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[UltraSonic]

Some of you already know what this is because it no doubt got used when putting the SVT website together in the first place, but how many of you use programs which are known as Free Open Source Software, or FOSS for short?  I've found myself using them more and more as of late and have discovered that in the IT/Security field they're nigh inexpendable.

I've been using Ubuntu 10.10 a lot more often than Windows lately, despite issues with gaming (When I want to game I've still had to revert to my Windows partition, having a few issues with a translation program called Wine, but we'll discuss that later hopefully) it's rapidly becoming my favorite.  Anything you can think of that you need to do in Windows, there's generally a way to get it done in Linux, for free.  Albeit there are versions of Linux/Gnu/Unix type operating systems that aren't free and are sometimes pretty expensive (Like Enterprise Suse developed by Novell), but they're designed for corporate usage, and are still open source.

All that aside, here's my list of favorite programs to use which are free open source.

Ubuntu (Currently on version 10.10 "Maverick Meerkat")
Firefox (Version 4.0 is in beta and really buggy)
Mint
Backtrack (currently in version 4)
Metasploit (Still completely lost inside this program, but I'm hellbent on learning it)
Caine (An amazing Linux distro based on Debian that while being useful for forensic investigators, helps with troubleshooting too)
Open Office (What list would be complete without it?)
Audacity (When you do a lot of volunteer work as a sound tech, it's your best friend)
Oxelon (A fantastic file converter.  Ever wish your MP3s were AACs?  If yes then you're very weird, but this program will do it for you, and it's just as diverse in file types as VLC)

[SVT number 1 fan]

Sounds intresting.

[Zonic Mirage]

On my Mac, I use Firefox for my browser, Thunderbird for my email client and Cyberduck for my FTP. Used to use FireFTP, but I found I had to compile putty to use it on a Mac. So I downloaded Cyberduck. XD

[SVT number 1 fan]

Don't think I've ever heard of a FTP.

[UltraSonic]

Fear not SVT Number 1 Fan, FTP is pretty simple.  It stand for "File Transfer Protocol".  And that's exactly what it does.  It enables him to transfer files from his home computer (Written in HTML and PHP) and upload them to the webserver that you access to get to SVT.  That's it in a nutshell anyway.

The thing I used to love about FireFTP (when I worked on stuff for Emerald Coast Comics) was that it's right there in your browser, Cyberduck's one of those that kind of fell under the radar for me, but then I wasn't that involved in the FTP in the first place.  (Though with plans to launch my own site that'll change soon enough, still studying more HTML for that though).

Edit:  Hang on, stop the presses for a second, I just noticed that while I unabbreviated FOSS, I neglected to explain what it really is.  Free Open Source Software, like Linux is basically non proprietary software where the source code is publicly known and available for anyone to edit.  Some software, known as proprietary, does not have it's source code published to public libraries and is closely guarded and copyrighted.  Such as that which drives windows and OSX.  Is this to say that one is better than the other?  Not really a fair question.  Given the current state of things, most users are much more familiar with Windows and Mac than they are with Linux, which is why they still turn over one heck of a profit, however due to the diversity of developers for Linux and open source platforms, support is typically much faster on the FOSS side than the Proprietary side, though you can expect most commercial developers to support proprietary (Like Video Game companies).  Luckily there are programs such as Wine which basically provide a translation layer that tells Linux how to talk to the Windows program.