I've been doing freelance web & software development for over 6 years. When I first went out on my own I vowed to exclusively use open source software and development tools. There are a few reasons I went the open source route.

• Open source software seems to evolve quickly. If there isn't a software package that meets your needs, chances are that somebody is already working on a solution.
• Open source technology is inexpensive, it's usually free. When you work for yourself, you need to save as much money as you can!
• Consider the alternatives. Micro$oft? I avoid the big "M" like the plague. My least favorite piece of software is MS Word (especially Word on my Mac). IIS also is a big piece of sh*t.

There are loads of software packages I use on a daily basis and love. Here are a few shout-outs to some of the better packages I use.

• Linux OS - I love linux. I've used Redhat, Debian, Cobalt (a highly modified Redhat), and Fedora. My current favorite is Fedora, I run both Fedora core 3 & 4 servers. Core 5 was released not too long ago, I haven't tried it yet, but I'm sure it rocks. http://fedora.redhat.com
• Apache Web Server - the most used web server on the internet. There is a reason why it's so popular, it kicks ass! http://www.apache.org
• PHP Scripting Language - I use both PHP 4 and PHP 5 on my servers. PHP will do anything you want it to. PHP is the best server-side language I have found. In my opinion it is way better than ASP and JSP. http://www.php.net
• Perl - Perl still rules. If you don't know Perl, you don't know sh*t!
• Emacs Editor - I learned how to use Emacs back in 1994. Back then is was awesome on Unix, it is still awesome. http://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/
• Very Secure FTP - VSFTP is the best FTP server I have used. It's a bit misnamed, as it doesn't have SSL support for secure connections (SFTP). The secure description comes from it's simplicity, it's so simple it would almost be impossible to create a security hole. http://vsftpd.beasts.org
• FCKEditor - this is an amazing software package, written almost entirely in JavaScript! FCKEditor is a WYSIWYG text editor for the web. The editor comes with a handy file browser and generates incredibly clean code! I've modified the file browser to work nicely with my home-grown CMS. The only downside is the it does not work with Safari... but they are working on it! http://www.fckeditor.net
• Open WebMail - a full featured web mail software package written entirely in Perl. Current versions of Open Webmail include a built in calendar and web disk for storing files on the server... very handy. http://www.openwebmail.org
• MySQL - the only database to use with PHP, it also plays nicely with Perl. It wicked fast! MySQL version 5 now has stored procedure functionality. No longer do you need to use Oracle or another bloated DB server to get stored procedure functionality. http://www.mysql.com
• phpMyAdmin - a very nice PHP interface of administering your MySQL server. I don't know how I would survive without it! http://www.phpmyadmin.net

I would recommend any of the software packages above. They are all stable, very reliable, and best of all they're FREE! I highly recommend sliding the developers a few $$$ if you use and like the software, software developers need to eat too...

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