Begin the Journey: Finding a practical starting point with Free Open Source Software

Editor’s note: This article was originally published on 2025-07-20 at https://beardystarstuff.net/ and is reproduced here with the author’s permission.

As I’m writing this post it’s 85°F with 80% humidity at 8:30pm after a very hot, humid day in Missouri. There was no breeze at all today, just the sun bearing down with its relentless gaze. Do you know what provides the sweetest relief to this kind of stifling heat? A shady swim in the chilly waters of a woodland creek, that’s what.

I mention that to begin this post because it helps to set the story that free, libre software provides as a contrast when set against the never-ending efforts by Microsoft, Apple, Amazon and others to constantly control our computing with ever expanding digital restrictions management and proprietary software. A small but recent example from my own experience two days ago when I booted my Mac after a system update and was notified that Apple had taken upon itself to change one of my settings to not just download updates but to automatically install them as well. I had to reset it to download only. It seems like a small thing but it’s just another of many small acts of contempt by the company that owns and controls the operating system. It’s not the first time that Apple decided to over-rule one of my decisions and it won’t be the last.

Moving to Free/Libre Software, even if just in small ways and in small steps, add up over time to something significant. Such acts are in direct opposition to the accumulation of acts of contempt by companies that, year by year, add new restrictions to their DRM as they reduce our own ability to control the computers that run their software. Getting started with Free/Libre Software can begin with just one app or with installing an entire OS.

Each of us has different use cases, tasks and access to different hardware, you’ll need to think about your own set-up and where you would like to go with it. Also, outside of your current actively used set-up, do you have any older unused computers sitting on a shelf or in a closet? Many older computers are great candidates for an install of GNU/Linux and are another opportunity to learn and explore. My first GNU/Linux install was on this 2012 Mac Mini that had been sitting on a shelf for two years and is now my daily work machine.

If you’ve considered your personal ethics and decided that you need to begin a change in your computing, don’t think you have to jump in head first. This isn’t a “go big or go home” scenario. Taking small steps that add up to gradual but steady progress is equally significant and is better than making no progress. If you’re not sure about what defines free/libre software I’d suggest starting with this overview: Free Software Is Even More Important Now.

Dipping your toes in

An initial approach can be very simple. Many Free/Libre applications are available for all the desktop platforms. You can get your start with no risk or long-term commitment. Maybe start with a web browser. Most have heard of Mozilla’s Firefox and may already have it installed. But you may not be aware of forks of Firefox. For example, LibreWolf which is focused on security and privacy offers a Windows version and one for macOS as well. The Mac version comes as a disk image and looks to be available for both Intel and Apple Silicon Macs.

Dipping in a bit further

Another step that might take a bit more time is trying out Mozilla’s Thunderbird email client. This is what I use on GNU/Linux but I’ve also installed it on my Mac. Set-up of accounts was easy. I only boot that computer up to install updates every so often but in the few minutes I’ve used it there it works exactly as expected. It’s fairly different in terms of visual design when compared to Apple’s Mail app but it’s a robust application and I’ve found I can easily manage all of my email with no problems. I’m a fan of saved searches and Thunderbird’s saved search feature is easy to set-up and works very well.

Thunderbird isn’t just a mail app, it also includes an address book, calendar and task manager. I’m using them all and, like the mail app, they’ve all proven to be robust and dependable applications.

Ready to wade in a bit deeper?

Office productivity software is an important category of applications you may want to explore. If you’re a regular user of Microsoft’s Office applications or Apple’s iWork apps, consider trying LibreOffice. It’s a fully featured suite of applications with years of development and all the Office apps you would expect. No, it’s not identical to Microsoft and Apple’s offerings, it does require some effort to learn. This is true of all powerful applications when we use them for the first time.

In the few months of using LibreOffice I’ve had no problem opening files in the usual format from Microsoft Office. Word, Excel and Powerpoint files all open easily and are also easily exported from LibreOffice. Apple’s files from Pages, Keynote and Numbers are another story. In some cases it works, on others, not so much.

Need an online, secure collaborative office suite to replace Google’s offerings? I’m a big fan of CryptPad, a suite of free/libre apps. This is a great project and well worth using and supporting.

Free/Libre Software for Graphic Design and Coding

If you have need of graphic design software there are some really great apps that you can explore, available not just for GNU/Linux but Mac and Windows as well:

• Gimp for image editing.
• Inkscape for vector.
• Krita for painting.
• Scribus for page layout.
• Kate for text editing and coding.

And here’s an extensive list of Free software that would be useful at the workplace.

Whatever OS you’re currently using, Mac, Windows or GNU/Linux, there is a large ecosystem of free/libre software for you to tap into when you’re ready to get started. Every proprietary app you can replace is more control you have over your computing than you had before. In a world of oligarchs and corporate giants it may seem like our personal decisions and actions are unimportant, that our ability to have an impact are so tiny as to be irrelevant. But how you compute is entirely up to you. The applications you use everyday, the OS you use every day, these are your choices. You can choose free/libre software that is built cooperatively with the full intention of respecting its users.

Find a starting point that makes sense for you.