What follows is a list of thirty pieces of software that are the cream of the crop of open source software for Windows. Not only is every piece of it free, almost all of them directly replace expensive software packages, or come darn close! The Simple Dollar writes a great review and points you in the right direction for 30 great programs to explore, if you do not know them already.

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Why Free or Open Source?

Well there are a lot of people out there that subscribe to the standards of the open source community. There are actually governing bodies and license agreements, etc. for the open source community. These guys and gals are not just spitting out software left and right. The best part is the source code is open, so others can work on it to add functionality, features and fix bugs. Then the community reviews it and these get added in to future releases. It is really cool when you think of it.

Really Free?

Yes, it is really free. Now, often times there are paid versions, that have more features, but often the free gets the job done. Also, the paid is always way cheaper than the multi-national softw3are giant wants to charge for theirs. We do caution you to make sure such programs are compliant with your corporate security policy. Also, do some research prior to just loading anything you happen across. Read the EULA (End User License Agreement) and make sure it is really not spyware you are getting involved with.

New is fun

New software and exploration of the open source community can be fun and really expand your mind. Believe it or not there is a lot more to the internet than TMZ.com!