You Have a Choice

The problem a lot of people have is that they would like to get out from under big software, but can't find any real alternatives. So, to start out, I'll give you some everyday software that can be replaced with open source versions. All these open source alternatives I use personally. Yes, they are common, but I want to build a base to get started. So, without further ado, here are some great alternatives to common software.

Office Suite: Big Name: Microsoft Office. Some good alternatives are OpenOffice.org(For Now) and LibreOffice OpenOffice.org is good for now, but since Oracle has acquired Sun Microsystems (the people behind OpenOffice.org and a few other things) it may get very closed, very quickly. LibreOffice, on the other hand, is based off OpenOffice.org and is being made by a group of former Sun employees who left after Oracle acquired them and is of very good quality.

Media Player: Big Names: Windows Media Player, Apple Quicktime. The best alternative here, if you want to be able to play whatever, is VLC. VLC is an open source multimedia player that can handle just about anything you can throw at it. It doesn't have advanced library functions like Windows Media Player or Itunes, but if you want something that can just play what you want it to play, VLC is it.

Photo Editor: Big Name: Photoshop. The free one I like here is ClamWin(ClamAV for Linux). This one is just a pretty barebones scanner, no live protection at all. If all you need is a reliable scanner/cleaner, then ClamWin is what you want.

Audio Editor: Big Name: Honestly, there really isn't anything big for Windows in this space. (Garageband is big for Mac). Audacity is a good one. It works on all the major platforms (Windows, Linux, Mac), has powerful features, but a dead simple interface anyone can use. If you ever needed to edit some sounds for some reason (or just wanted to make your voice sound funny), Audacity is what you want.

Here are the links to all the open source software mentioned here.

LibreOffice
OpenOffice.org
VLC
The Gimp
ClamWin
Audacity

If there's an important category I missed, or if you prefer something else in one of the above categories, don't hesitate to hit me up, I'd love to hear from you.