Ok, so you went out and bought a big, fancy computer with all the fixins. You've got memory, DVD burners, wireless adapters, and enough hard drive space to trump the library of Congress, but is that all you need? As most people inevitably realize...NO WAY! Your cool, new system may be able to fly you to the moon, but you're not going anywhere until you furnish that thing with the right software.

Software packages come in all flavors, and they truly run the gamut on price. If you don't have the right connection (and who among us does?) you'll be stunned to find that some of the most popular products come at a pretty penny. Microsoft Office for example, the world's leading office and productivity software suite, ranges in price from $350 - $500. Word processing never seemed so painful! How about some of the photo hobbyists out there; ever heard of Adobe Photoshop? Of course you have. You can't open a Photography magazine without someone mentioning a Photoshop trick or two. A fun program indeed, but it costs about $600.

Matters worsen if you're an aspiring business looking to build an office system. Even the simplest of office server software by Microsoft starts somewhere between $500 - $1000, with higher-end servers costing well into the teens. Databases alone can coast anywhere from $10,000 - $250,000, depending on the product. It's enough to make you clinically depressed!

So what can we do to avoid high priced software? Plenty! In an age of burgeoning price wars and techie revelry, just about every major product has an [almost] equal-and-opposite counterpart that costs little or no money. They don't get the marketing hype their goliath competitors enjoy, but in most cases they are both alike in features and compatible with one another. If knowledge is power, consider this to be below your hemi-powered, super-charged engine to cheap computer success. Check out the following links:

OpenOffice - a full featured replacement for Microsoft Office. Fully compatible. Version 2.0 contains Word Processor, Database, Spreadsheet, the works!

GIMP Photo Productivity Suite - Photo editing suite replacement for Adobe Photoshop

Firefox Web Browser - Web browser replacement for Microsoft Internet Explorer. Safe, secure, and fast!

Thunderbird Mail Manager - Email management suite that replaced Microsoft Outlook.