OpenDisc offers for free a wonderful collection of just about every application software product you need to run a PC, including the latest version of OpenOffice. Many of these freebies substitute admirably for expensive commercial products. There is Abi Word as an alternative for MS Word, OpenOffice for MS Office XP, Thunderbird for Outlook, The Gimp for Adobe Photoshop, 7-zip for WinZip and many many more.
This is an extraordinary collection of software. Do note, though, that the full ISO download is 555MB.
(If you have a slow connection you can purchase the CD for a as little as $1.99).
The folks at Ubuntu Linux are giving away free CDs containing most of the programs on the Open CD together with the latest version of Ubuntu.
They will send you the full Ubuntu installation CDs plus a live CD where you can run Ubuntu directly from the CD. You can order as many CDs as you want and you don't even have to pay the mailing costs! When you get your CDs, read this this simple introduction to Linux before starting:
http://www.paulstamatiou.com/2005/10/24/how-to-ubuntu-linux-for-novices/
Lupo PenSuite is a completely free suite of portable programs and games (no need to be installed).
Optimized to be loaded on a pendrive, this suite works perfectly well on any hard disk. It includes over a hundred programs and lots of games, classified into several categories, such as Internet (Firefox, Thunderbird, Skype, uTorrent, Filezilla...), Multimedia (VideoLAN, XMplay, Audacity, mp3DirectCut, DeepBurner...), Graphics (IrfanView, PhotoFiltre, The Gimp, FastStone Capture...), Security (CCleaner, TrueCrypt, Keepass, CyberShredder...), System (SIW, DTaskManager...) or Office (AbiWord, Notepad++, Foxit Reader, EssentialPIM, etc.
Many users prefer the free "Open Office", rather than the expensive Microsoft "Office".
Product Details
OpenDisc
Website: http://theopendisc.com/programs/
Download link:http://theopendisc.com/programs/
Author: OpenDisc
Version: 7.1
Date: 09/27/2007
Download file size: 555MB (iso)
License: Free
Operating systems supported: Windows Linux Solaris Mac
64 Bit version available: No, but many of these 32 bit programs will run in a 64 bit environment
Portable version available: Unknown
Other languages supported: None
Additional software required: No
Lupo PenSuite
Website: http://lupo-pensuite.en.softonic.com/
Download link: http://lupo-pensuite.en.softonic.com/
Author: Softonic
Version: 6.53
Date: 03/26/2008
Download file size: 148.3MB
License: Freeware
Operating systems supported: Windows 98/Me/2000/XP
64 Bit version available: Some of these programs will not run in a 64 bit environment
Portable version available: Yes
Other languages supported: No
Additional software required: No
Open Office
Website: http://www.openoffice.org/
Download link:http://www.openoffice.org/
Author: OpenOffice
Version: 2.40
Date: Unknown
Download file size: 127MB
License: Free
Operating systems supported: Windows Linux Solaris Mac
64 Bit version available: No, but this 32 bit program will run in a 64 bit environment
Portable version available: Unknown
Other languages supported: Many - see here:
http://download.openoffice.org/other.html#en-US
Additional software required: No
Other relevant information: Available on 3-cds (includes clipart & full documentation) for a small shipping charge. See here:
http://distribution.openoffice.org/cdrom/index.html#cdrom