The files in this Toolkit are in many different formats. If you are running MS Windows you may need extra bits of software to open all the files. We've included links to software you can download. If you are using Linux then you will probably already have all this (or similar) software installed.
Free (Open Source) Software
Free Software is software that is made available under a copyright licence that permits holders to do certain things to improve it and share those improvements.
For more information on the ideas behind Free Software have a look at the Free Software Foundation's website: www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-sw.html
The software we've included on the DVD is Free Software - sometimes called Open Source software. It is co-operatively developed and you are encouraged to use it, pass it on and change it to suit your needs. If you're geeky enough to want to look at or change the code you'll find it on the projects' websites.
OpenOffice.org
Amazing free office suite (word processor, spreadsheet, presentation programme for slideshows and a database). All of the files on this DVD are also saved in the Open Document Format which many other Office suites can use.
www.openoffice.org - "OpenOffice.org is a fully-featured open-source office productivity suite available as a free, exensible download for major platforms in over 90 languages. It is compatible with competing office suites. OpenOffice.org is developed, supported, and promoted by an international community operating from the http://www.openoffice.org/ website. OpenOffice.org stores data in the open XML file format adopted by the international standards body OASIS as the OpenDocument Format (ODF) and approved by the ISO as ISO/IEC 26300:2006."
VLC Player
A free cross-platform media player to play video and audio files. It supports a large number of multimedia formats, without the need for additional codecs
Adobe Acrobat Reader
Many file are in pdf format, in Windows you'll need to use Adobe Acrobat Reader. It can be downloaded for free at - www.adobe.com/uk/products/reader/
The Gimp
Comprehensive image manipulation software to rival Photoshop.