Considering the pricey nature of computer hardware, you’ll be inclined to want to avoid putting too much money into a new laptop right away. After all, you’ve already spent several hundred dollars on average purchasing the equipment; how much disposable income do you have? Unfortunately, if you’re used to working with proprietary software such as Microsoft Office or Adobe Photoshop, the licenses for those toolkits can run you another few hundred dollars in themselves. There’s an easy solution, though. Free, open-source software can provide all the functionality of an expensive paid competitor without your paying a penny. Let’s look at the various pieces of expensive proprietary software that you’re most likely to use, and the open-source alternatives that can fully replace them.
