Open Source software isn't just for Linux. Many excellent applications are available for Windows and Mac OS X as well.

While switching completely from Windows to Linux is recommended and usually feasible, you can try some great applications you'll find on Linux before the switch.

To find out more about free Open Source software for Windows, here are some recommended options.

The Open CD

The Open CD is a free CD that contains many open source Windows programs. Through their website, you can learn more, download some applications immediately, or purchasing a convenient CD for just a couple of bucks. The CD is a joy to browse through, with easy to read descriptions and screenshots. To make it ultimately cool, it also doubles as a Ubuntu LiveCD, allowing you directly and easily a complete Linux desktop without altering your Windows installation at all.

OpenOffice and Firefox are highly recommended!

Ubuntu LiveCD

A little more adventurous option is have a free Ubuntu LiveCD shipped to you (Two CDs mailed to you completely free!). One of the CDs will contain
several open source applications for Windows including:

• OpenOffice -- a complete office suite, like Microsoft Office
• Firefox -- an easy-to-use browser with less spyware problems.
• Thunderbird -- a great e-mail program
• PDF Creator -- a free PDF generation utility
• Abiword -- a lightweight word processor
• The Gimp -- a powerful image editor, like Photoshop
• Audacity -- a sound editor

Using these disks, you can also demo a complete Linux desktop using the included LiveCD, or install Ubuntu
using the Install CD.