Most Underrated Software of 2008

Ah, the times they are a'changin', indeed. From open source software becoming ever-more popular to the vast migration of desktop applications and features to the web, we are experiencing a major shift in the way we use our computers. This shift has resulted in both overrating services such as Twitter and ignoring important software. For now, we'll focus on the most underrated software in 2008.

Digsby

For those of you out-of-the-know, Digsby is an instant messaging program which works across multiple services, including (but certainly not limited to) ICQ, AIM, MSN, and Yahoo. Additionally, it provides connection to Gmail/Gtalk, meaning you get an alert of new messages, which updates roughly every five minutes. With an option to read the email without logging in, mark as read, and delete, Disgby is in the running to save you major time from your compulsive inbox-checking. Currently only available for Windows, Disgby is due to become cross-platform to Mac and Linux.

Songbird

Mozilla's answer to iTunes, Songbird promises (and certainly follows through) to free you from the hellish iTunes. Cross-platform and open source, Songbird is a media player with extensibility which is packed with options, including streaming music from online sources.

VLC

VLC speaks for itself. It's a media player which promises to play pretty much everything of which you can conceive. Also cross-platform and open source.

Evernote

Cross-platform Evernote is simply beautiful note-taking software. It's an absolute life saver for you first semester of college. Additionally, the capabilities to transfer notes from everything from notebook paper to your iPhone, Evernote is a major time saver if you're used to having to transfer notes manually. It's the free, just-as-good alternative to Microsoft's OneNote.

OpenOffice

Often ignored not only for its capabilities but also for its leaps and bounds of progress for the open source community, cross-platform OpenOffice promises to completely replace Microsoft's Suite. OpenOffice comes with everything from spread sheets to a word processor and is a solid contender. Although sluggish on start-up, once it's heated up, OpenOffice is a lean, mean productivity machine. Additionally, it allows one to export documents directly as PDF, saving its users from "I can't open .odt files" hell. Watch out when trying to open DocX files, though: it seems Microsoft has explicitly tried to destroy compatibility here.

Opera

A free web browser, Opera remains one of the fastest browsers, with a strong reputation after being one of the first to pass the Acid tests. Owning a small market share, Opera maintains an almost cult-like following of devoted users. I've regrettably been converted to FireFox, but should Opera open its development to include user-created extensions, I'll gladly return.

That about sums it up for this year's most underrated software. From closed to open source, proprietary to free, the software world is changing in our midst, and we shall soon see where 2009 will take us.