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Area 51 » Technology

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Software Recommendations

Launched Q&A site for people seeking specific software recommendations.

6
votes
0
answers

How would a device-specific site be better than a tag on a VR/AR/3D site?

jun 4 '16 at 20:25 Crissov 1,247
8
votes
1
answer

Area 51 stats down

jun 23 '14 at 13:44 Robert Cartaino 473
1
vote
1
answer

Why I can see this private beta question?

feb 13 '14 at 17:14 Community♦ 1
55
votes
4
answers

Laying some ground rules for Software Recommendations

feb 4 '14 at 20:29 Community♦ 1
0
votes
1
answer

How welcome are recommendations against a certain tool? [closed]

feb 4 '14 at 19:37 Community♦ 1

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discuss this proposal

84 Example Questions

active newest votes
up vote 17 down vote
Are there any cross-platform Python integrated development environments (IDEs)?
added by juergen d Oct 9 '13 at 10:15
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6  
Reminder: Each question needs only 10 upvotes. Beyond that, the votes are essentially wasted and could be better spent in some other questions that are needing more votes. – Victor Stafusa Dec 27 '13 at 5:33
3  
Yes, but it is not too late then. You can unupvote a question and upvote another one. – juergen d Dec 29 '13 at 14:39
up vote 15 down vote
Are there any free web-applications to manage a prioritised 'to-do' list that can be accessed conveniently on a mobile web browser?
added by Alex, edited by Nicolas Raoul Jan 7 '14 at 3:15
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up vote 14 down vote
Any tool to generate HTML documentation from C# code, like Javadoc can do for Java?
added by Nicolas Raoul Oct 24 '13 at 7:05
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This is a inherent feature of visual studio, is a question that has the correct answer "Use this little known feature of software you have" on topic here? – Oxinabox Jan 4 '14 at 13:30
1  
I did not know that. Monodevelop users may have never used Visual Studio, despite writing C#. If Visual Studio can do this, it is a valid answer. My opinion more generally: If a user asks for a software, the question does not become off-topic just because the answer is smarter/easier than downloading a new piece of software. – Nicolas Raoul Jan 6 '14 at 1:53
up vote 12 down vote
Is there any free program to record all desktop sounds, which runs on Linux Ubuntu?
added by Nicolas Raoul Oct 24 '13 at 6:56
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up vote 12 down vote
Any open source tool for sharing data online with version control, encryption and email notification, for Linux and Windows?
added by Nicolas Raoul Oct 24 '13 at 6:57
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up vote 12 down vote
Now that Mozilla Thunderbird is no longer developed, what is the best replacement as an IMAP email client?
added by Free Radical Dec 13 '13 at 5:54
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What? It's no longer developed? In that case this is a real good question. – Stefan Jan 10 '14 at 11:03
up vote 11 down vote
Is there any free alternative for MATLAB to do frequency analysis?
added by Any Body, edited by Nicolas Raoul Jan 7 '14 at 6:44
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up vote 10 down vote
Is there any Python library to extract message strings from several different formats (possibly with custom extractors) into POT files?
added by Gallaecio Oct 11 '13 at 19:41
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This probably a question which should be for sites like stackoverflow? – Yao Bo Lu Dec 13 '13 at 11:52
2  
@yao: No, recommendations of any sort are off-topic on Stack Overflow. – juergen d Dec 18 '13 at 7:42
up vote 10 down vote
Is there a web application for maintaining a wish list (for birthdays etc.), that can easily be shared with friends and family?
added by Alex Oct 23 '13 at 22:13
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up vote 10 down vote
Any free native app to manage a prioritized 'to-do' list, syncing between Max/Linux/Windows/Android/iOS via an open protocol?
added by Nicolas Raoul Oct 24 '13 at 7:01
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up vote 10 down vote
Is it better to download an open source code editor like Vim or to purchase one made by a company like Adobe? (Adobe Edge Code CC, in Creative Cloud)
added by damryfbfnetsi Nov 7 '13 at 7:52
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up vote 10 down vote
I am looking for alternatives to Windows 7 explorer. I'm hoping for something that acts more like XP with keyboard shortcuts. Are there any out there?
added by kmort Nov 10 '13 at 4:45
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up vote 10 down vote
What are free alternatives to ClearCase for version control that have a feature similar to ClearCase's MVFS centralized networked filesystem?
added by kmort, edited by Nicolas Raoul Jan 7 '14 at 3:10
