open source software

PortableApps.com Suite – Your Digital Life, Anywhere

One of the difficulties of traveling, especially if you don't have your laptop with you, is leaving behind your bookmarks and email settings. Security can also be an issue; perhaps the browser you're using on that internet cafe computer has been infected with a virus or a keylogger. Fortunately, there is now a portable alternative that fits into even the tiniest USB flash drive. PortableApps.com provides a completely free, portable, and open source solution for the person on the go: The PortableApps.com Suite.

OpenOffice

OpenOffice is one of the best reviewed and oldest in the family of productivity software suites. It takes care of all the typical office needs: word processing, spreadsheets, presentations, graphics, databases and more. The software is available for all possible operating systems and in many languages. It can open & save your files to an international open standard format and to many additional formats common to other office software packages as well. The best thing about it - it can be downloaded and used for any purpose completely free!

Gimp

GIMP means GNU Image Manipulation Program. It was first released in 1996 by two students from Berkeley University and it has been getting better and more widely used ever since. It offers all the basic and many of the advanced features of applications like Adobe Photoshop: layers, channels, paths, different painting tools, etc. Download the free application from www.gimp.org.