Using open source doesn’t mean that you have to run Linux. Its just that Linux has sort of become the flagship of the Open Source Software (OSS) and whenever a person talks about OSS the general perception is that you need linux to enjoy/use OSS. But thankfully this is not true. Even on my Windows system most of the applications I use are open source. e.g. OpenOffice for word processing, Firefox for browsing, GIMP for image manipulation etc.
Now a major problem which newcomers have is that its difficult to figure out what Open Source alternatives are available for a given popular commercial software. The Open Source Alternative website attempts to solve this issue by giving a listing of the various OSS alternatives available for a given proprietary program.
Check it out, you might find some software that replaces the current program you use thus saving you a lot of money.
– Suramya