InfoWorld's top picks in open source productivity tools, desktop utilities, and mobile apps The best open source desktop and mobile software To be honest, open source for the desktop has become relatively unexciting. Sure, OpenOffice, Gimp, VLC, and the rest of the gang are all wonderful, but we’ve seen this movie before. When are we going to see something entirely new, like LibreOffice for the iPad? Frankly, you’d think there would be a ton more variety in open source projects for Android, too. Maybe we’re looking in the wrong places. Or maybe we shouldn’t be so negative. After all, pretty much every desktop need is well served by one open source project or another. So what if most of the open source action for Android — apart from CyanogenMod and Android itself, of course — centers on security? Wanting more doesn’t make what we have any less great. Chromium With JavaScript and HTML5 finding their way into everything, the Web browser has become a central pillar of software development, not just website development. Chromium, the core of Google’s Chrome, has become a go-to resource for developers needing a Web engine as the underpinning for a project. Essentially Chrome without the Google branding, Chromium is also a great browser: fast on its feet, constantly kept current with evolving Web standards, chock-full of useful developer tools, and in many respects a software ecosystem unto itself. — Serdar Yegulalp FreeMind Use FreeMind to create mind maps, which are nested text documents with links and icons, often used for outlines and brainstorming. FreeMind is very simple and fast, so if you have a lot to write it allows you to keep up with the thought process, or the person talking. I pull out FreeMind every time I need to take notes. I always have it out in meetings and interviews. FreeMind is also scriptable using Groovy, so really the sky is the limit for this mind mapping software. — Travis Wellman AutoHotKey This GPL-licensed automation tool is one of the most useful yet least discussed open source programs for the desktop. With AutoHotKey, most any action can be scripted and played back via hotkeys, including keystrokes, mouse movements, direct manipulations of the GUI (say, clicking on a specific part of the screen), and changes to the file system. You can even create entire applications by using standard GUI forms and AutoHotKey’s internal scripting language. One such application, UniChars, lets you emulate the Unix/Linux key-compositing function in Windows for the sake of typing non-ASCII characters. It even works well as a key-macro application for allowing you to type common words or phrases with only a couple of keystrokes. — Serdar Yegulalp DiskCryptor With the demise of TrueCrypt, what’s left for those seeking an open source disk encryption product for Windows? DiskCryptor, a project in development since 2007, is one likely candidate. Like TrueCrypt, DiskCryptor allows encryption of entire partitions, including the boot and system partition, and it can exploit hardware acceleration features when those are present. It doesn’t support TPM, though, nor does it let you designate files as encrypted containers (a useful TrueCrypt feature). On the plus side, DiskCryptor lets you use key files to enhance encryption, and it can encrypt removable drives or CDs/DVD. — Serdar Yegulalp KeePass A cross-platform password store that can also do a great deal more, KeePass lets you protect not only passwords but most any kind of sensitive personal information: credit card numbers, API keys, you name it. All data is stored in a file that’s protected by strong, well-documented, standard encryption methods, and accessed by a single password. The upshot: You only need to remember one password to unlock every door, and most every Web service or application, present or future, can be handled with it. The program also has a rich array of third-party plug-ins that do everything from perform automatic password filling on website forms to synchronizing your password store with various online storage services. — Serdar Yegulalp Read about more open source winners InfoWorld’s Best of Open Source Awards for 2014 celebrate more than 130 excellent open source projects in nearly every corner of computing. Follow these links to more open source winners: Bossie Awards 2014: The best open source applications Bossie Awards 2014: The best open source application development software Bossie Awards 2014: The best open source big data tools Bossie Awards 2014: The best open source data center and cloud software Bossie Awards 2014: The best open source desktop and mobile software Bossie Awards 2014: The best open source networking and security software Software DevelopmentTechnology Industry