Best Freeware

OpenOffice.org is NOT going to charge. Oracle has released it to the Apache Foundation. It is, and shall remain, free of charge. There is also a fork known as LibreOffice that is also free. Both variants are excellent.

 

Best Freeware is also "OS-ware"

I was following this whole thread with interest. I was surprised that - unless I missed it - no one mentioned the simple answer of just switching over to Linux. This would mean not just free software but an entire free Operating system. Twenty years ago (thereabouts) Linux had the deserved reputation of being mainly for geeks. But it has long since been just as GUI-friendly as Macs or Windows. And - unlike those two - Linux is free to use. Also - in contrast to those two - it is almost entirely free of viruses.

I've been a Mac afficionado from the early 90's. And I have had to, for work reasons, be well-versed in Windows. I can reasonably say that there is no task that I used to do before that I cannot now do in Linux (Currently using Linux Mint and Knoppix).

But - in order to explicitly follow the OP of this thread - here are just a few of my favorite "freewares":
Gimp: I use this whenever I prepare pictures for uploading to Flickr. It does all the things I used to do with Photoshop (although it did have a steep learning curve).
Abiword: A word processor similar to LibreOffice (formerly OpenOffice). Abiword is not as (IMO) bloated with rarely-used features as Libre is.
Ice Weasel is an almost virtually identical Web browser to Firefox. The same basic code, the former being strictly non-proprietary.
Geany is an excellent Python IDE.

My two cents.

 

Just ran across Mythruna, a Minecraft wannabe. In my mind it will be better if the man finishes it. He hasn't worked on it in couple of years, it is not out for testing even.

From what I've seen of minecraft this is an easier game to manipulate and build with. You don't have to search for resources etc. Just build to your hearts content.

There are a few buildings thrown in but it is basically a world for your complete enjoyment.

www.mythruna.com

 

I am as NON-geek as they come (most computer talk is geek to me). When XP 'expired' I switched to Linux Mint. Love it. All my hardware worked, no problems. They have a forum for questions and help if needed. Downloads here:

http://www.linuxmint.com/download_all.php

The latest version is 17 but I am staying with 13 for probably a year yet till the 17, which is new, has the bugs out. And I chose the Cinnamon desktop (vs. KDE) which seemed to be recommended for beginners. Maybe someone can better explain the difference.

 

For the one that wants to mess around with android on their pc try Andy. It runs quite well from what I've seen so far. I tried bluestacks but this seems better from the FREE offerings.

http://www.andyroid.net/

 

If you're looking for something similar to Photoshop, try:

GIMP:

GIMP is a cross-platform image editor available for GNU/Linux, OS X, Windows and more operating systems. It is free software, you can change its source code and distribute your changes.
Whether you are a graphic designer, photographer, illustrator, or scientist, GIMP provides you with sophisticated tools to get your job done. You can further enhance your productivity with GIMP thanks to many customization options and 3rd party plugins.