Whether it’s a maintenance utility, a system optimization tool, a web browser or a multimedia application, at Clubic, we love free software. And we’ve been offering them for download for over 20 years! Yesterday, it was the French-speaking community of Reddit which sharing his best finds.
What free software is so good you can’t believe it’s free? This is the question asked by the user u/Medical_Car_4435 last night, which received a few hundred responses. And unsurprisingly we find a lot of free and/or open source software already well known to us and positioned at the top within our software library.
VLC, at the top
The prize goes to the VLC multimedia player, developed by the VideoLAN team. It must be said that by immediately including a whole bunch of codecs, the player is capable of playing almost any video format.
The user u/Crusoe69 shares the anecdote with us: “The logo is a tribute to all the traffic cones they turned over on their way home from parties”. Okay, now you know.
Download
- Support for many video and audio formats.
- Simple and intuitive user interface.
- Open source software without ads.
VLC Media Player is an undisputed reference for playing audio and video files, and it is free and open source. It can play a wide variety of formats, including DVDs and Blu-Rays, without ads or trackers. Moreover, VLC is easy to use and works on different operating systems such as Windows, Mac, Linux, Android and iOS.
VLC Media Player is an undisputed reference for playing audio and video files, and it is free and open source. It can play a wide variety of formats, including DVDs and Blu-Rays, without ads or trackers. Moreover, VLC is easy to use and works on different operating systems such as Windows, Mac, Linux, Android and iOS.
Firefox, the rampart
With only 2.8% market share worldwide, the Firefox software, developed by the Mozilla foundation, continues to have its aficionados facing the tidal wave of browsers based on Chromium. According to Statcounter, in France, Firefox is used by 6.65% of Internet users.
From its beginnings with Internet Explorer, the Mozilla Foundation has always positioned itself in favor of a standardized web with respect for the privacy of Internet users.
Faced with uncertainty over the future of ad blockers within the Chrome Web Store, Firefox appears to be a solid bulwark. The user u/Artefact_Light illustrates the situation as follows: “I use it crazy, especially with YouTube and UBlockOrigin. Terribly effective and above all a clean and functional reduced player!”
Download
8.7
- 100% developed in-house
- Reliable, efficient and stable
- Interface and user experience optimization features
Firefox may not be as fast as Chrome and others, but it is still an efficient and reliable browser. Developed in-house on all fronts, including JavaScript rendering and execution engines, Mozilla’s solution aims to be at the forefront of privacy and confidentiality protection. This is evidenced by the many integrated in-house technologies that help make Firefox a secure environment (site isolation, sandboxed tabs, aggressive ad blocking, cookies and cross-site trackers). This freedom of innovation and experimentation is made possible in particular by the independence of the project from Chromium.
Firefox may not be as fast as Chrome and others, but it is still an efficient and reliable browser. Developed in-house on all fronts, including JavaScript rendering and execution engines, Mozilla’s solution aims to be at the forefront of privacy and confidentiality protection. This is evidenced by the many integrated in-house technologies that help make Firefox a secure environment (site isolation, sandboxed tabs, aggressive ad blocking, cookies and cross-site trackers). This freedom of innovation and experimentation is made possible in particular by the independence of the project from Chromium.
Blender, free 3D
In third place, the 3D modeling tool Blender receives the most reviews.upvotes. Created 30 years ago, the application was not always very easy to use with an OpenGL interface focusing on productivity to the detriment of the learning curve.
However, as the redditor points out u/ouzeff : “For a long time it was rough, but since 2.8 it’s really exceptional.” The Blender Foundation began working on the user interface starting with Blender 2.5x in April 2011.
Download
- Free and open source.
- Advanced features for 3D modeling and animation.
- Active community and free online resources.
The description below is nothing compared to the possibilities of Blender. If you are interested in 3D modeling and computer graphics, you would do well to take a look at this software. Neither the price (free) nor the size of the file (4.9 MB) should dampen your enthusiasm.
The description below is nothing compared to the possibilities of Blender. If you are interested in 3D modeling and computer graphics, you would do well to take a look at this software. Neither the price (free) nor the size of the file (4.9 MB) should dampen your enthusiasm.
Other free software cited by Reddit users includes Gimp, Handbrake, Inkscape and Notepad++.
Source : Reddit
I am deputy editor-in-chief of Clubic, and more precisely, I am responsible for editorial development on the Software and Web Services section.
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