Software is an essential part of any computer system but unfortunately it can be quite expensive to buy. There are however some free alternatives to many commercial packages which offer similar features and in many cases are compatible with their commercial equivalents.
Listed below are some examples of free software.
Please feel free to explore the links but please remember that we have no control over the content of external sites.
Please note that we do not endorse or recommend any of the software listed here.
GIMP is the GNU Image Manipulation Program. It is a freely distributed piece of software for such tasks as photo retouching, image composition and image authoring.
OpenOffice
A full office package with spreadsheet, word processor, presentation tool, database and more applications, OpenOffice is very similar to Microsoft® Office and will even open and save Microsoft Office documents.
http://www.openoffice.org/
AbiWord
AbiWord is a free word processing program similar to Microsoft® Word. It is suitable for a wide variety of word processing tasks.
http://www.abisource.com/
Free Serif Software
Serif provide a range of free software for a variety of applications including: desktop publishing, graphic design, image and photo editing, 3D animation & web publishing
http://www.freeserifsoftware.com/
Audacity
A complete audio recording, editing and manipulation package.
http://audacity.sourceforge.net
Music Studio Producer 1.22
A free MIDI sequencer supporting DAW which can host VST(i) and ASIO. MIDI allows you to connect compatible instruments (such as keyboards, electric pianos or electronic drum kits) to computers to facilitate multi-track recording and sequencing.
http://www.frieve.com/english/musicstd/download.html
Crocodile Clips
Crocodile Clips Elementary is based on the mathematically accurate simulation engine from Crocodile Physics and Crocodile Technology and allows you to build and simulate simple electronic circuits from the library of built in components.
http://www.crocodile-clips.com/s3_4.htm
Inkscape - vector drawing software
Inkscape is an Open Source vector graphics editor, with capabilities similar to Illustrator, Freehand, CorelDraw, or Xara X using the W3C standard Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) file format.
http://www.inkscape.org/
Artrage
ArtRage is a painting package designed to provide a realistic and fun simulation of using paint on a canvas, along with pens, pencils, crayons, and other tools. ArtRage is available for both Windows and Mac OS X.
http://www.ambientdesign.com/artrage.html
AVG antivirus software
Excellent anti-virus software. Free for non-commercial use and with free updates too !
http://free.grisoft.com
Firefox - web browser
The award-winning alternative to Microsofts Internet Explorer. Browse the Web with confidence - Firefox protects you from viruses, spyware and pop-ups. Enjoy improvements to performance, ease of use and privacy. It's easy to import your favorites and settings and get started.
http://www.mozilla.com/firefox/
Thunderbird - email client
Brought to you by the makers of Firefox, Thunderbird can replace outlook express to provide safe, fast, and easy email, with intelligent spam filters, quick message search, and customizable views.
http://www.mozilla.com/thunderbird/