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up vote 10 down vote
Is there free image processing software available? Something similar to what you can do in Matlab, just free.
added by kmort Nov 10 '13 at 4:46
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up vote 10 down vote
What are some good options for hobbyist software for controlling and balancing quadcopters?
added by kmort Nov 10 '13 at 4:50
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up vote 10 down vote
What good alternatives exist for non-professional hard drive imaging, similar to Norton/Symantec Ghost?
added by kmort Nov 10 '13 at 4:53
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up vote 10 down vote
Are there any free good libraries to generate PDF files from code (Java, .NET)?
added by Szymon Nov 12 '13 at 11:13
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Doesn't this belong to stackoverflow.com? – l19 Nov 27 '13 at 23:55
5  
No, it would be thrown out of there. There's a close reason about recommending tools and libraries. – Szymon Nov 28 '13 at 0:00
1. Apache PDFBox 2. Apache FOP 3. iTEXT – kosta Jan 7 '14 at 0:12
up vote 10 down vote
What should I put on my Windows 7 children's computer to prevent them finding pornography?
added by Chenmunka, edited by Nicolas Raoul Jan 7 '14 at 3:10
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up vote 10 down vote
Would you recommend Microsoft Visual Studio for developing a small private project? Will the free version suffice, or would I need the paid one?
added by kdzia, edited by SF. Dec 19 '13 at 11:02
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Why the downvote? Please leave a comment as to explain why you think this question isn't a good fit. – kdzia Nov 18 '13 at 11:30
Maybe because it's "paid", not "payed"... or maybe because you're not seeking for a recommendationn – l19 Nov 27 '13 at 23:58
1  
This isn't an actual question that would appear on the site. It requires the blanks to be filled in. Rather than upvoting this, it would be more useful to upvote several examples that actually have the blanks filled in. This question can't be "answered", but question of this format with the blanks filled in can be. – Stephen Ostermiller Dec 6 '13 at 19:38
1  
You are basically restating the entire purpose of the site in broad generalities. This isn't an example question. It's almost circular. Sometimes a question can become so overly generic, it doesn't help define the site at all. Questions that start to look like *"How do it [this] a [that]" aren't generally accepted because they can fit virtually any definition of a site. Please ask questions you would actually ask on the site. Thanks. – Robert Cartaino Dec 9 '13 at 0:39
1  
I replaced the blanks with a software and a task. But I think blanks can be very useful to define the scope of a site. Isn't it better to have one question like What is a good maps software for [Country]? upvoted quite high, than having the three questions What is a good maps software for Spain? , What is a good maps software for Germany? , What is a good maps software for Russia? dangling somewhere in the low upvotes? This might happen if several examples that actually have the blanks filled in are posted. – kdzia Dec 9 '13 at 10:39
show 4 more improvement suggestions
up vote 10 down vote
I think I've just picked up the <name here> virus on Windows XP. What is out there to clear it?
added by Chenmunka, edited by Nicolas Raoul Jan 7 '14 at 3:13
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up vote 10 down vote
Which image editing programs can edit OS2 icon files?
added by fNek Nov 22 '13 at 13:59
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up vote 10 down vote
Are there any lesser-known viable free offline office suites other than OpenOffice and LibreOffice that run on Mac OS X Mavericks?
added by Ian, edited by Nicolas Raoul Jan 7 '14 at 3:12
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up vote 10 down vote
Any software I can use for Hangouts without Gmail or Chrome?
added by Ian Nov 29 '13 at 4:27
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up vote 10 down vote
What software can I use to crawl my own website like a search engine bot would? I want to check whether my robots.txt file does its job.
added by Stephen Ostermiller, edited by Nicolas Raoul Jan 7 '14 at 3:33
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up vote 10 down vote
What is the fastest package for sharing multi-Gigabyte sized files between several people over a local network?
added by Chenmunka, edited by Nicolas Raoul Jan 6 '14 at 1:57
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2  
Should be a little more specific. Via the internet? via pendrives? On which platform? (Cross platform?) – Tim Dec 12 '13 at 12:24
The term best really kills this question for me. – Chad Jan 2 '14 at 22:20
I made the question more specific, to address the concerns raised by Tim and Chad. – Nicolas Raoul Jan 6 '14 at 1:57
up vote 10 down vote
