You have just purchased a new computer and realized that it came with no software. Good news, their is lots of free software that can be downloaded. With a open source boom in the last year and a half, many companies are now releasing open source software. Open source software is a matter of the users freedom to run, copy, distribute, study, change and improve the software. One success story has been, Mozilla FireFox, is an open source browser that has given us a better alternative to Microsoft’s IE. Here are some of my recommendations.

Operating systems (Wanting to get rid of Microsoft’s XP or Vista)

• Ubuntu Linux
• Suse Linux

Browsers (Replacement for IE 6)

• Firefox:


Office Tools ( Replacement for Microsoft’s Office Suite Program)

• Open Office - Compatible with Microsoft’s Office. Perfect for the home user. I recommend it highly.

Photo Editing Software ( Replacement for Photoshop)

• Gimp

Spyware Remover

• Spy-bot Search and Destroy

Instant Messenger ( Replacement for Yahoo Messenger and AOL Chat)

• Gaim Messenger - Lets you talk to people on different IM Networks.