OStatic

I've written before about PortableApps and MacLibre, which offer free, single downloads that deliver bushels of top-notch open source applications to Windows and Mac users, respectively. With them, you can almost instantly populate a computer or even a USB thumb drive with useful applications ranging from AbiWord (word processor), to Blender (animation and graphics), to GIMP (graphics), to Adium (instant messaging), to Cyberduck (FTP client), to Firefox (browser). As DownloadSquad notes, Windows users have a similar free option in Smart Installer Pack. ?Here's what you get for free with it.

Are you familiar with aria2? It's a flexible open source utility for downloading files that supports numerous protocols, including HTTP(S), FTP, BitTorrent, Metalink and more. It has a number of unique features, including the ability to download files from multiple sources, and you can stop and then resume downloads. We caught up with Tatsuhiro Tsujikawa, administrator and lead developer, and asked him about the application and his thoughts on open source.