deal of information and documentation for the software. Operating System: Windows, Linux, OS X

20. opentaps Replaces: SAP, Microsoft Dynamics
Calling itself, "the most advanced Open Source ERP + CRM solution," opentaps provides ecommerce, customer relationship management, warehouse and inventory management, supply chain management, and financial management functionality. Big name users include Toyota, Honeywell and others. Operating System: Windows, Linux

21. allocPSA Replaces NetSuite OpenAir, Projector PSA, Q360
This web-based suite includes a dashboard, bookkeeping, project management, time tracking, to do lists, CRM, calendar, and much more, all designed specifically to meet the needs of professional service organizations. The Web site includes a video that provides a helpful overview of the key features. Operating System: OS Independent

22. Dolibarr ERP/CRM Replaces NetSuite , Sage AccPac
Designed for small to medium sized companies, freelancers or foundations, Dolibarr offers a modular approach to ERP and CRM that lets you install only the functions you need. It installs on your Web server and can be accessed from any browser. The Web site includes a number of screenshots and an online demo so that you can see how it works before you download. Operating System: OS Independent

23. JFire Replaces NetSuite , Sage AccPac
Key features of this ERP/CRM/SCM suite include product management, sales and purchases, billing and accounting, customer relationship management, issue tracking and reporting. In addition to the link above, additional information can be found on the jFire community site. Operating System: OS Independent

24. Plazma ERP + CRM Replaces NetSuite , Sage AccPac
While heavy on CRM features, Plazma does also offer some ERP functions. The interface is fairly bare-bones, but it gets the job done for small businesses. Operating System: Windows, Linux, OS X

25. Neogia Replaces NetSuite , Sage AccPac
For small to midsize companies, Neogia combines ERP, CRM, eCommerce, business intelligence and other functions. Note that although the software is available in English, much of the Web site and other documentation is only able in French or is badly translated. Operating System: Windows, Linux

26. Openbravo ERP Replaces: SAP, Microsoft Dynamics
Calling itself the "leading Web-based open source ERP," Openbravo is designed to scale with growing companies. It's available as a free community edition download or in a professional edition through a subscription with one of the Openbravo partners. Operating System: OS Independent

27. Open ERP Replaces: SAP Microsoft Dynamics
OpenERP offers a modular design, so companies can select the functionality that they need. The Web site offers helpful comparisons with other open-source ERP solutions, as well as SAP and Microsoft Dynamics. In addition to the free version, it's available in a several commercial editions or on a SaaS basis from Odoo. Operating System: Windows, Linux

28. ]project-open[ Replaces: SAP http://www.microsoft.com/dynamics/en/us/default.aspx">Microsoft Dynamics
Used by more than 3000 companies in 80 countries, project-open combines project management and ERP for businesses with 3 to 3,000 employees. Note that the full software is released under a mixed license, that is, parts are open-source, parts are available under a free commercial license, and parts are only available under a fee-based commercial license. Operating System: OS Independent

29. Postbooks/xTuple ERP Replaces NetSuite , Sage AccPac
The xTuple PostBooks edition tracks sales, accounting, operations, and CRM. xTuple is also available in a number of reasonably priced commercial editions or as a cloud-based service. Operating System: Windows, Linux, Unix, OS X

30. webERP Replaces NetSuite , Sage AccPac
Particularly suited to wholesalers and distributors, webERP offers browser-based ERP and accounting functionality. Downloaded an average of 5,000 times per month, it can run on any Web server and supports multiple themes and multiple languages. Operating System: OS Independent

31. EdgeERP Replaces NetSuite , Sage AccPac
An offshoot of WebERP, EdgeERP offers the same basic functionality with a more community-oriented approach. It's designed to be extremely reliable, accessible, and flexible. Operating System: OS Independent

Open Source: Human Resource Management (HRM)

32. Orange HRM Replaces iVantage, iCIMS
Targeted at small to medium sized enterprises, Orange provides a comprehensive set of HRM capabilities, including tracking payroll, time and attendance, and benefits. A hosted version, support, training, customization and add-ons are available for a fee. Operating System: Windows, Linux, Unix, OS X

