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There are lots of tasks that may seem relatively simple in Windows, but may be a bit more difficult to do in Linux.  This page presents a variety of these tasks, and the best ways to solve them using tools in Linux.  Wherever possible, we'll try to notate when a solution is presented using Free software, and when a solution requires the use of proprietary software in Linux.
 
There are lots of tasks that may seem relatively simple in Windows, but may be a bit more difficult to do in Linux.  This page presents a variety of these tasks, and the best ways to solve them using tools in Linux.  Wherever possible, we'll try to notate when a solution is presented using Free software, and when a solution requires the use of proprietary software in Linux.
  
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If you have other ideas, feel free to add them to this table, if you're not comfortable editing the HTML in this table, then add them to [[#I.27d_like_to_see_how_to_do_that.21|the list]] at the end of this page called '''I'd like to see how to do that!'''.
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If you have other ideas, feel free to add them to this table, if you're not comfortable editing the HTML in this table, then add them to the list at the end of this page.  If you can answer an issue, add it to this table and make a note that you can do it.
  
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If you can answer an issue, please [[#I.27d_like_to_demonstrate_how_to_do_that.21|sign up below]] under '''I'd like to demonstrate how to do that!''' with the details.
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{| border="1" cellpadding="5" cellspacing="0"
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|+'''How do I do that?'''
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! colspan="3" style="background:#ffdead;" | Multimedia
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== Multimedia ==
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|-
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{|border="1" cellpadding="5" cellspacing="0"
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| '''Issue'''
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!class="coloredTH" | Issue
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| '''In Windows I'd Use...'''
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!class="coloredTH" | In Windows I'd Use...
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| '''In Linux I'd Use...'''
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!class="coloredTH" | In Linux I'd Use...
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| Burn a CD/DVD
 
| Burn a CD/DVD
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* Totem
 
* Totem
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* [http://www.mplayerhq.hu/ Mplayer] can play almost any type of media, provided you have the correct codecs.  Most installations of Mplayer also ship with Mencoder which allows you create and change the format of video and audio tracks.
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* Mplayer
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* [http://www.gstreamer.org/ GStreamer] is a flexible multimedia pipeline that can be used to do all sorts of wacky things with video.  For a one shot effort, check out the gst-launch program.
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| Organize and manage MP3s
 
| Organize and manage MP3s
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* RhythmBox
 
* RhythmBox
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* [http://www.banshee-project.org/ Banshee] is a C# application for GNOME that manages your music and more thanks to its intelligent plugin structure. [[User:Pwagstro | Patrick Wagstrom]]
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* Banshee
 
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| Sync to an iPod
 
| Sync to an iPod
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|  
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| iTunes
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* iTunes
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|
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* [http://www.banshee-project.org/ Banshee] supports syncing your music library to iPods, Creative Nomads, and a variety of other devices.  It also is able to do on the fly transcoding of those files. [[User:Pwagstro | Patrick Wagstrom]]
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* Banshee
 
* GTKPod
 
* GTKPod
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|-
 
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| Edit ID3 Tags
 
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* MediaMonkey
 
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* [http://more-cowbell.org/ Cowbell] is a graphical ID3 and Vorbis tag editing program for GNOME.
 
 
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| Edit Video
 
| Edit Video
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* Microsoft Movie Maker
 
* Microsoft Movie Maker
 
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|  
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* [http://lives.sourceforge.net/ LIVES] is a robust and actively developed video editing solution.
 
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* [http://heroinewarrior.com/cinelerra.php3 Cineralla] is the 50 ton behemoth of video editing in Linux.  Don't expect an easy to use solution here, but if you're looking for something that can max 6 channel 24 bit audio and full 1920x1080p video into the hottest H.264 output, this is the tool to use.  If all that makes no sense, then Cinerella is probably not the tool for you.
 
 
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|-
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| Edit a photograph
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! colspan="3" style="background:#ffdead;" | Office Tasks
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* Adobe Photoshop
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* Picasa
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* [http://www.gimp.org/ The Gimp] is the canonical graphics manipulation program for Linux systems.  It is shipped with most versions of Linux and provides enough features to keep an amature photographer happy for quite some time.  However, the Gimp is starting to show its age and is lacking features that advanced users may find helpful, such as color masks and 32 bit image depth.  <font color="green">also availalble for Windows</font> [[User:Pwagstro | Patrick Wagstrom]]
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* [http://www.koffice.org/krita/ Krita] is a graphics editor for KDE systems that has seen rapid development in the past few years and is shaping up to be a true contender in the field of graphics.
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| Create a vector graphic
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| '''Issue'''
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|
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| '''In Windows I'd Use...'''
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* Adobe Illustrator
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| '''In Linux I'd Use...'''
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* OpenOffice.Org for WIN
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* [http://www.inkscape.org/ Inkscape] is a powerful cross platform vector graphics editor that natively handles SVG images.  <font color="green">also available for windows</font>[[User:Pwagstro | Patrick Wagstrom]]
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* [http://www.koffice.org/karbon/ Karbon14] is a vector graphics editor for KDE
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|}
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== Office Tasks ==
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{| border="1" cellpadding="5" cellspacing="0"
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!class="coloredTH" | Issue
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!class="coloredTH" | In Windows I'd Use...
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!class="coloredTH" | In Linux I'd Use...
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|-
 
