Have you ever wanted to perform a specific task on your computer, but found that the cost of most of the professional software out there was your biggest roadblock?  If so, the Open Source community can probably provide you with a very cost effective solution.

The Open Source community consists of software developers who work together to provide a wide variety free software applications.  Some of the open source software you come across might seem buggy and amateurish, but a lot of open source software is well written and of professional quality.  The quality will vary depending on the project’s popularity.  Popular projects such as Linux and OpenOffice get a lot of attention; therefore also get a lot of development time.  Current versions of Linux (Operating System) and OpenOffice (Productivity Suite) rival the quality of Microsoft Windows and Microsoft Office.

By definition, Open Source Software is free.  So if you need software to fulfill a need, try searching on your topic and including “open source” in the search string.  For example, if I am looking for Graphic Editing Software on Google, I will get links to several programs from Adobe and Corel*.  However, if I alter my Google search for Graphic Editing Open Source Software, the first result if GIMP, an open source graphic editing package.

* Search Engine Results are likely to change by the team you read this post, but you should get the general idea.