33. WaypointHR Replaces iVantage, iCIMS
Although not quite as mature as Orange or the commercial HR solutions on our list, Waypoint includes all the basic functions you would expect in a Human Resources Management System. It's also available in a commercial on-demand version. Operating System: OS Independent

Open Source: Investment Tracking and Management

34. JStock Replaces StockMarketEye, Personal Stock Monitor, TradeTrakker
If you prefer to track your investments separately from the rest of your finances or if you need some advanced features, JStock might be right for you. It lets you track a watch list and your current investments in 24 global stock markets. Key features include advanced starting capabilities, alerts, stock-picking filters, optional cloud storage and online chat with other JStock users. Operating System: Windows, Linux, OS X

35. Chartsy Replaces StockMarketEye, Personal Stock Monitor, TradeTrakker
A fairly new project, Chartsy makes it easy to view the trading history for your favorite stocks. The site includes links to a YouTube tutorial, as well as plug-ins to help you analyze your stock picks. Operating System: Windows, Linux, OS X

Open Source: Personal Financial Management

36. Buddi Replaces: Quicken, Moneydance
This “personal budget software for the rest of us” requires very little financial knowledge on the part of the user, and with the help of the quickstart tutorial, you can be up and running in as little as five minutes. However, it does not offer as many advanced functions as the commercial programs it can replace. Operating System: OS Independent

37. Grisbi Replaces: Quicken Home and Business
Grisbi provides standard personal finance software features, like tracking multiple accounts, reports, budgeting and a scheduler. In addition, it also includes a few more advanced features suitable for organizations, such as multiple currency management, multiple user management, fiscal year tracking, and more. Operating System: Windows, Linux

38. KMyMoney Replaces: Quicken, Moneydance
This app for the KDE desktop offers a very user-friendly interface and can import Quicken files. It humbly claims to be "the BEST personal finance software for Linux users." Operating System: Linux

39. Money Manager Ex Replaces: Quicken, Mint
This browser-based app allows you to access your financial information from your desktop or the Internet, even from your mobile phone. It tracks multiple accounts, including investment accounts, and can import data from Excel or Quicken. Operating System: Windows, Linux, OS X

40. JGnash Replaces: Quicken, Moneydance
This Java-based personal finance manager accepts either double-entry or single-entry transactions in order to make things as simple as possible for the user. It tracks investments and multiple currencies and can import data from Quicken or online banking services. Operating System: Windows, Linux, OS X

41. Yapbam Replaces: Quicken, Moneydance
Short for "yet another bank account manager," Yapbam offers all the typical personal finance software functionality. Although the interface is pretty basic, it does offer some advanced features like the transaction entry wizard, negative balance alerts and automated recurring transactions. Operating System: Windows, Linux, OS X

Open Source: Point-of-Sale (POS)

42. Openbravo POS Replaces Epicor Retail Store, Retail STAR, POSitouch
Openbravo POS boasts nearly 10,000 installations per month and is very popular among retailers. The Java-based app works with most touch-screen POS hardware, and it integrates with Openbravo ERP. Operating System: Windows, Linux, OS X

43. Lemon POS Replaces QuickBooks Point of Sale, AccuPOS
Designed for very small businesses, Lemon POS offers a simple, secure way to make and track sales. It stores data in a MySQL database and works with most bar code scanners and printers. Operating System: Linux

44. POSper Replaces QuickBooks Point of Sale, AccuPOS
This POS system for restaurants and small retail outlets offers an intuitive touchscreen interface, a sophisticated discount system, split tickets, and more. It integrates with POSper BackOffice and many ERP and accounting systems. Operating System: OS Independent

45. Floreant POS Replaces QuickBooks Point of Sale, AccuPOS
For restaurants only, Floreant POS simplifies order management, kitchen automation, and cash handling. It offers an intuitive touchscreen interface, detailed reporting, and support for most hardware. Operating System: OS Independent

Open Source: Spreadsheets

46. Gnumeric Replaces: Microsoft Excel, Lotus 1-2-3
Part of the Gnome desktop, Gnumeric reads and writes Excel file formats, but is not meant to be an Excel clone. It offers superior graphing capabilities, a number of unique functions, and an intuitive interface that should seem familiar to anyone who's ever used a spreadsheet program. Operating System: Windows, Linux