|-
 
| Write a letter
 
| Write a letter
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|  
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| Microsoft Word
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* Microsoft Word
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* OpenOffice.org [http://www.openoffice.org/product/writer.html Writer] <span class="alsoWindows">Also available for Windows and Mac</span>
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* [http://koffice.org/kword/ KWord] <span class="alsoWindows">Also available for Mac</span>
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* [http://www.abisource.com/ AbiWord] <span class="alsoWindows">Also available for Windows and Mac</span>
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|-
 
|-
 
| Design a presentation
 
| Design a presentation
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| Microsoft Powerpoint
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* Microsoft Powerpoint
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* OpenOffice.org [http://www.openoffice.org/product/impress.html Impress] <span class="alsoWindows">Also available for Windows and Mac</span>
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* [http://koffice.org/kpresenter/ KPresenter] <span class="alsoWindows">Also available for Mac</span>
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| Create a small database
 
| Create a small database
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| Microsoft Access
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* Microsoft Access
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* OpenOffice.org [http://www.openoffice.org/product/base.html Base] <span class="alsoWindows">Also available for Windows and Mac</span>
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* [http://koffice.org/kexi/ Kexi] <span class="alsoWindows">Also available for Windows and Mac</span>
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* [http://thekompany.com/products/rekall/ Rekall] (front end only, requires a separate database installation)
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|-
 
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| Design a spreadsheet
 
| Design a spreadsheet
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| Microsoft Excel
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* Microsoft Excel
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* OpenOffice.org [http://www.openoffice.org/product/calc.html Calc] <span class="alsoWindows">Also available for Windows and Mac</span>
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* [http://koffice.org/kspread/ KSpread] <span class="alsoWindows">Also available for Mac</span>
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* [http://www.gnome.org/projects/gnumeric/ Gnumeric] <span class="alsoWindows">Also available for Windows</span>
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|-
 
|-
 
| Collaborate using groupware
 
| Collaborate using groupware
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| Microsoft Outlook
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* Microsoft Outlook
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* [http://www.gnome.org/projects/evolution Evolution] has some capabilities for groupware interaction and shared calendaring.  In particular, it plays nicely with Microsoft Exchange servers.
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|-
 
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| Balance a checkbook
 
| Balance a checkbook
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| Quicken
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* Quicken
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* Microsoft Money
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* [http://www.gnucash.org/ GNUCash] has matured into a very mature piece of financial software.  It has some support for OFX transactions to download account information directly from your bank or credit card.  The program has come a long way in the past few years, so if you remember it from the days when everything was in Scheme, you may want to check out the newest version.
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* [http://jgnash.sourceforge.net/ JGnash] is the program that WPLUG uses to manage their accounts.  It's significantly simpler to run that GNUCash, but as  a result, it lacks much of the flexibility inherent in GNUCash.  This program is written in Java so it will run on most platforms. <span class="alsoWindows">also available for Windows</span>
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* [http://www.moneydance.com/ Moneydance] is a very flexible and powerful personal finance package written in Java.  It has built in support for many banks and online account services, such as IRAs, credit cards, etc.  The visualization tools have come a long way and the budgeting tools help you make sure you're not spending too much money.  Moneydance is commercial software and costs $29.99.  <span class="notFOSS">not open source</span> <span class="alsoWindows">also available for Windows</span> [[User:Pwagstro | Patrick Wagstrom]]
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| Manage business finances
 
| Manage business finances
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|  
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| Quickbooks
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* Quickbooks
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* [http://www.sql-ledger.org/ SQL-Ledger ERP] Client/Server application written in PERL.
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* [http://www.ledgersmb.org/ LedgerSMB] Fork of SQL-Ledger, GPLv2.
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|-
 
|-
 
| Fill out tax forms
 
| Fill out tax forms
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| TurboTax, TaxCut
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* TurboTax
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* TaxCut
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* [https://sidney.solutionsforprogress.com/ Sidney] from [http://www.solutionsforprogress.com/ Solutions for Progress] is a web based system for doing your taxes.  At the current rate it has limited support for state taxes (Pennsylvania is included), has an income cap of $52,000, and is limited to the first 75,000 users.  This program is written by one of the contributors to the Metacity window manager for [http://www.gnome.org/ GNOME].
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| Create a PDF file
 
| Create a PDF file
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| Adobe Acrobat
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* Adobe Acrobat
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* Most Linux programs can print to PostScript, check the "Print to File" option if it's not available.  Then use the ps2pdf program to translate.
 
