Oolsi For Free

The Jenius has long been an advocate of free open source software because it is the environment of experimentation. And the price can't be beat.

Although you could spend days searching sites for free open source software, often abbreviated as F/OSS, My suggestion is you take a click at Oolsi. For one thing, it hasn't grown to the size of a mega-cybermall with hundreds or even thousands of programs vying for your attention. For another, the reviews are pithy and informative, a difficult combination.

The Jenius was particularly pleased to see the following posted on Oolsi:

MIT OpenCourseWare: One of THE most brilliant ideas to come from the open source concept, you or anyone else with Internet access can take hundreds of classes at famed MIT. If the University of Puerto Rico did the same, The Jenius would donate the corpses of The Fools to the medical center. Not before their proper time, though...

Wazima: A social bookmarking site (think del.icio.us) focused on good deals available on the Web. To dispel the growing rumor that The Jenius is cheap, think of this: isn't saving money a cornerstone of seeking financial independence? Enough said.

Oldversion.com: Don't tell me ICQ got better after version 98a or that Acrobat Reader is better now than when it didn't include Yahoo! crap in it. Older versions of software are often stable enough for near-perfect operation and devoid of superfluous gewgaws. Think "lean and brilliant" instead of "Windows." Find that golden oldie and enjoy the freedom of great rather than the tyranny of the overengineered.

The OpenCD: Here you can find a boatload of open source software, from the amazing Open Office (what Microsoft can only dream their program suite can become) to hundreds of lesser-known gems. They are downloadable and the site even has a CD-sized library you can burn and use immediately. A great site and a great introduction to the enormous power of open source software.

Open Clip Art Library: Although The Jenius isn't really a visual kind of person, He understands the value of the right graphic image. Thousand words and all that. The Open Clip Art Library is a gigantic collection of images, sorted by categories, and even by shapes, that is bound to warm the heart of every visually-oriented person out there. All images are downloadable and are free. But tread carefully here: you could end up spending a few hours just browsing...

Oolsi has lots more, like Dumpster Diving, BugMeNot, Lock Picking, Old Time Radio (podcasting gold mine), Free Movies, The Memory Hole and the Altoids Survival Tin. It isn't exhaustive, but it's all interesting.

Kind of like The Jenius.

(One must live up to One's adjectives...)

The Jenius Has Spoken.