My Current Cross-Platform Faves

As I spend more time with Linux I’ve been slowly modifying my most often used apps. I have been experimenting and trying alternatives to some old favorites as I quest for apps that work with both Windows and Linux. Perhaps a lofty goal, but I think I’ve been getting close. Not quite ready to update the Essential Apps page, but perhaps soon.

Browsers are easy. I run Chrome and Firefox. Chrome for all the general usage and Firefox when I need an extension (I loves me my Firebug) or find a site that just doesn’t do well in Chrome.

Speaking of browsers, I’ve switched to Xmarks to keep the bookmarks on them all in sync. Works great for Firefox and Chrome – heck, I even use it with Internet Explorer 8 on one of my machines (I know, right?).

Next up is my old standby Dropbox. I won’t claim that it will work great with all Linux distributions but certainly integrates nicely with Gnome and Ubuntu. I’ve tried installing it with other distributions and had to download and install quite a bit of Gnome to get things rolling… but since I tend towards Gnome, I have no complaints.

For social networking I’ve been using the Adobe AIR based TweetDeck. Does what I need to do and does it well. While AIR apps would seem like a natural way to handle cross platform compatibilities I just haven’t found all that many that I love.

I’m back to Evernote for my own GTD’ish flavor of task and project tracking and this one isn’t quite where I’d like it to be. I initially thought I’d be fine with the web interface… but wanted more. The newest 3.5 Windows version won’t run in wine but fortunately 3.1 does. It runs quite well but has a few ugly graphics issues. Nothing that stops me from using it though. Not quite as seamless as I’d like…

Password management is handled by eWallet. I love how well it works on Windows, Web and Windows Mobile but they don’t have a native *nix client. Like Evernote, I initially thought I’d be fine with the beta Web Companion, but that’s read-only. Also like Evernote, the newest version doesn’t work with wine but they have an older version – data file compatible with the latest – that does. (I kinda like the older version better anyways…). With the beta Web Companinion I can be sure all my various eWallet installs are always in sync. Great stuff.

For email notification I’ve discovered Googsystray. This thing is awesome – not only does it monitor (multiple) Google Mail accounts, it can also keep an eye on Google Reader, Wave, and Voice accounts as well. There are even native versions for both Windows and Linux. Oh, and not only can it handle multiple mail accounts, it can also monitor labels within those accounts. It isn’t perfect, but it is so damned useful I’m willing to overlook a couple small issues (don’t worry, they’ve been reported!).

Most office stuff is handled by Open Office or Google Docs, nothing too fancy there. I’ll note that I do tend to go with the Go-oo flavor on the Windows machines, for what that’s worth.

Pidgin handles all the IM duties. On the Windows machines I often just run Portable Pidgin out of the Dropbox accounts – saves having to install it all the time.