Summary

We hope you enjoyed the brief tour of some of the more intriguing and useful open source applications and utilities. However, we have covered just the tip of the iceberg; there is a vast amount of software out there that you can use to your advantage. Most of this software is not only free from a financial standpoint, but comes packaged with the entire source code. You can modify this source code to fix bugs , optimize functionality, and add new features. Moreover, even if you are not in a position to make these types of changes, you will at least have some peace of mind knowing that it is possible.

Installing and configuring your Linux system is just the beginning. You should take some time to explore all of the resources presented in this chapter. Surf over to www.osdn.com , search for your favorite applications, and download and test them out. Eventually, you will reach a point where you ll want to implement your own open source software or modify one that exists to suit your needs. Then, you can decide on what programming language to use and how to develop an application. The bottom line is that you will be able to make your operating system run the way you want it to.