Open source software alternatives to well-known commercial software

A friend of mine Don Gerlach, Director of Technology over at Susquehanna Valley High School showed me a great alternative to very expensive brand name software. Let me state right off the bat that I don't think if you have Photoshop, InDesign or Illustrator you should ditch them and get these. The situation here is if you want to try some of these with out paying a lot and not using them, well here you go. High school students and some college students will benefit greatly from some of these.

If you want to get a job in the real world you will need learn what they use. These are great free alternatives for those novis to begginer users. Take a look.