47. KOffice KSpread Replaces: Microsoft Excel, Lotus 1-2-3
Part of KDE's KOffice program, KSpread offers many of the same features as commercial spreadsheets, though the interface may feel somewhat unfamiliar to Excel users. It includes a helpful formula list that makes it easy to add functions to your spreadsheets. Operating System: Windows, Linux

48. OpenOffice.org Calc Replaces: Microsoft Excel, Lotus 1-2-3
Calc is part of one of the most popular open source applications of any type—the OpenOffice.org office productivity suite. It reads and writes files from most other spreadsheet applications, including Excel, and it's very easy to use. Operating System: Windows, Linux, OS X

Open Source: Time Tracking

49. TimeTrex Replaces Replicon, Tenrox Timesheet
The "world's most popular open source payroll and time management software," TimeTrex standard edition includes modules for employee scheduling, time and attendance and payroll. The commercial business and pro editions (available in on-site or hosted versions) add more ways to track attendance, job costing, invoicing, support, and other features. Operating System: Windows, Linux, OS X

50. eHour Replaces Replicon, Tenrox Timesheet
This app tracks multiple projects, multiple users, and multiple billing rates for organizations that bill hourly, like freelancers, lawyers, consultants, etc. eHour can also create detailed reports , and its available in either a standalone or a client/server version. Operating System: Windows, Linux, OS X

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The Best Movies for Programmers

If you’ve done even a little programming then you’re also good at finding ways to waste time watching things vaguely related to it.  Admit it, you’ve spent at least a few hours watching videos about Android’s latest features or Chrome’s Internals even though you’ll never write a single line of code for either.  Don’t worry, I’m not going to list a bunch of technical talks.  We’re talking entertainment for after the work day.  The following movies are stimulating to watch for those with a programming oriented mind.  And you know what that means, softcore porn!

Welcome to Macintosh

Netflix Streaming? Yes
Apple documentary that does a great job tracking the reasons for its successes and failures. I wasn’t sure I’d like the movie after reading the description on Netflix, but once the interview with a grumpy and inebriated ex-Apple Engineer started I was sold.  Just gets better from there.

The IT Crowd

Netflix Streaming? Yes, series 1, 2, and 3.  4 is available on iTunes for ten bucks.
Lets face it, if you’ve done any programming at all then you’re also the go to IT person for your entire extended family.  Over Thanksgiving I’m sure everyone one of you spent at least a few hours exercising the Tech Support Cheat Sheet.  The main focus of this show quickly diverges from IT, but each episode still includes references to nerd popculture.

We Live in Public

Netflix Streaming? Yes
I can’t believe I had never heard of Pseudo.  If you haven’t, then make this the first movie you watch off this list.  You’ll be shocked that something like this existed in the late 90’s.  Also a bit of nudity sprinkled throughout, just for fun.

The Social Network

Netflix Streaming? No, not even out on DVD yet I’ll leave this description up to the awesome blogger, Mike Rundle:
“The Social Network was fucking awesome. Do not see it if you have an idea in your head because it’ll make you want to work on it 24/7.”

Hackers

Netflix Streaming? Yes
I had to include it, this one is sentimental for me.  It was the first movie I had seen that showed computer nerds in an enviable light and not as pariahs being put in lockers.  The brief sensual scene with Angelina Jolie made this a childhood favorite.

Pirates of Silicon Valley

Netflix Streaming? No, but you can watch it on Google Video.
Yea I can’t believe that’s still around either. I’ll admit it, I’m too young to have actually been paying attention when the events of this movie were actually taking place, it gives a nice synopsis of how Microsoft and Apple ended up where they were in the late 90’s.

Revolution OS

Netflix Streaming? Yes
Some nerd cred if you ever wind up trapped in the same room as an old Cobol sysadmin.

Office Space

Netflix Streaming? No
This one is last because I’d be really freaking surprised if you haven’t seen it.  It will help you better understand why that creep guy in your office covets his red stapler.

That’s it!  Please let me know if you have any other favorites that I did not list in the comments below.  I’ll watch them, and if I get enough suggestions I’ll post a second list in the future.

BTW, I can't believe they left out Primer.

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