"Their first question is indubitably: "Why would highly skilled people give away the fruit of their difficult labor?" Followed by, "If it's free, can it be any good?""

AbiWord, my long-time favorite open source word processor, is out with a new version 2.6, including many useful new features. If you haven't used this application before, give it a try, and if you already do, the upgrade is worthwhile. You can browse through the release notes to see how many new additions there are.

A word processor, as you may all know, is a computer application that is used for the production (including composition, editing, formatting, and possibly printing) of any sort 0f printable material. It is considered as one of the earliest applications for the personal computer in office productivity. To those who are looking for some quality word processors but don't want to spend for even a dime, try some of these...

Microsoft is claiming that releasing the .NET Framework reference source code under the Microsoft Reference License will give developers the opportunity to understand more about .NET.

It's a radical departure, this news from Microsoft (MSFT) that openness between its products and the rest of the universe is more than a hollow platitude. To take Microsoft at its Word, given this release, is to open an era of an entirely new Microsoft. But is it?

It's almost shameful how paltry Novell's understanding of open source is. I don't say this to denigrate anyone personally, but when I read things like this from Groklaw I just can't understand how Novell manages to say "open source" with a straight face.

Most trends in the open source market come down to one word. Scaling. To stay worthwhile a project must grow. It must attract new developers, new community members, and new money. It must scale in complexity and functionality.

Having many more eyes watching the code and a community of developers backing up users, open source security applications provide a wide range of options and made-to-order uses. Here's a list of 10 serious open source security applications, gathered via the word-of-mouth of the CSOs who use them.

Change. That's the word on the tips of everyone's tongues this year. One change everyone should consider is making the switch from expensive, proprietary software to open source.