Free Software Download Websites

Overview

You can likely find a free and legal equivalent for basic productivity software that would otherwise cost hundreds or thousands of dollars. These programs are great solutions for both home and business users who are looking to cut costs.

It's undeniable that you won't find everything for free. If you need something super sophisticated or technical, then you should probably make the investment. In any case, you should be an educated consumer by:

1) Figuring out what you need to do.

2) Determining how to achieve results in the most financially conservative and efficient way.

These two steps can help you save money while achieving exactly what you want. If you think of free software in these terms, you will not be disappointed.

Free software can be classified into three categories:

• Open source software is available for use, modification, and distribution free of charge. These kinds of programs are actually released by developers under an "Open Source user license," which means that it is actually illegal to charge fees for the program itself. You may need to pay a technical support fee, or you may need to pay for software packaging, but you will never pay for the actual program. You may need to search a bit, but you can easily find access to these programs online. You can find word processors, graphics editors, Geographic Information Systems clients, instant messaging programs, spreadsheet editors, presentation editors, desktop publishing programs, and more. Open source software is generally high quality, since programmers take extensive time to develop programs. Your software may not come with a tech support telephone line, but you can probably find assistance on an internet forum or through a discussion group. These programs are available to Linux, Windows, and Mac OS users. The GNU Image Manipulation Program (GIMP) is a popular image editor, Scribus is an open source desktop publishing program, and Open Office provides a free productivity suite for word processing, e-mail, and data analysis. There are even open source programs available for specialized tasks, like Quantum GIS, which performs Geographic Information Systems analyses.
• Like open source software, freeware is available for free use and distribution. You can choose to make a donation, but the software will function properly no matter what. Unlike open source software, you may only be able to use freeware for non-commercial, personal and educational purposes. If you want to use freeware for your business, make sure that you read the fine print to make sure that you use your software legally. Freeware programs include AVG, which is an antivirus program and WavePad, which is a sound editor. You can even find free web design software
• Shareware is the third category for free software. You can think of shareware as a free trial. You may be able to use only certain features. For example, if you download a shareware graphics editing program, you may not be able to save your work. For example, WinZip, a file extracting program, is shareware. You will need to purchase the full version software for complete functionality.

Resources

Check out these resources on free software downloads:

• Cnet sponsors a free software downloads website. You can read reviews, download programs, and search for exactly what you need.
• Sourceforge is a directory of free software download sites for open source programs. Browse through this site, and you'll be amazed by how much you can find.
• ZDNet features reviews and downloads for shareware and freeware.