There's plenty of software out there that you can use for free. I try and keep what I install on my machines fairly limited. Here are my Top 5 (in no particular order) favourite open source / free software that I use from day to day.

Sometimes you just get fed up with Microsoft Windows. You may feel this way because it isn't behaving the way you want, or  you simply don't want to pay through the nose for an Operating System.

One day I decided that I didn't really need Windows XP on my Dell Laptop, and installed Ubuntu 8.04 Hardy Heron - just to see what it was like and whether it would be compatible enough.

I'd been using Windows for a long time, so this was a bit of a leap, but I listened to by inner Geek and thought, 'yes - I must try this out'.

You may be thinking about having your own website, but don not know whether to write your own sit, or to invest time in setting up some third party software like Joomla or Wordpress. I have had many different sites in the past, from static html content to dynamic data driven site, but in the end had decided that Joomla was the best package for me. Maybe after reading this you'll give Joomla a go (and I'll point you in the right direction in order to try Joomla out, without any need for web hosting or installing anything onto you pc).