OStatic

The holidays are approaching, and that's when many people get new computers. Add to that the back-to-school rush, and the popularity of new hardware offerings such as netbooks (low-cost ultraportable systems), and there clearly a lot of people either unboxing new systems now, or about to do so. If you are in posession of a new computer, consider stocking it with a collection of top open source applications. In this post, I'll review and add to some ideas we covered several months ago on ways to do so--in some cases with just one download--for the Mac, Windows or Linux.

In our recent post Why Switch to Linux? we noted that quite a few Linux users cite their reason for switching as it's free. In fact, lack of cost is the reason for many open source deployments, on the individual scale, and in enterprises. While I use a ton of open source software, I still keep my eye on the thriving world of freeware, as well as free services. In this post, I'll round up eight examples of absolutely top-notch freeware and services to complement your open source favorites. Some of these do have tie-ins to open source, too.