What do you think is the best free program

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It's a very tough call between Linux and Firefox.

LINUX: Many MAJOR websites use Linux or a derivative. Furthermore, it helps small businesses turn into larger ones-- beyond being free, it's more reliable, stable, secure, and efficient. That's especially beneficial to small businesses, since they can put time & money into development instead of paying for Windows, the better hardware it requires to run decently, constant software updates to avoid being hacked, etc. For a 1 or 2 person operation trying to get off the ground, that can make all the difference between success or failure.

Basically, the Internet as we know it today wouldn't be the same without Linux.

FIREFOX: Not only is it a credible threat to IE's monopoly, but I strongly believe that it's responsible for many of the innovations we've seen over the last year or two. Ajax, despite being an overhyped buzzword (and not even a new technology), has been one of the biggest improvements I've seen since I started browsing websites in 1994. Sure it works in IE, but I think Firefox is why it was able to take off. Here's why:

As anyone else who is in the Web design/programming business knows, Internet Explorer is a quagmire of proprietary functions, directives that are called by standards-compliant names but do not actually obey any known standards, and random bugs. And to add to it, Javascript debugging is essentially impossible, since its debugger provides useless error messages on line numbers that appear to be the output of a random number generator. My favorite IE error: "null is null or not an object".

Basically, there was no way for any developer to know if any cool stuff they did was in compliance with any known standards, or if took advantage of random IE bugs that may or may not exist in the future. And when a client is wanting their Web application ASAP, there's no time for experimentation.

When Firefox came along, developers could try new techniques while being reasonably confident that anything they did was standards-compliant, rather than using proprietary MS crap or taking advantage of a random IE quirk. They could debug their code with a console that actually pointed out errors. It's not hard to see why those abilities made innovation possible.

If you want to get technical (well I do) we should be calling it GNU, or GNU/Linux.

Linux is just the core peice of an Operating System, the kernal.

Mind you Linux is a very good Kernal.

Firefox

I depend on specialized small apps!

AF5 Renamer
AVG Anti-Virus
Any Password
DVD Decrypter
DivFix
Eraser
Exact Audio Copy
FontLister
GordianKnot tools
Internet Window Washer
Monkey's Audio
Opera
PopTray
Prime95 (for stress testing)
SmartFTP
TimeLeft (the best reminder that I've found, though it allows only one at a time)
ZoneAlarm

just to name a few

I once downloaded one version of Linux (SuSe I think) and found it easy to use. But I'm basically happy with Windows so I haven't installed it since the last reformat.

Firefox has lots of protection, and it blocks lots of adds and it lets you choose if you want the java script displayed. There's probably a little bit more that I'm forgetting, but Firefox has to be one of the best free programs that I know that protects you from all that junk. It can run slow at times (or it's just my internet connection at times), but it works really good.

Blender 3d. The Blender, GIMP, Cinepaint and Cinelerra combination is quite powerfull. Not that I can actually use them well .

Also, the LAMP combination beats the ass off IIS, ASP and the rest of .NET.
For those who don't know, LAMP stands for:
Linux
Apache
MySql
PHP/Python/Perl

these are the ones I can't live without:

Video player:
VLC

Cleaner/protect:
spybot s&d
spywareblaster
ccleaner

Antivirus:
AVG free

Backup:
syncback ni

Image:
Irfanview

Firefox extensions:
bugmenot
tabmix plus
session saver
foxyproxy

OpenOffice & Gimp are great.

why is every choice listed twice?...

whatever app I need most at the moment

Firefox for sure
p3d0 explorer (shows pictures inside directories as thumbnails. Kinda specialized)
Wings 3d (3d object modeler)
topmod - topographical modeler. Has dozens of topographical objects, which I use as an adjunt to Wings
Bryce 5 - terrain modeler
Daz Studio - character poser, adjuster, etc. Good for putting people in terrains...
others too numerous to mention...

awesome bumping 3 year old threads

I just started looking back at some old topics and didn't realize I was being a necro (let alone the fact that I didn't even know about forum etiquette regarding necroing).

I just got back into WP, so I guess that's why I started looking at old/dead topics. I just was informed that it was bad form to reinvigorate dead topics Embarassed

I had no idea. I was so embarrassed, because I try to pride myself on good and professional etiquette towards others. But it's hard sometimes.

Apologies to all.

Chrome isn't on there, so I said 'Other'. I feel Chrome is better than Firefox, it's typical Google minimalist design without all the bloat Firefox has.

I can't choose anything from the list. VLC is definitely one of the best free software programs which is out there, in my opinion. Been using it for years, and I really do like it!

Wiki about VLC.