Open Source Software for Netbooks

Open source software is a veritable necessity for most netbook users because of the minimal hard drive space and hardware restrictions most netbooks have to work within. Being able to do everything online (storage included) is what makes netbook usage possible for anyone who wants to go beyond simple searching and real-time communications usage. Open source means that netbook users don’t need to purchase expensive software packages that are a hassle to upload anyway, open source resolved all of those issues and for the most part, the privilege was/is free.

Open source alternatives already exist for most commonly used applications, for example iTunes, photo manipulation software, AutoCad, Office and a raft of other programs which are offered without licence. Open source is becoming so popular that even the big IT players like Microsoft are softening up on their proprietary stance and allowing some programs such as Outlook, into the open source realm. That bodes well for netbook users who can probably expect increasing access to programs and again, for free. Free is good as far as most of us are concerned. Estimates of how much open source software has saved consumers run into the multiple millions.

There don’t seem to be any down sides to open source applications. The worst a few IT pundits have been able to come up with is that if the source application isn’t strongly supported by a development community, it can contain quite a few annoying niggles. So the worst case scenario is that you revert to proprietary software – nothing lost. The world of open source is vast and collaborative; wiki’s, shared development and social networking all help form this international community collective that is not just a resource for developers. Users, particularly netbook users, have a lot to gain from this community.