Within the past few years, the software movement known as “open source” has gained serious traction over its proprietary cousins. As it has taken hold of the mainstream, many of these applications – like Firefox and Thunderbird – are used everyday, without a second thought as to their origins.
But what about the apps that are headed toward center stage, yet are still under development even though they demonstrate considerable promise? Here’s a survey of some of these programs, including what they do and how they’ll affect open source as a functional alternative in the future:
