Alternatives to Windows, Mac, Linux and online software

AlternativeTo is a new approach to finding good software. Tell us what application you want to replace and we give you suggestions on great alternatives! Instead of listing thousands of more or less crappy applications in a category, we make each application into a category. Think of it like forever evolving blog posts about good alternatives to the software that you're not satisfied with. And the "blog posts" are generated by you through suggestions, comments and votes.

Categories for Windows, Mac, Linux, and Web-based applications are listed. On each platform page, there are tabbed listings for recent additions, most viewed, and most liked software (I'll skip "OMG FAIL", since you're likely not looking for a "worse alternative" anyway). You'll find all the usual suspects listed, like Photoshop, Nero, Word, as well as user-recommended replacements.

Unlike most software guides, where you can look for programs based on a category, AlternativeTo.net is organized by program name.

ScrnShots: Share your screen inspiration

ScrnShots is the best way to take, find, and share screenshots of web and screen based design. ScrnShots is a community for designers to share screenshots. Upload as many screenshots as you want, embed them in your blog and discuss them with your contacts.

ScrnShots is a way to take and share screenshots of web and screen based design. Upload as many screenshots as you want, embed them in your blog, discuss them with your contacts and become a better designer!

It works pretty much like flickr. Take a screen shot and save it on your computer. Upload it, add a description and tags. Embed it using the provided html. They do ask that you link back to them which is the same thing flickr asks.

On the social side, I've found that people frequently comment on shots. It's fun to browse around and look at the shots other people are taking. I'm going to try to post at least one interesting shot per day and I'll try to comment on any interesting ones that I find.

Pixelformer : A bitmap editor

Pixelformer is a bitmap editor, specifically optimized for creating, modifying, and converting small and medium-sized images, such as icons, buttons, avatars, web graphics, game graphics, etc.

Pixelformer is faster, smaller, easier, more precise, and often more efficient than large bitmap editing tools; at the same time it is more powerful than any classic simple icon editor.

Pixelformer can be a complete solution for those who need to create, edit, resize, or convert icons or other small images. Even if you prefer to create graphics in some sophisticated high-end image editor, Pixelformer would be a useful tool for doing final tweaks, conversions, and optimizations.

The main features of Pixelformer are:

• no restrictive limits for image dimensions
• support for different color depths up to 32-bit RGB with alpha channel
• semi-transparent colors
• multiple layer support
• free-form masking
• in-place supersampling
• lossless target color depth switching
• independent access to color and alpha channels
• support for multiresolution icons
• dynamic palette generation
• multiple file format support
• icon extraction capability
• PNG size optimization
• Vista icon optimization
• alpha premultiplication
• deep undo buffer

LinkWithin : Related posts with thumbnails

LinkWithin is a blog widget that appears under each post, linking to related stories from your blog archive. It retrieves and index all stories from your blog archive, not just recent stories, making them accessible to new or casual readers of your blog who would not otherwise encounter them.

The widget links to stories that are relevant and interesting to readers of a particular post, keeping them engaged with your blog, and increasing your traffic.

The widget is free and ad-free. It takes a minute to get the widget up and running on your blog, no signup required!. Stories are chosen based on several factors, including title, tags, and content.

The widget shows text links when most of the recommended posts in the widget do not have an image.

ICONlook - Icon Search Engine

Iconlook is a search engine exclusively designed for icons. Icons play an important role in the web world and no one can afford to have lousy icons for his site. Imagine a webpage without any icon; it would be similar to imagining the world without colours. ICONLOOK allows you to search for hundreds of icons with just a single click.

Just go through the website, search for your desired icon(s) and get stunned by what you get to see. You can also have a look at the most popular icons. The service also allows you to stumble through random icons (something that we owe to Stumble Upon). Search can also be aided by the use of the tag cloud.

ICONLOOK has made its mark on me as the web design is not messed up at all. The site is simple, yet useful and will surely help people who are in search for Icons. ICONLOOK can also go on to allow web designers to market their icons and provide contact details besides those icons for people who are looking for a custom job.

Gickr lets you instantly create Animated GIF online and free,

Gickr lets you instantly create Animated GIF online, free, right now! Just upload pictures or grab them from your Flickr. Create funny flashy slideshows with you and your friends, cartoons, previews, banners, etc. Post them anywhere you can post pictures: MySpace, Bebo, HI5 etc. No need for flash. Show them to people in our Gallery.

This service is fun, easy to create, and takes a few minutes. Once your done, your GIF can be featured in the Gickr Gallery and other users will be able to admire your amazing artistry. Or, post it up on a Myspace bulletin, put it in a Facebook note, and let your friends enjoy.

You can either let Gickr pull images from a specific tag on your Flickr account, or you can individually upload images (maximum of 10) to Gickr that you want turned into your animated GIF. Gickr works with snappy AJAX-y goodness (but who doesn't these days), and really does provide a simple way to create an animated image (whether you're going for a time lapse or just slide show). This kind of tool may come in handy if you want to put together an animation/slideshow but you don't want to embed something that requires a little Flash

BeFunky : Turn your photos into incredible artwork with one click

BeFunky makes it easy to get photos from your favorite web sites. Apply special photo effects and save back to your account. The experience starts with a photo or video, and BeFunky tools turn it to a masterpiece work of art and give back to you within seconds.

BeFunky Photo Effects allow everyday people to easily create photographically rich and artistic results from their digital images without the need for any technical knowledge. These "one-click" photo effect options produce desired results effortlessly and each effect comes with the option to make simple adjustments.

BeFunky Labs recently innovated advanced tools interpreted into various artistic styles like oil painting, drafting, pen and ink-art, pop-art. And 100s more are in the pipeline that will be live within a couple months.