Open Source software seems to be all the rage, and for a very good reason. For the most part, its free.Of course anyone is going to question that. Nothing worth having is free.

WRONG!! In this case alone, the old adage, “nothing in life is free”, just might be in error.

One thing that its important to remember is that many of the free versions of software are just as good, although perhaps more limited than those which you are paying a premium price for.
This is particularly true of what is known as “Open Source” software, which is not a hit with the more proprietary software companies in that people write the software and permit others to edit it, leaving the source code open so that it becomes better and better, but remains free.
You can see where a free software, that is superior to some of the for pay software might create a few hard feelings. Companies charging you five times what their software is actually worth, aren’t going to look too kindly on the open source groups, who give it away, or sell it reasonably and give you the code to go with it.

While not all of it is perfect, for the most part, open source software is written by those who want to promote the fact that everyone should be able to have free software or software they can afford.
Sun Microsystems, inventors of some of the best hardware and software in the world today, and one of the largest computer companies in the world, offer Open Officewhich does as much and in some cases more than Microsoft Office, is FREE, completely free and is downloadable on the Sun site. Open Office is completely compatible with MS Office, and will open all MS Office files. The up side is that its not going to cost you a dime for this great software.

One site where you will find software in development as well as completed, and usually free, is the Source Forge Site.

Source Forge features many hundreds of groups developing software that runs the gamut from doing genealogy tasks, to graphics for kids or adults to filing your recipes.
Some of the programs existing there have been around for years, and are superior to many on the market.
One such program, the GIMP, an image editing software, is quite comparable to Corel or Adobe, is free, can be used on either windows or Linux based computers and does anything in the world.that you need done with graphics.
Just as we can’t assume that a kid, or an older person isn’t handy with a computer, we also can’t assume that free things on the net, are worth less than those we pay for. Its not always true.
Check them out, ask around and look at their software site, and you might find you like it much better than the one you’re currently paying for.

You will not only save money, but you will encourage development of non proprietary software..
Happy Computing.!!