We all love free stuff. Free software is definitely something that we love. Even if it means using pirated software, we will always find a way to get out of paying for software. Luckily, today we are afforded the freedom to choose products that are of the highest quality, really great to use and best of all, are free to download and use as we please.

Since the dawn of open source, innovation has mushroomed to what it is today. Offering free solutions with endless adaptability, extensibility and best of all, stability!

My love for Firefox, GMail, Digsby and the like have all been expressed before and I will continue to preach the wonder known to man as Open Source!

Below, find a list of some of the worlds coolest and best FREE Software. I use some of them myself (not all) and can vouch for about 60% of the list.

1. Firefox (Coolest Web Browser!) (see also: My articles on Firefox!)
2. VLC Media Player (Media Player that simply plays everything!)
3. Ubuntu (OS)
4. Open Office (Office productivity software. Think: MS Office!)(see also: Download OpenOffice 3.0!)
5. Pidgin (IM Aggregator!)
6. Launchy (Desktop Application Launcher)
7. Digsby (I HIGHLY recommend this brilliant IM and social platform aggregator!) (see also: The Next Big Thing!)
8. Gmail (HIGHLY recommended!) (see also: My GMail posts!)
9. Adium (IM Aggregator with cool utilities!)
10. CCleaner (Cookie Cleaner)
11. Picasa (Photo Management software) (see also: Island-Chic’s post!)
12. AutoHotKey
13. Google (Nuff said!)
14. Quicksilver
15. GIMP (Free Image editor. Think Free Photoshop!)
16. Foobar 2000
17. Thunderbird (Desktop Mail client by the guys that brought us Firefox!)
18. 7-Zip (Compression application. Think: Free WinZip!)
19. DropBox
20. uTorrent (Torrent download manager)
21. Winamp (Sweetest out of the box modular media player!)
22. Google Apps (Like the name says, Apps by Google )
23. AVG Antivirus (Light, stable and good antivirus)
24. Evernote
25. IrfanView
26. Opera
27. Chrome (Google’s answer to the ultimate browser!)(see also: My Google Chrome Posts!)
28. Google Calendar (Hosted Calendaring) (see also: My Cool Google Calendar CSS Skin!)
29. HandBrake (Media Converter)
30. Skype (Nuff Said!) (see also: Our complete Skype coverage)
31. Linux (OS)
32. Paint.NET
33. Ad-Aware (Spyware remover! I highly recommend this!)
34. Avast Antivirus (Lightweight Antivirus! I recommend AVG instead though!)
35. Google Docs (Hosted Office Applications)
36. LogMeIn
37. Transmission (Torrent manager! I recommend uTorrent though!)
38. TrueCrypt (Data Encryption)
39. Amarok
40. FileZilla (FTP client by the Mozilla guys!)
41. Notepad++ (Think: Notepad on steriods!)
42. PortableApps.com
43. Rocket Dock
44. Spybot Search & Destroy (Anti Spyware!)
45. UltraVNC
46. VirtualBox

If you want to recommend any other free applications, drop a line in the comments and I’ll add it to the list!