Commercial software licenses can be expensive and are often unnecessary for most user. There are many fantastic desktop applications that can assist creativity and aid productivity in e-learning.  Below is a list of just some of the open source or free programs we love at ThirdForce. These applications make great alternatives to commercial programs, offering many of the same features at zero cost.

1. Firefox Web Browser

Firefox is the newest version of our favourite open source web browser, Mozilla Firefox 3, introduces some really innovative new features. Firefox 3′s address bar, now called the Smart Location Bar, helps you get to your frequently visited, or recently discovered sites quickly. The wide range of Firefox Add-On’s make this the most powerful browser for all types of users. The web browser to end all web browsers.

2. iTunes

iTunes 7 is the latest version of the world’s most popular music jukebox and online music and video store from Apple computers. iTunes has the largest available listings of audio and video podcasts covering many areas of education. Apple takes education seriously and has a sizable part of their site dedicated to it. Although much of the content is from Universities like Berkeley and Stanford the quality of content is undeniable.

3. Paint.NET

Paint.NET is a free tool that is a real alternative to Photoshop from Adobe. It can handle almost everything that a typical user would want to do with their images such as red eye reduction, cropping, colour adjustments. The learning curve is very small for anyone who has used any image editing application. The required free .NET framework installation is worth it for multi-image support, layers, and advanced effects. new versions are out all the time and the software automatically updates.

4. Pidgin

Pidgin is an instant messaging program. Instant messaging offers real time communication and allows easy collaboration, which might be considered more akin to genuine conversation, than emails “letter” format. In contrast to e-mail, the parties know whether the peer is available. Most systems allow the user to set an ”online status or away message” so peers are notified when the user is available, busy, or away from the computer. People are not forced to reply immediately to incoming messages. For this reason, some people consider communication via instant messaging to be less intrusive than communication via phone. the beauty of Pidgin is that it allows you to connect to all of your instant messaging friends at once.

5. Open Office

Open Office is an office suite similar to Microsoft office. Open Office.org is a collection of applications with the features similar to Microsoft Office. The Components include Writer, Calc, Base, Impress, Draw, Math, Quickstarter etc. Many users only ever use a tiny amount of the features of their office applications so a free alternative is great route to go, especially when you consider the cost of Microsoft’s offering.

6. FreeMind

FreeMind is a so called “Mind-mapping” tool for creating a graphical map of ideas, linked together like a spider web rather than as a flat list. FreeMind lets you easily create a map with smart drag and drop and copy and paste of linked web addresses and Microsoft Word and Outlook excerpts – useful for keeping a personal knowledge base, mapping out project ideas or as a personal information manager. That old adage “A picture paints a thousand words” isn’t an old adage for nothing.

7. Picasa

Picasa is a free image library tool from Google. Picasa lets you rate and assign tags to your images. This allows for keyword based searching of your images. It also can correct red-eye, resize and apply effects, publish albums to the web, backup to disc. In the age of digital cameras organisation is key, this tools simplifies everything, give Picasa a try and rediscover all the photographs buried on your hard drive.

8. CamStudio

CamStudio can record all screen and audio activity on your computer and create a windows standard AVI video file. It can also create a standard Flash files using it’s built in SWF Producer. This feature whilst it does not harness the very latest video formats can turn those large AVI’s into leaner, bandwidth-friendly Streaming Flash videos (SWFs). This tool does a great job of competing with much more expensive software for recording a learners actions on screen.

9. Audacity

Audacity is free audio for recording and editing sounds. Audacity can be used to record live audio, convert tapes and records into digital recordings or Cd’s, edit Ogg Vorbis, MP3, and WAV sound files. cut, copy, splice, and mix sounds together.

10. Blender

Blender is a software application for creating 3D animations and games. Blender can be used for modelling, UV unwrapping, texturing, rigging, skinning, animating, rendering, particle and creating interactive 3D applications. Blender has robust features similar to programs costings thousands like 3ds Max and Maya. Blender can be used to create stunning visual effects as seen in Hollywood blockbusters. The learning curve is high here but the use of any 3D software willl greatly benefit any learners math and spacial skills.