After a night of not being able to sleep (bleh to that) I did some research concering both areas of software development.

For those who are scratching their head with what I'm talking about, Open Source is programs formed under the various GPL licenses authorizing people to distibute/edit/add/detract from software under the condition that the source code (the mechanics behind what makes software work) is made available as well. Closed source programs are what prevails on the market right now. Things like M$ office, various video games and noteably Windows.

I've been looking at programs to use lately that provide an alternative to mainstream ones, yet provide as much functionality as their counterparts. The key areas I've been looking at are:

• Operating System (Stability, Driver Support, Resources Usage, Tech Support as well)
  
• Programs (Cost/Functionality comparisons, Open/Closed Source alternatives, Tech Support)
  
• Cost (Open Source under the terms is free (donations are greatly appreciated though. Closed source programs can cost anywhere from free to $1,000 plus)
  
• Licensing (Ability to put on more then one machine at a given time)
  
• Compatibility (Does item A run on Program B (or) is Item A compatible with Progam Z)
  

So for an average user like me, the cost of items and hardware is important and given the economy that were all facing right now, is important to everyone really. My ideal system would be a mix of open and closed source software, with the ability to interchange with any program/system/hardware.

So I used my desktop computer as a reference (eMachine DL-1210). This represents a basic mainstream computer that most people have and I ran some benchmark tests on it (these tests provide an ideal on what the system can actually do). I also tested various things with it such as operating systems and programs on both sides.

• Operating Systems:
  Closed Source - Windows 2000, Windows XP pro, Windows Vista home premium, and Windows 7 beta
  Open Source - Ubuntu 8.10, Ubuntu 9.04, openSuse 11.1, Fedora 10, and DSL [Damn Small Linux]
  
• Office/Graphics Systems:
  Closed Source - Photoshop CS2 and Microsoft Office 2007
  Open Source - GIMP 2.6 and OpenOffice 3.0
  

While all have their strong points and weak points, I have to say they were all good. Windows provided the support for the drivers that I wanted, so after testing them all, I decided on Windows XP pro (most stable and still supported). In second came Ubuntu 9.04, though I wouldn't use it as my primary OS seeing as it doesn't have the game, hardware or tech support that I need with my system.

Photoshop and OpenOffice won out as office and graphic systems. While the cost for photoshop is really expensive (and not worth it in my oppinion but eh... can't always win ) it provided the best in terms of graphics and user interface as compared to GIMP. OpenOffice won because it was really good and worked well with all of the systems I tested. It also had features that I liked and when it came down to it, the price was best for what both offered (free!).

So after taking all of this into account, I realized that an average user like me is best suited for a mix of the two, open and closed source. As I said earlier they all have their ups and downs, but honestly it's worth it to use both.

Now that my techno geek side has shown... i'm off for now! Hope you like this