OpenOffice.org is the Open Source answer to MS Office. It is a very powerful office suite including a word processor (Write), a spreadsheet and database manager (Calc), a presentation manager (Impress), and a drawing program (Draw). Users familiar with the MS Office family of applications find a very similar application interface and all the functionality to which they are accustomed. Because OpenOffice.org is capable of importing data from MS Office applications, the transition from one office suite to the other is very smooth. A Windows version of OpenOffice.org even exists, enabling Windows users to switch to an Open Source alternative while still using Windows. Find more information about OpenOffice.org at http://www.openoffice.org/ and read Chapter 6, The OpenOffice.org Office Suite for an introduction to OpenOffice.org and a short guide to migrating your data from one office suite to the other.

StarOffice is a proprietary version of OpenOffice.org and is distributed by Sun Microsystems. It is available on multiple platforms including Windows and Solaris. It includes certain advanced features not available with the free version (OpenOffice.org). Find more information about StarOffice at http://www.sun.com/software/star/staroffice/.

Gnuplot is a very powerful and portable command-line controlled data plotting software. It is also available for MacOS and Windows platforms. Plots created by Gnuplot can be exported to various formats, such as PostScript, PDF, SVG, and others, allowing you to process these plots easily. Find more information about Gnuplot at http://www.gnuplot.info/index.html.

Rekall is a tool to manipulate databases. Supported databases include MySQL, PostgreSQL, XBase with XBSQL, IBM DB2, and ODBC. Use Rekall to generate different sorts of reports and forms, design database queries, or import and export data to various formats. Find more information about Rekall at http://www.thekompany.com/products/rekall/.

knoda is a database front-end to various different types of databases. It supports connections to MySQL, PostreSQL, SQLite, and ODBC database servers. knoda can be used for manipulating data in tables, creating and storing queries, and importing and exporting data in CSV format. Find more information about knoda at http://www.knoda.org/.

PostgreSQL is an object-relational database management system that supports an extended subset of the SQL standard, including transactions, foreign keys, subqueries, triggers, and user-defined types and functions. Find more information about PostgreSQL at http://www.postgresql.org/.

GnuCash is a software tool to control both your personal and business finances. Keep track of income and expenses and manage your bank accounts and stock portfolios all using one piece of software. Learn more about GnuCash at http://www.gnucash.org.

moneyplex is a tool to control your finances. All tasks from managing incoming resources and expenses and monitoring your stock portfolio to online transactions via the HBCI standard are handled by moneyplex. Keep track of your financial transactions over time using various analysis options. Because this tool is also available for Windows, users can migrate very easily without having to learn a whole new application interface. More information about moneyplex can be found at http://www.matrica.de.

Planner is a project management tool aiming to provide functionality similar to the project management tools used under Windows. Among its various features are Gantt charting abilities, different kinds of views on tasks and resources, and much more. Find more information about Planner at http://www.imendio.com/projects/planner/.

Taskjuggler is a lean, but very powerful project management software. Take control of your projects using the Gantt charting features or by generating all kinds of reports (in XML, HTML, or CSV format). Those users who are not comfortable with controlling applications via the command line can use a graphical front-end to Taskjuggler. Find more information about Taskjuggler at http://www.taskjuggler.org.

VYM is a software for visualizing your thoughts by creating and manipulating mind maps. Most manipulations do not require more than one mouse click. Branches can be inserted, deleted, and reordered very easily. VYM also offers a set of flags allowing you to mark certain parts of the map (important, time critical, etc.). Links, notes, and images can be added to a mind map as well. VYM mind maps use an XML format, allowing you to export your mind maps to HTML easily. Find more information about VYM at http://www.insilmaril.de/vym.