Free Software 
Links
FSF (Free Software Foundation)
League for Programming Freedom
FSF recommended complete systems
Linux runs the fastest computers.
Adobe AIR applications for Linux
You would think that if something is free, that demand for it would be high to unlimited. In the most commonly used areas free software is better, for multi-media work proprietary problems slow development, but applications are getting better all the time.
How would you feel if you bought a car, but were prohibited from working on it ?
How often do you have to agree to End User License Agreements (EULAs) that you may need a lawyer to fully interpret, that you barely have time to read because you have your own work to do, and you cannot proceed without agreeing. Feels like extortion doesn't it ? This does not happen with free software. You are not interrupted to determine if your software is legal or paid up. You do get polite notifications when upgrades are available.
Formats are open and standard. Older versions of documents stored as Microsoft word files are no longer supported and you may no longer be able to read them. Since the format is encumbered by patents, you are pretty much bound to the whim of the MS developments. MP3 files, JPEGs, and many other formats are also proprietary and subject to change at the whim of the vendor. Public domain, standard formats are important.
Free software has transparency that allows it to be fully audited. Because anyone can access, examine, explore and modify the source code, This should be a requirement for at least some applications...like voting machines. Manufacturers of voting machines are all right-wing partisans, and they insist that the software on their machines is a proprietary, trade secret. You can't see it and it is not auditable as a result. Yes, they can steal elections. As voters we need to insist on open source.
Performance is better. Aside from the fact that it is cost free, it is faster, and it will not bug you with EULAs and subscription fees.
Free software is more secure.
Free software is more extensible. It is possible to build on software that is already written. Because it is Open, it can be peer reviewed, modified, and used for still further development.
Free software is auditable. Hidden traps can be exposed as long as the code is completely open.
Free software has been getting easier to use and there are now distributions friendly enough for most consumers. (I just installed Ubuntu 8.10 with almost no effort.)
Since everyone is facing massive budget cuts: consumers, schools, all levels of government, we can get better results for far less money by going to free software.
The GNU Project defends software freedom: the user's freedom to run it for any purpose, share it with neighbors, improve it for your own purposes, modify it and redistribute your modifications for the benefit of the whole community.
Richard Stallman defines free software in this video.
Eban Moglan: How I discovered Free Software and Met RMS
Commercial software appears to the consumer as a black box. You do not know what is inside it. Eban Moglan spoke to the Free Software Foundation:
"This is really about who is going to have the keys to the home next decade. ...At what point do you want to admit onto your network ... computers which run software you can't see, can't understand, can't control and which reports to other people what is going on your network without your ability to interrupt or do anything? What point do you want to bring a box like that home and put it down on the desk that your child needs to do his homework? ...Those boxes, general purpose computers, running software you can't see, can't control, ...are called intruders. Do you want to have an intruder in every room of your house in ten years or don't you... ?"
Standards
Standardized formats that are open are necessary for long-term accessibility. Government (and everybody else) should insist on open formats for their long-term IT documents.
Massachusetts favors Open Source software
Join the FSF Campaign for OpenDocument
Licenses
See videos
Applications
Once you begin exploring the thousands of applications that are now available, you begin to wonder why you ever actually paid for software. Some of the best include:
Graphics: Gimp, Inkscape, KPaint, Karbon14, blender,
Email: Evolution, Kmail, Kontact, postfix
Office Applications: Open Office,
Web Browser: Firefox, Konqueror, Mozilla, Galeon, Iceweazel.
Web Editor: Apache, Bluefish, Composer, Quanta Plus, Screen
News Reader: Pan
Media Player: Amarok, Kino, MPlayer, Totem, Xine, XMMS, Audacity, gnash
Music: LilyPond, Synthesizers, Midi sequencers (see Rosegarden), Nyquist
Project Planner: MrProject
Content Management: Zope, Drupal, MediaWiki
Blogging: Laconi.ca
Telephone: Asterisk or BLASTERISK
Databases: MySQL, PostgreSQL
Programming Tools: Python, Lisp, ADA, Fortran, Assembler, C, C++, Haskell, PHP, Perl, GLADE, wx, and other support tools:
Games: a wide variety and also machine emulators that allow you to continue to run the old Atari and Commodore software.
For others see http://directory.fsf.org/
Distributions
There is a proliferation of distributions, and that is partly because there are different concerns addressed by each of them. Some are for old machines, others for small ones, some for freedom from proprietary ties, many have proprietary hooks, and so on.
Many you can try without even installing by booting from a live cd.
Download a free, live CD from these websites. Burn the CD as an iso, then run it directly from your CDROM drive without even installing. Running from the CD will be somewhat slow, but actual installation will improve performance considerably. If you have a slow internet connection, it could be easier to buy cds from a good vendor: for example, LinuxCollections or frozentech sells them for a nominal fee.
Pick one, and do not attempt to mix any components from others unless you know exactly what you are doing.
Ubuntu may be the best distribution for the new multi-media user. See videos.
Knoppix may be the easiest live CD to boot. It has very good hardware detection and it can be an excellent diagnostic tool.
Debian is the parent of the best distributions. Choose the stable version if you are not adventurous.
Mepis
DSL: Damn Small Linux can bring an older machine back.
Puppy Linux
64Studio: optimized for audio, but a branch of Debian. There is a 32 bit version that can run on many late-model PCs. Hardware detection (December 2008) is lacking.
The distributions that are most free are:
All of the above distributions have some compromises in their use of non-free software. The most freedom is from Distributions recommended by the FSF
Free, in this case, means no proprietary software components. If you choose one of these distributions, some functionality may not be available (including newer media since many include DRM.)
GNULinux, click here.
Hardware Support
Los Alamos Computers works with the FSF to offer systems preinstalled with a free operating system.
Where to get help
Open source documentation is now excellent thanks to publishers like Oreilly and others.
As always, support is available for a fee.
Links
Magazines
Linux Journal (great magazine.)
Bibliography
Math You Can't Use, Ben Klemens
For more information see here.