Not all programs are as good as Windows equivalent or file compatiable. In fact some are better!
See 
http://newsforge.com/article.pl?sid=03/07/09/1934259 for an example of a task-oriented table.
| Windows Equivalent | Linux Software | Notes |
| Windows Movie Maker | ??? | Any suggestions? I want something quick and easy that does subtitles and credits, pretty transition effects, and will read the mjpeg files my camera makes. So far nothing on Linux even comes close. |
| Internet Explorer | Mozilla | MozillaNotes and 1 |
| MozillaFirefox | also available for Windows | |
| Opera |
also available for Windows | |
| Konqueror | 3 | |
| links | 4 | |
| Lynx | 4 | |
| Microsoft OutlookExpress | MozillaMail | 1 |
| Evolution | 2 | |
| Pine | 4 | |
| Mutt | 4 | |
| KMail | 3 | |
| Sylpheed | 2 | |
| MozillaThunderbird | ||
| mIRC | XChat | 2 |
| epic | 4 | |
| BitchX | 4 | |
| irssi | 4 | |
| Winamp | xmms | |
| zinf | Zinf is not Freeamp | |
| beep | ||
| rhythmbox | ||
| MPlayer | ||
| Microsoft Word | AbiWord | 2 |
| OpenOffice Writer | ||
| LyX | 6 | |
| Kate |
3 | |
| vim / gvim | 5 | |
| GNU / X emacs | 5 | |
| LaTeX | 6 | |
| Microsoft Powerpoint | OpenOffice Impress | |
| MagicPoint | ||
| Prosper (LaTeX) | 6 | |
| MicrosoftExcel | Gnumeric | 2 Gnumeric doesn't support VBA, you can use Python/Perl/TCL etc for scripting if required. It does however support all the spreadsheet functions that MicrosoftExcel has, as well as a hundred or so more. |
| OpenOffice calc | OpenOffice has a VBA style reimplementation | |
| Microsoft SQL Server | PostgreSQL | 1 |
| MySQL | 1 | |
| FireBird | 1 | |
| SQLite | 1 | |
| Adobe Photoshop | TheGIMP | 2 |
| Macromedia Freehand | Sodipodi | |
| Sound editor | Audacity | 2 |
| VisualBasic VisualC++ C# |
GnuEnterprise Python Perl Java C/C++ Scheme TCL/Tk |
See  Category:ProgrammingLanguages |
| VisualStudio | GCC | gcc(1) is a compiler, not an IDE |
| emacs | Emacs is an IDE not a compiler | |
| IDLE, Eric | IDLE and Eric are Python IDEs | |
| Make | make(1) provides a project/building framework for applications | |
| KDevelop | KDE-oriented IDE | |
| Anjuta | GNOME-oriented IDE | |
| NetBeans | Java based IDE | |
| Eclipse | ||
| MicroSoftDeveloperNetwork | ManPages | For documentation on commands, library calls and system calls |
| To find web pages which talk about specific problems | ||
| UseNet | To ask specific questions | |
| Dos Box | xterm(1) | |
| konsole | ||
| Command.com / CMD.exe | bash(1) | |
| tcsh(1) | CshProgrammingConsideredHarmful | |
| BusyBox | ||
| MSN | Gaim |
2 |
| Gabber | ||
| kopete |
3 | |
| IIS | Apache | 1 |
| Firewalling / NAT | iptables(8) | |
| Microsoft Access / FileMaker Pro or similar | OpenOffice base | OpenOffice 2.0 has database front end. |
| Family Tree Maker / Legacy |
Gramps |
Genealogy software |
| Frontpage / Dreamweaver | Quanta |
3 |
| Screem |
2 | |
| Microsoft Visio / Corel Draw | dia(1) | |
| xfig | ||
| Inkscape | ||
| kivio | ||
| sodipodi |
[1] The Linux software is generally considered much more secure. [2] This is a GNOME/GTK application [3] This is a KDE/Qt application [4] This is a command line or terminal program [5] They may not be WYSIWYG editors but they are still perfectly fine for most things [6] LaTeX is a typesetting language, not an editor. It produces the desired result (in many cases better than the MS equivalent), but in most cases you need to use a text editor (like gvim) to 'write' the document. You can use LyX to write documents in a near WYSIWYG style -- Perry Lorier