How much did you pay for all of the software you currently have installed on your computer?

Some of it will probably have come preloaded on the machine when you first bought it whereas other programs you may well have acquired and added since. In either case, it is probably fair to say that most of us will have paid hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars for the software we are currently running on our computers.

When you add it all up, the amount of money you have spent on software can be quite frightening!

What if I were to tell you that most, if not all, of that software you have bought could be replaced by an alternative application which you can acquire for absolutely nothing..... that's right, totally free of charge! Would you be interested?

If so, let me introduce you to the world of open source software.

Open source software is effectively software which has been developed and evolved within the public domain and made available for free distribution - as opposed to the software developed in house by mainly large and wealthy corporations for commercial resale. Many argue that the open source method of development and distribution not only results in huge savings to the end user but also produces software that is more flexible, reliable and of an overall better quality than the commercial equivalents.

Open source software is perfectly legal and free to download, use, copy and share. It is not a limited or trial version of software that you will subsequently need to buy if you wish to continue using it and neither does it contain spyware or adware.

Further information about the concept of open source software can be found at http://www.opensource.org. This is the website of the Open Source Initiative (OSI) which is a California based public benefit corporation with tax exempt status which was formed in 1998 primarily to promote and educate users about the benefits of open source software.

The range of open source software available is surprisingly large. Most of us will have a commercially available office suite on our computer comprising of at least word processing and spreadsheet applications. The most popular open source office suite currently available is called OpenOffice and it not only comprises of word processing and spreadsheet programs but also gives you a multimedia presentation program and database together with separate tools for drawing and creating mathematical formulae. Find out more about OpenOffice and download your own free office suite at http://openoffice.org-suite.com.

There are also readily available open source solutions for most, if not all, of the other commercially purchased software you currently have installed on your computer – or which you would like to have installed on your computer if only you could afford to buy it! Set out below are just a few examples of the many available open source applications to which you can help yourself for absolutely free:

Web browsers which incorporate the latest features to enhance your surfing experience.

Firefox - http://www.mozilla.com/en-US

K-Meleon - http://kmeleon.sourceforge.net

E-mail software complete with spam filters for your protection.

Thunderbird - http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/thunderbird

Security tools including virus and spyware protection.

ClamWin - http://www.clamwin.com

AVG - http://free.avg.com

Photo editing software for editing, enhancing and retouching your digital photos.

GIMP - http://www.gimp.org

paint.NET - http://www.paint.net

Video players for playing all video types.

Miro - http://www.getmiro.com

VideoLAN - http://www.videolan.org

CD and DVD rippers which in addition to ripping CDs and DVDs can also be used for converting between different video formats.

MediaCoder - http://mediacoder.sourceforge.net

HandBrake - http://handbrake.fr

Developer tools for creating web pages with easy to use WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) html editors.

KompoZer - http://kompozer.net

XEmacs - http://www.xemacs.org

FTP software you can use to upload your web pages to the internet.

FTP Surfer - http://www.whispertech.com/surfer

FileZilla - http://sourceforge.net/projects/filezilla

Podcasting software for creating, receiving and managing podcasts.

Juice - http://juicereceiver.sourceforge.net

Podcast Generator - http://podcastgen.sourceforge.net

Accounting software with full functionality to manage either your business accounting or personal finances.

TurboCASH - http://www.turbocashuk.com

GnuCash - http://www.gnucash.org

Archiving utility software enabling you to compress, extract and generally manage files.

PeaZip - http://peazip.sourceforge.net

In the current economic climate many of us are feeling the squeeze and looking for ways to save our hard earned cash. What better reason could there be for giving free software a try?

Several governments around the world, including Canada, are already making use of open source software as are many educational and similar establishments. It is also becoming more widely used within both the commercial world and home environment as businesses and individuals alike wise up to its benefits, particularly the cost savings which can be achieved. Rest assured, open source software is big and more widely used than you probably think!