These amazing Windows apps actually started on Linux, and they’re all free
Windows has a large ecosystem of its own apps, but many of my current favorite Windows apps actually started their digital lives on Linux. If you’re looking for a few free or open source alternatives to your conventional Windows apps, some of these options are a great place to start.
KDE Connect
Windows 11 can connect to a mobile device using Phone Link, but this requires an account, and I’ve never had much luck with that.
My favorite alternative is an app called KDE Connect, which was originally developed for Linux and then moved to Windows. Unlike Phone Link, it does not require an account. Simply connect both devices to the same Wi-Fi network, install the KDE Connect app, and you’re ready to go.
You can control one device using the other, send and receive files, and even send text messages from your PC. Because it only works on your local network, you can be sure that your data is private and secure.
File transfers are also as fast as your Wi-Fi speed, which is more useful than you think. I moved over 100GB of videos from my phone to my PC in a fraction of the time it would have taken to upload them to the cloud and re-upload them, or transfer them via USB.
VLC
VLC has been available to Windows users for so long that everyone has forgotten about it, but it was originally released for Linux in 2001.
Since then, it has become a mainstay among Windows users because it can play just about any media file without missing a beat. Like most Linux apps, it’s completely free, which is a very welcome change. There are still a surprising number of paid media players that VLC competes with.
As an added benefit, VLC is completely ad-free, and always has been. You don’t have to worry that an accidental wrong click somewhere will land you on a suspicious website trying to sell you a supplement.
Kdenlive
Adobe Premiere and DaVinci Resolve are probably the two most popular video editing programs among Windows users, and DaVinci Resolve even has the added benefit of being free.
This free video editing app has completely replaced Adobe Premiere
No additional subscription? No complaints from me.
However, KdenLive, which was originally developed for Linux, is robust, capable, and remains one of my favorite applications for Windows, even though I don’t use it as much as I used to.
If you’re looking for an application that can do most video editing, that runs as well on a low-power PC as you could reasonably ask for, and that doesn’t cost anything, KdenLive should be at the top of your list.
It receives a constant stream of feature updates that keep it on par with premium paid alternatives.
Caliber
I collect all kinds of PDFs from Humble Bundle, Project Gutenberg, and many other places. Somewhere I have a folder containing the manuals for almost every PC component I’ve ever owned.
Caliber is a Linux application ported to Windows that lets you sort books by author, publisher, series, etc. You can also use Caliber to annotate eBooks as you would a real book, using a highlighter or pen.
I find the ability to annotate things I want to come back to particularly handy.
Git
Git doesn’t get much fame, but it’s the unsung hero of the programming world. For many people, it’s just one of those items at the beginning of an order that you paste in when following the online instructions.
The reality is different. A huge percentage of the programming world relies on Git. Git is a “version control system” for developers, which basically lets you track all the changes they make while writing code. You can manage different branches, adjust the structure of a project, sync changes, and pretty much anything else you might need to do.
I don’t write large chunks of code much anymore, but when I do, Git is something I can’t live without. This helps me stay on track and keep my sanity intact when trying to figure out what happened between different versions of a code I’ve written.
Popular websites like GitHub and SourceForge act as repositories that you can connect with using Git, so you can store your coding projects on the cloud to keep them secure or to make them easily accessible to others.
Although they are very different operating systems, a surprising number of Linux applications also have Windows versions available. If you see one recommended on the Internet that looks interesting to you, don’t dismiss it as “just a Linux application.” You may be pleasantly surprised to discover that it also has a Windows client.
