I am a big fan of open source software and we have seen an explosion of quality software in this area. I cringe when someone says that they just bought a Norton AntiVirus or any of the other bloatware out there. People simply don't know of these excellent options available for free and we need to get the word out there. What if you have actually convinced someone to try some of these free open-source alternatives. Now, you have to get them to forget the famous names like Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, Microsoft Office, Internet Explorer, etc and remember unearthly names like Gimp, InkScape, OpenOffice, Firefox, etc. Even if you got them to remember a couple, it'll be an up-hill battle. I am sure you have been there atleast once. No, you will not find that excellent browser I told you about if you Googled for Foxfire, it is Firefox. You catch the drift? That's where WinLibre comes in. WinLibre ^[1] is a project where they take some of the gems in the open source software after a rigorous selection and bundle them together as one download. The installer shows the options availabel and you can choose the software you want to install and get the free open source software goodness. This also makes it easy when you are getting your 'Uncle' to try this free alternative instead of shelling out $50 for that off-the shelf spyware detector. If you ask someone about what is a free software, they confuse actual free 7 open source software with freeware. Check this explanation ^[2] from WinLibre if you are not sure of the distinction. I myself might be guilty of it while trying to promote free software for your computer ^[3]. WinLibre is available in 2 modes

1. A complete autonomous setup - 151 MB download
2. A mini setup with online install

WinLibre categorizes free software into 4 categories - Home, Office, Internet & Multimedia. Here are the software I found available in the installation menu: Office

• OpenOffice, PDFCreator

Internet

• Firefox, Thunderbird, Nvu, FileZilla, Gaim

Create

• Audacity, Inkscape, Blender, Gimp

Multimedia

• VLC, Zinf, WinLame, CDex

Tools

• NetTime, TightVNC, 7-Zip, ClamWin, Notepad2

Is this for you? I know this isn't the most comprehensive bundle of the best open source software but it does cover the essential ones. I think this is for you if you are recommending this to someone and setting these up in their computer. This is also for you if you use these applications and often find yourself re-installing your OS. This is for you if you haven't head of these programs but interested in saving some money on software. I have run out of reasons why this is for you but again, you catch the drift? :wink: [via Daniel of gHacks ^[4]]