Is there a good versioned backup program for Linux? Restoration should be possible without having to install software (e.g. from a live cd).
added by Tim Dec 11 '13 at 15:43
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up vote 10 down vote
Are there any open source replacements for Microsoft Publisher, running on Windows 7?
added by Ben Miller, edited by Nicolas Raoul Jan 7 '14 at 3:12
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up vote 10 down vote
What Windows-tool can I use to cut a .ogg movie into .ogg pieces?
added by Bernhard Dec 24 '13 at 16:13
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up vote 10 down vote
Is there a screenshot tool with automatic uploading to hosting and sharing? Optionally, with editing capabilities.
added by JBaruch Dec 26 '13 at 20:32
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up vote 9 down vote
Is there a open-source tool to generate a list of API changes between two different versions of a C++ application?
added by juergen d Oct 9 '13 at 10:16
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I think that questions should not ask "open source" (which I find to be PC-speak for "I'm too cheap to pay for it"). One could insist that answers specify a) where to get to the recommended item, and b) whether it was free or not. Otherwise you get two questions (one for "open source" only, one for "all others") for each question. – Ira Baxter Jan 9 '14 at 15:57
I find it totally valid to ask for free software specifically. A company can afford to pay thousands of dollar for a specific tool and some people can't even affort to pay a single dollar. That has nothing to do with being cheap - there are poor people too in this world. And such persons don't care about an answer suggesting a non-free tool. – juergen d Jan 9 '14 at 17:37
up vote 9 down vote
I currently use Microsoft Outlook as an appointment calendar and it syncs them with my Android phone. Are there any free alternatives available?
added by PeterJ Oct 9 '13 at 23:28
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up vote 9 down vote
My hard drive is trashed. What can I use to recover my data? It is a MAXTOR2144 with unencrypted ext3 filesystem.
added by Chenmunka Nov 14 '13 at 9:38
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2  
...and here's an interesting point, where a submitting the drive fior a professional service would be preferable over a specific program. It is an interesting question as it raises the point about: not always software is the best solution. – SF. Dec 19 '13 at 11:09
Added precision, otherwise probably too vague. – Nicolas Raoul Jan 7 '14 at 3:35
So now the site is not limited to just software, but to any technology or service whatsover? If we agree the question is "what tool can OP get" we avoid that problem. – Ira Baxter Jan 9 '14 at 15:59
I believe the site should be limited to software. Although there may sometimes be a question to which the answer is to look elsewhere. – Chenmunka Jan 9 '14 at 16:27
up vote 9 down vote
Is there any software to manage book lending in a small company's library?
added by l19 Nov 27 '13 at 23:55
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Good question, but I would think this kind of question would rather fit into a specialized site.. took the liberty to phrase the same as suggestion for the proposal for Libraries and Information Science area51.stackexchange.com/proposals/56319/… – AardVark71 Dec 10 '13 at 8:41
up vote 9 down vote
What are the major differences between Notepad++ and Sublime Text II?
added by Ian Nov 29 '13 at 4:24
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up vote 9 down vote
Are there any free tools I can use to easily generate and use (offline) custom interactive high-resolution maps from OpenStreetMap data?
added by Ian, edited by Nicolas Raoul Jan 7 '14 at 6:47
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up vote 9 down vote
What is the Mac equivalent of WinSCP?
added by blak3r Dec 16 '13 at 8:04
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up vote 9 down vote
Is there an Android app that will alert me of firmware updates on a rooted phone?
added by SilverlightFox Dec 16 '13 at 18:29
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up vote 9 down vote
Is there a tool that will allow me to make notes or sketches on top of PDF files?
added by Ben Miller Dec 20 '13 at 17:16
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Nice very Defined on what he wants – Daniel Dec 24 '13 at 22:06
up vote 8 down vote
With what web tool can I convert images into ascii art, with control over the output size and set of characters?
added by juergen d, edited by Nicolas Raoul Jan 7 '14 at 3:27
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I redefined the question because "with lots of controls" is too vague for a good answer. – Nicolas Raoul Jan 7 '14 at 3:28
up vote 8 down vote
Is there a Windows Phone app using offline vector maps of OpenStreetMap?
added by juergen d Oct 9 '13 at 10:18
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