As the free world; that is, first-order economies become poorer and poorer (or should I say, "stabilized downward"), you can't help but cheer for Open Source Software. As we all go through poorer and richer stages of our lives, we may not only want OSS apps but need them, e.g., as a student or a startup business, or the poor schlub in St. Louis or Bangladesh who just can't afford to drop $130/year to Apple for an OS X update or to Adobe for Photoshop or even Microsoft for whatever (although, at the present $99, it's hard to say one can't afford MS Office, rather one just chooses not to).
My own standard for OS apps is that I don't just want them to be "as good," but better than what I'm currently using. After all, isn't the whole purpose of the DCC community to aid in uncovering the best apps, no matter where they come from? Finally, the great thing about the
open source versus site is that it provides an entire array of arguments — both practical and philosophical — in favor of Open Source. That's cool.