* Most Linux programs can print to PostScript, check the "Print to File" option if it's not available.  Then use the ps2pdf program to translate.
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* Evince is part of GNOME and supports most PDF functions.
 
* Evince is part of GNOME and supports most PDF functions.
 
* KPDF is a very robust PDF viewer for KDE
 
* KPDF is a very robust PDF viewer for KDE
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* [http://www.adobe.com/support/downloads/product.jsp?product=10
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* [http://www.adobe.com/support/downloads/product.jsp?product=10&platform=unix Adobe reader for Linux] operates very similarly to the windows version.  <font color="red">not open source</font>
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|-
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! colspan="3" style="background:#ffdead;" | Internet Communications
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|-
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| '''Issue'''
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| '''In Windows I'd Use...'''
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| '''In Linux I'd Use...'''
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|-
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| Browse the web
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| Internet Explorer
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|
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* [http://www.mozilla.com/ Mozilla Firefox]
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* [http://www.opera.com/ Opera] - this lightweight and fully standards compliant browser is available for a huge variety of operating systems.  <font color="red">not open source</font>
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* [http://www.gnome.org/projects/epiphany Epiphany] - the fully GNOME integrated web browser
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|-
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| Send an email
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| Microsoft Outlook
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|
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* [http://www.mozilla.com/thunderbird Mozilla Thunderbird]
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* [http://www.gnome.org/projects/evolution Evolution]
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* [http://www.mutt.org/ Mutt] - console mode email client that goes by the slogan "all mail clients suck, this one just sucks less"
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|-
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| Send instant messages
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|
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* Microsoft Live Messenger
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* AOL Instant Messenger
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* Yahoo Instant Messenger
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* Google Talk
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|
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* [http://gaim.sourceforge.net/ GAIM] - a multi-protocol, multi-platform instant messenger client that can connect to almost any instant messenger client. <font color="green">also available for Windows</font>
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* [http://developer.imendio.com/projects/gossip Gossip] - a jabber focused instant messenger client, that now supports a huge variety of networks thanks to integration with [http://telepathy.freedesktop.org/wiki/ Telepathy] - [[User:Pwagstro]]
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|-
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| Participate in Internet Relay Chat (IRC)
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| mIRC
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|
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* X-Chat
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* Irssi
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|-
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! colspan="3" style="background:#ffdead;" | Server Tasks
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|-
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| '''Issue'''
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| '''In Windows I'd Use...'''
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| '''In Linux I'd Use...'''
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|-
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| Run a large scale database
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| Microsoft SQL Server
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|
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* [http://www.postgresql.org/ PostgreSQL] - known as the workhorse of the OpenSource Database field.  PostgreSQL supports a variety of languages for stored procedures, foreign keys, has interfaces to many programming languages, and runs on a variety of systems.[[User:Pwagstro]]
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* [http://www.mysql.com/ MySQL] - is a very fast SQL server that is easy to setup and scales fairly well.  Despite it's earlier faults, MySQL is now a fully functional relational database program.[[User:Pwagstro]]
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|-
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| Provide email services
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| Microsoft Exchange
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|
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* Postfix
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* Sendmail
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* Hula
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|-
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| Serve web pages
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| Microsoft IIS
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|
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* Apache
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|-
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| Customer Relationship Management
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| Microsoft CRM
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|
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* [http://www.sugarcrm.com/ SugarCRM] - markets itself as "Commercial Open Source".  A very high quality package of CRM tools to manage all aspects of business relations.
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|-
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! colspan="3" style="background:#ffdead;" | System Maintenance
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|-
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| '''Issue'''
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| '''In Windows I'd Use...'''
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| '''In Linux I'd Use...'''
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|-
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| Scan for viruses
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| Symantec AntiVirus
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|-
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| Scan for malware/spyware
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|-
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| Scan for rootkits
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|-
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| Backup my hard disk
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|
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|
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* [http://www.bacula.org/ Bacula] is a very robust network based backup system.
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|-
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! colspan="3" style="background:#ffdead;" | System Administration
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|-
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| '''Issue'''
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| '''In Windows I'd Use...'''
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| '''In Linux I'd Use...'''
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|-
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| Install Software
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|-
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| Remove Software
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|-
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| Add a new user
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|-
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| Switch users without logging out
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|-
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|}
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== I'd like to see how to do that! ==
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Add your questions to this list!
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*

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