Office and Productivity

Windows apps	Linux apps	Description
Microsoft Office, OpenOffice.org	Kingsoft(WPS-Community), OpenOffice, KOffice (now Calligra), Siag Office, Libre Office	Office package
Word	OOWriter, AbiWord, KWord, LaTeX	Word Processing
Notepad, Wordpad, TheGun, EditPlus, SciTE	Vim, KWrite, Kate, BlueFish, Gedit, Joe, Sublime Text, Leafpad, Nano	Text Editors
Access, dBase, Foxpro, Paradox	Kexi, OOBase	Database
Excel, Lotus123, QuattroPro	OOCalc, KSpread,gnumeric	Spreadsheet
Visio	Kivio, yed	Diagramming
PowerPoint	OOImpress	Presentation software
Microsoft Project Manager	Imendio Planner, Kplato, MOOS Project Viewer, MrProject	Project management
Outlook, Thunderbird + Lightning, Sunbird	Kontact, BALSA, Thunderbird + Lightning, Sunbird	Personal information managers
Alcohol 120%, Discjuggler, Easy CD Creator, Nero Burning ROM	K3b, XCDRoast, more	CD burning
Quicken, Microsoft Money, TurboTax	GnucAsh, KMyMoney, CrossOver Office with Quicken, lazy8ledger	Accounting
ActiveSync	SynCE	Synchronization with Windows Mobile devices
WinEdt, TeXnicCenter	Kile, Texmaker, LyX	LaTeX IDEs
Veritas Backup Exec, Cobian Backup	UniSon, Veritas Netbackup, more	Backup
Google Desktop	Beagle, Recoll, Google Desktop	Desktop Search
Norton Ghost	Partition Image, g4u, Mondo, dd	Disk imaging
Norton Partition Magic	QTparted, GParted	Disk partitioning
Disk Size Explorer	File Light, Konqueror	Disk usage analyzers
Filemon, Regmon	syscalltrack	system call tracking (file monitor & others)
WinMerge, SyncToy	Meld, Unison, Synkron, rSync	File synchronization
Windows Update, Add/Remove programs	apt-get, Aptitude, portage, rpm, urpmi, yast, yum, Synaptic	Every Linux distribution has an infrastructure to manage installed software which is quite different from Windows. For instance, all updates are handled by a single program. See package management.
WinRunner	xautomation	automating interactive applications
7-Zip, Winzip, Winrar	Karchiver, File Roller, ark, hjsplit; command line tools	Archivers
chkdsk	fsck	check your file system (and the hard disk beneath it) for errors
Daemon Tools	mount, GMount-ISO	ISO mounting
Disclib	gWhere	Disk cataloging programs

Desktop Publishing

Windows apps	Linux apps	Description
Dreamweaver, NVU, KompoZer	OOWeb, Google Web Designer more	Web Design
Quark, Quark Express, Microsoft Publisher	Scribus	DTP software
Adobe Acrobat PDF Reader	Adobe Acrobat Reader, Xpdf, Kpdf, Ghostview, Evince; more	PDF readers
Adobe Acrobat Distiller, PDFCreator	CUPS-PDF, OpenOffice.org, kprinter — can convert to pdf. more	PDF authoring
Adobe Acrobat PDF editor	pdftk, pdfedit, pdfjam, pdf studio, more	PDF editing tools
SilverFast	xSane, VueScan	scanning
FinePrint	boomaga, page-crunch, mpage, Kprinter, psnup/PSutils, pdfnup/PDFjam	Document printing/reformatting tools

Networking

Windows apps	Linux apps	Description
Microsoft Internet Explorer, Firefox, Netscape, Opera, Chrome, Lynx, etc.	Firefox, Konqueror, Netscape, ChroMe, Opera, more	web Browsers
Outlook Express, Outlook, Thunderbird, Pegasus, Lotus Notes	Kontact, Evolution, Thunderbird	Email clients.
ICQ, MSN Messenger, AIM (AOL Instant Messenger), Trillian, Pidgin	PidgIn, Kopete, aMSN, Emesene (MSN), Centericq	Instant messaging software.
Microsoft Netmeeting	Gnomemeeting
Microsoft HyperTerminal	minicom
FileZilla FTP Client, WS FTP, Bullet Proof FTP, CuteFTP	FileZilla FTP Client, KFTP (KFTPGrabber), Kasablanca, FireFTP, Konqueror, KBear, CrossFTP, Nautilus	FTP clients. Note that dedicated FTP clients are rarely needed on Linux, since the default file manager can usually browse FTP shares. Several GNOME programs can directly open and edit files on FTP, SFTP and WebDAV shares.
mIRC	Konversation, Quassel, KVIrc, XChat, PidgIn, BitchX	IRC Clients
UltraVNC, TightVNC, RealVNC, Remote Desktop	TightVNC, RealVNC, rdesktop, FreeNX, x11vnc, Synergy, XDMCP, SSH with X11 forwarding (-X or -Y option)	Desktop Sharing
MailWasher	KShowmail
Forte Free Agent, Thunderbird, Pan	Thunderbird, Pan, See More Clients Here	News Reader (Usenet newsgroups)
eMule	MlDOnKey	ED2K P2P network clients
Azureus, utorrent	Azureus, Qtorrent, Ktorrent, bittornado	BitTorrent P2P network clients
Skype, Voipbuster	Skype, Linphone, OPenwenGo, Ekiga	VOIP software
Bitvise Tunnelier	gSTM	gSTM is a front-end for managing SSH-tunneled port redirects.

