HotPicks

Welcome

The original issue 1 HotPicks, still going strong 21 years later!

Welcome to this special edition of HotPicks dedicated to 30 years of Linux! As usual we’re covering the best open source software on the planet, but for this issue Alexander Tolstoy travelled back in time to revisit past issues of Linux Format, searching for the very best applications that proved to be the most useful and well-loved by the people.

Revisiting early Linux Format issues is fun, educational and sometimes nostalgic. Many well-regarded software titles from the mid-2000s are no longer maintained and appear to have passed away. Many personal open source projects, which used to be hosted on self-made websites or public code hosting servers, no longer exist (who remembers BerliOS?). Even GitHub, which is the main place to find a hot cool tool these days, wasn’t around during the early LXF HotPicks issues: it emerged in 2008 and it took several years for it to become mainstream.

Of course, there’s another camp of venerable open source picks that have long records of development, but these are mostly large projects with full-time staff and generous funding. We’ve always tried to avoid promoting high-profile Linux software such as Firefox or LibreOffice, since they already enjoy worldwide popularity. The ideal HotPick would always be from the underrepresented group of small projects that are looking for a wider audience. Such a HotPick pick also had to be of high quality and proven practical use, which further narrows our search.

As such, a nonpareil always implies a solid balance of several factors. An exclusion of this rule is a small group of entertainment apps. These are good-humoured programs, ideal for sharing with friends and colleagues. From the hilarious Hollywood hacker screen (LXF195) to the prank-like CommandLineHeroes fun testing tool (LXF276), they all help to raise the profile of open source software. We wish there were a bit more of such projects available for the Linux audience. For instance, there’s the irresistibly charming Desktop Pet (eSheep) (see http://bit.ly/2UuDd5k), but unfortunately it’s a Windows-only thing.

We hope you will enjoy this special edition of HotPicks and stay with us for more great FOSS finds!

BEST MEDIA PLAYER

VLC

Version: 3.0.16 Web: www.videolan.org/vlc

think there’s no real need to have different categories for music player (see ) which has the most number of devoted Linux users.