I’m gonna say this post was inspired by my brother-in-law, but he’s gonna say I’m the one who put the Open-Source bug in his ear by getting him to download OpenOffice to open a PowerPoint Christmas card that someone sent him. And yeah, I know. They should have made it a self-running projector but, whatevah!
Anyhoo… He sent me a link to a great website called Open Source Windows and it features a simple list of the best free and open-source software for Windows with no adware or spyware.
The site is broken up into categories like web browsing, email, video playback, graphics/photo editing and more.
I’ve been using open-source for a while and some of my favorite programs are:

  1. Mozilla Firefox – hands down one of the best web browsers.
  2. Media Player Classic – coupled with a k-lite codec pack, I have yet to find a video it wont play.
  3. OpenOffice.org – I would solely use it instead of MSOffice, but occasionally I run into a program that wants to only use MSWord.

I have also found Open-Source software a GREAT alternative when I’m working on someone’s computer and they don’t have a program I need right then, like FTP software.
I would also recommend, that when you can, send the authors of the software a few duckets to keep open-source open. It shouldn’t be too hard to do. Look how rich we’ve made Bill Gates.
🙂
Related Articles and Sites:
While trying to find a link for Microsoft is Evil, I found this great website called BBspot and they have a great archive of funny Microsoft stories that good tools for a chuckle check. See for yourself.
http://www.bbspot.com/archives/index_ms.html
http://www.osalt.com/