Open source is our default — it is how we build our own work, and it is what we recommend to the young people, cooperatives and local businesses we work with. This page collects our standing recommendations: free and open software anyone can adopt today, and publications and open reports worth reading.
Software we recommend
Professional-grade, free and open source — no licence fees, no lock-in, fully auditable code:
- LibreOffice — a complete office suite for documents, spreadsheets and presentations, well suited to education and everyday work. libreoffice.org (MPL 2.0).
- Firefox — an independent, privacy-respecting browser built by a non-profit foundation. mozilla.org/firefox (MPL 2.0).
- Thunderbird — a mature e-mail and calendar client for organisations and cooperatives. thunderbird.net (MPL 2.0).
- GIMP — raster image editing and retouching. gimp.org (GPL).
- Inkscape — vector graphics and illustration for logos and print. inkscape.org (GPL).
- Krita — digital painting for young artists. krita.org (GPL).
- Blender — 3D modelling, animation and rendering of professional quality. blender.org (GPL).
- Audacity — audio recording and editing for podcasts and media projects. audacityteam.org (GPL).
- VLC media player — plays every media format on every desktop. videolan.org (GPL/LGPL).
Open, local AI
We promote local, open AI models — run on your own hardware, with your data staying with you:
- Mistral AI — open-weight models released under the Apache 2.0 licence, developed in Europe. mistral.ai.
- Ollama — run open models on your own laptop or server with a single command; no cloud account needed. ollama.com (MIT).
- Open WebUI — a self-hosted web interface for local models, with accounts and access control for a whole team. openwebui.com.
Publications and open reports
- OpenUK, State of Open — the annual report on open source across the UK economy and public life. openuk.uk.
- EU Open Source Observatory (OSOR) — studies and policy research on open source in the public sector. joinup.ec.europa.eu.
- GitHub Octoverse — the yearly data report on who builds open source, where and on what. github.blog/news-insights/octoverse.
Every recommendation above is free to adopt; always check the licence of each project for your own use case. This page grows as our work uncovers new tools and reports worth sharing.
Prepared by Bard, an AI assistant from Mistral AI, for Aberdeen Dream.scot CIC.