One of the biggest advantages for which consumers now go after the screamingly expensive branded computers is the ability to install many free software programs that utilize a open software license (such as the GNU General Public License, Apache License, MIT License, etc). For example, software like PDF Creator, File Archiver, Sound Editor, Word Processor, Image Editor and Media Player can be downloaded for free and what’s more is that these open source software programs often exceed all quality expectations made by the user.

Purpose Of This Article

The purpose of this article is to familiarize the reader with some popular open source software programs that are

  • 100% free

  • Unmatched in quality as compared to their commercial counterparts

  • Invaluable and absolutely essential

From the list of open source software programs provided below, you will be able to pick one or more that are proven indispensable to you.

Top Open Source Software That You Should Have On Your Computer

So let’s get started and explore the top 5 open source software that have caused a stir.

  1. Mozilla Firefox

Although web browsers like Internet Explorer and Google have a fair share in the market, they are not as safe as Mozilla Firefox is, which makes this web browser one of the top most preferred open source software programs. Currently it accounts for almost 25% of usage amongst web browsers but the count is continuously on the rise. Professionals and those involved with security agencies prefer Mozilla Firefox as their first choice because of its reliability and its safety features when it comes to saving web pages while being online or offline.

There certainly are other features that have made Mozilla Firefox achieve the top ranking. For example, the safe mode feature which allows you to either enable or disable add-ons, reset the bookmarks and/or reset the configuration.

  1. WordPress

The space age has shrunken the world into a blogosphere. Everyone loves to blog; whether it is creating a blog or contributing to it. When it comes to this form of content development, it is unlikely that anyone would want to look beyond WordPress. As it is, over 202 million websites use WordPress as their blogging platform. The greatest feature of WordPress is that it is supported by a good range of plugins that can be used to transform a simple blog into an attractive web page.

In fact, now WordPress is not only used as a blogging platform, it can also be used to produce online shops, online magazines, online web page and online portfolios and galleries using the various built-in themes such as the WordPress e-commerce theme, magazine theme, portfolio or gallery theme.

  1. PDF Creator

Portable Document Format, commonly known as PDF, is a commonly known and shared format of document all over the world. This form of document is especially popular amongst businessmen possibly because they are versatile in their format and can be easily shared where large networks are concerned.

Most users are more familiar with Adobe Acrobat in conjunction with viewing and editing PDF documents. Now creating PDF documents is also as easy 1, 2, 3 with the PDF Creator software. Once it is installed onto the computer, the user can use this application as their printer and easily convert almost any file into a PDF file.

  1. Calibre

For the all e-bookworms, there is something far more essential and necessary than PDF creators and blogging platforms – it’s called the Calibre. Calibre is an online organizer of e-books. Now with this handy software up for grabs from amongst the plentiful open source softwares, you don’t need to worry about piling your collection of e-books like a bunch of documents. Use Calibre to organize your favorite volumes in style. And storing it beautifully is not the only advantage that you gain out of this software – you can manage it, tag it, comment on it and the best part is that you can download any content you like from the internet and then have it converted in to an e-book with this software.

  1. Free-mind

For people who are addicted to organizing their lives and even their thoughts, Free-mind is the answer to their prayers. It is one of the best mind-mapping tool that allows you to jot down your thoughts using different colors, icons or shapes. Additionally, users can even hyperlink documents to their mind-map.