Internet software table

	Windows	Linux	Macintosh
Web browser	Firefox 2.0, Opera 9, or Safari 3 beta, with MSIE 6 or 7	Firefox 2.0 or Opera 9	Firefox 2.0, Safari, Opera 9, or Camino
Bookmarks manager	Web browser bookmarks features and/or online bookmarks manager, Bookmark Bridge
Download manager	Free Download Manager	Aria & FlashGot	iGetter & FlashGot
POP email client¹	Thunderbird or Pegasus	Thunderbird, Evolution, pine³ or mutt³	Apple Mail, Thunderbird, or Pegasus
Web-mail service¹	Google Gmail or Yahoo! Mail
Usenet newsreader¹	Google Groups	xrn-Linux or Google Groups	MT Newswatcher or Google Groups
ftp client¹ (File Transfer Protocol)	FileZilla, WS ftp, cute-ftp or Windows native ftp²	FileZilla or ncftp³	FileZilla or Interarchy
IM (Instant Messaging)	Pidgin, Miranda, or Trillian	Pidgin	Adium, Pidgin
irc (Internet Relay Chat)	mIRC	Xchat	ircle, Colloquy
telnet	Windows native telnet²	?	NCSA Telnet
Gopher¹	WS gopher	Xgopher	Turbo Gopher
finger/whois¹	WS finger	BSD finger³	fingerhc

NOTES
1. Although it is certainly possible, probably most people will not want to use both POP mail and Web-mail. Also, you can use a Web browser to read, manage, and reply to Web-mail, read and post to Usenet newsgroups, transfer files, submit remote whois queries through Web-page gateways, and browse what's left of Gopherspace. However, there are certain capabilities and uses for which specialized clients for these protocols may at times serve you better.
2. Windows 95 and later comes with native character-mode ftp and telnet programs (run from DOS prompt).
3. Character-mode (non-graphical) client.

You may well like other choices better for some of these operating systems and protocols. These are just the ones I like, or have heard good things about. The suggestions under Linux and Mac are partly based on input from other people. If you think there's something superior, feel free to email me.

Probably at some point I'll be adding a table row and page about RSS aggregators, a new Internet news feed system. As of third quarter 2005 it seems too early for any recommendations; the software and people's usage patterns are still developing.