Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) is often misunderstood by the majority of computer users. Some call it the, "hackers only club," others just denigrate it because it is free. After all, are not Microsoft Windows and Mac OS-X better than the FOSS Linux? On the other hand, FOSS software has a literaly army of developers working on some of their projects, which allows them to be patched much faster than closed source or proprietary solutions.
>>> The Bad <<<
FOSS software suffers from one very serious problem. The community supporting a piece of software can be fractured and stop updating a piece of software without warrant or notification. The Non-linear Video editing software Cinelerra-CV is the perfect example of this. There is a parent company making Cinelerra, then there is the Community-Version (CV). The community people got upset at the company and created a fork, ceasing their support of the original Open Source Software. You can still download the software, but it is buggy and difficult to use effectively.
Freedom also creates the problem of too many applications in the same arena, with little opportunity to identify which is the best. There are close to 20 different video players in the open source community. Some are great, some are lousy. When you are looking for a FOSS solution to play your DVD, what do you download? How do you know if it is any good? Odds are that you are just guessing if something is worth while. Sure you can visit forums and discuss the software, but you have no way of knowing if the opinions you are hearing are biased. A developer for a different application could tell you that the one you downloaded has never worked correctly, but another application (the one he is developing) is much better. Thus you spend all of your time trying to figure out which solution to use, and get fed up and purchase a propriatery solution.
The final problem of Open Source Software is that most of it is available only for a Linux or BSD system. These are open operating systems that work very well, but few people are willing to learn a new operating system when they are already uncomfortable with their computers.
>>> The Good <<<
FOSS has a solution for you. Many times the solution is better than the paid solution, or it will be soon. Two brilliant examples of this are Blender3D and Audacity.
Blender3D is a 3-d graphics creating and rendering system that can create some absolutely wonderful images and effects. If you think that it cannot possibly be that good, check out the video, "Big Buck Bunny." The Blender project is constantly working on improving their system and is currently working on integrating a non-linear video editing feature to allow people to make videos from their 3-d images. The program also has Python scripting support and a game engine which allows for stellar games to be developed.
Audacity is a multi-track audio editing software that is absolutely excellent. This FOSS solution is designed to allow for anyone to take a few audio tracks and put them together in an interesting or novel way. There is a bit of a learning curve on this software, but many who are unfamiliar with computers find that they can learn the interface in a few hours. Audacity also allows for various filters and samples to be integrated into your projects.
Finally, and I saved the best for last, FOSS solutions are very quickly fixed. A few years ago there was a hack-a-thon. This is a competition where three computers are given a base install of each of the three main operating systems, Windows, Mac and Linux. The Microsoft sytem fell first, within a few seconds of the competition starting. The Mac system fell shortly after that. Finally, the Linux system was compromised. This obviously goes to show that all systems have their flaws. The beauty of the story is that the Linux flaw was fixed by the end of the day, while the Mac and Microsoft solutions required months of waiting.
>>> Conclusion <<<
While Free and Open Source Software is readily available for many different operating systems, you will find that some learning is required for each of these applications. The documentation is frequently good, but it will require some reading on your part. If you are still curious about FOSS, and want to learn more, look for some Open Source Podcasts. I recommend Lotta Linux Links and The Linux Link Tech Show.