Open Source Software
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There are pro's and con's for both proprietary and open source software. It is a question of the right tool for the job. Open source is not necessarily free! I see great opportunities for leveling the playing fields in the South African IT industry, and believe that open source will enable small IT companies in South Africa to provide win-win solutions. Below are some of the key links I track regarding open source software. Note I have also included some Freeware software (free to use but source code not distributed so it is free to use but not free to change).

Open Office - Free Office Automisation Application Suite (Wordprocessor, etc)

Firefox Browser - free replacement browser for MS Explorer. Very quick and very customizable. More compatible than Opera and some other browsers, at reading "difficult" pages. Three very useful extensions that I use with it are the Google search toolbar, AdBlock and the Tab Extensions  

ajaxWrite - The look, feel, and functionality of Microsoft Word, in a completely free web-based AJAX platform.

7-Zip - Free ZIP Archiver

Webmon - Freeware webpage bookmark monitor. Not as slick as Check&Get but works with Explorer and Netscape

SourceForge.Net - Massive repository of open source projects

PopFile Anti-Spam - Free anti-spam software. I have not used it but it is rated as effective and learns from how you use it 

WineHQ - allows you to run MS Windows programs under Linux. The Codeweaver commercial version is easier to install and configure though 

Cross Referenced table of Linux software available that replaces various well known Windows software 

Why Open Source - This paper provides quantitative data that, in many cases, open source software / free software is equal to or superior to their proprietary competition. The paper examines market share, reliability, performance, scalability, scaleability, security, and total cost of ownership; it also comments on non-quantitative issues and unnecessary fears.

South African Linux news feed using RSS provided by Tectonic 

Translate.Org.Za - Translation project in South Africa

South African Government OSS Site