Server

Windows apps	Linux apps	Description
IIS, Apache	Apache, Engine-X, lighttpd	Web Servers
Folder sharing, printer sharing	Samba	Share files and printers between Windows and Linux systems. Installed by default on most distributions.
IIS, FileZilla FTP Client & Server	vsftpd, pure-ftpd	FTP servers, for hosting files.
NetLimiter	Trickle, Level 7 Filter, ClarkConnect, Bandwidth Arbitrator, MasterShaper	Bandwidth shaping and management.
Exchange	Citadel, zimbra, Open-Xchange	Groupware (sharing of appointments, contacts, e-mail, documents, etc. between members of a group)
Sharepoint	KnowledgeTree	Manage and secure documents, collaborate around document creation and editing, full document contents indexing
Norton/McAfee Antivirus, ClamWin, AVG, AntiVir	ClamAV, AVG Antivirus, Avast Home for Linux	Antivirus software.
ZoneAlarm , Sygate SPF	Guarddog, Firestarter, GUFW, iptables	Firewall software

Multimedia

Windows apps	Linux apps	Description
Adobe Photoshop,Corel Photo-Paint, GIMP, GIMPShop	GIMP, GIMPShop, Krita, Pixel (non-free high quality), LightZone (non-free high quality)	Raster graphics editors
Corel Draw, Adobe Illustrator	Inkscape	Vector graphics editors
Irfanview, ACDSee	XnView, GQView, Mirage, GThumb	Image viewers
3D Studio MAX, Blender, Maya	Blender, Maya, Softimage, K-3D	3D modeling software
Autodesk Inventor, Solidworks, CATIA	FreeCAD, SALOME platform	Professional 3D CAD software
Windows Media Player, PowerDVD	MPlayer, Xine, Totem, Kaffeine, VLC	Video Players
SIA Smaart Live	BRP-PACU	Sound analysis
Winamp, Sonique, iTunes, aTunes	amaroK, aTunes, XMMS, noatun, RhythmBox, xine will play aac and wma, Banshee	Music Players
OTSAV, OTS Turntables, Serato, Traktor, Virtual DJ, PC DJ, Mixxx, UltraMixer	Mixxx, UltraMixer	Audio & video play out (DJ/presenter)
Windows Movie Maker, Adobe Premiere Elements,Multiquence	Cinelerra (difficult but very professional), KDenlive (easy and powerful), Blender, LiVES, Kino, AviDemux	Video Editors
Audacity, Cubase, CoolEdit, GoldWave,Cakewalk/Sonar	Ardour, Rosegarden, Audacity, GNUsound, Beast	Digital audio workstation software
Audio Catalyst, dbpoweramp, CDex	Grip, Audacity	Audio Editors
Cakewalk/Sonar	kmid, kmidi, Rosegarden	MIDI
NoteWorthy Composer, MuseScore, LilyPond	MuseScore,LilyPond	Musical score typesetting
GuitarPro, TuxGuitar	TuxGuitar	Guitar tablature editors
Microsoft Paint, Kid Pix, Tux Paint	TuxpAint, KolourPaint	Basic raster painting programs
Videora	thinliquidfilm	Video converter
TMPGEnc DVD Author, Roxio DVDit	Bombono DVD	DVD authoring software

Education

Windows apps	Linux apps	Description
	KTouch	Touch typing tutors
Maple, Mathematica	Maple, Mathematica, Maxima	Computer algebra systems
Matlab	Matlab, Octave, SciLab, Sage, KAlgebra	High level numeric computation environments
SPSS, Stata, EViews	R-project, Stata, PSPP, S-Plus, Gretl	Statistical analysis
Verilog	iverilog	Verilog Simulator
Google Earth, NASA World Wind, Celestia, Stellarium	Google Earth, Celestia, Stellarium, Marble, Geody	Geography and astronomy