It's easy for people who are skeptical of open source software to come up with a dozen reasons -- some perfectly valid -- to not give it a chance. Chief among them are uncertainty about which applications to try and an unwillingness to alter their computers in any way. Click2Try is a great way to try open source software in a virtual environment without the hassle of downloads and installation.
Launched earlier this year, Click2Try offers an assortment of open source apps and entire Linux distributions on a private virtual machine for a single session, no registration required. To save sessions and return later, you'll need to become a registered user and provide an email address.
There are several categories of software to choose from, including education, sysadmin, and productivity apps. There are also three Linux operating systems available: Ubuntu, openSUSE, and CentOS. Unfortunately, they all use the GNOME desktop so if you want to give KDE a whirl, you're out of luck. Starting an app in a virtual environment is a simple two-click affair that has you up and running in no time.?
