What are the best software applications for college students?

Vladamir: What are the best software applications for college students?
What are the best software applications for college?
Money not being an option, what are the best software applications for college? I’m looking for stuff that will help me write and take good notes mainly but any other helpful software you can think of would be nice.

Answers and Views:

Answer by Lee
Open Office

Its just like microsoft’s office programs.
Created by the makers of Java.

Answer by hides_in_the_dark
It really depends on what you like to do on the computer, to be honest. So, without any ideas of what you like to do on the computer, I can only think of two programs that are free and open source and are just as good as the programs that people pay hundreds of dollars for….
Open Office – https://www.openoffice.org/ …same basic thing as Microsoft Office
GIMP (Gnu Image Manipulation Program) – https://www.gimp.org/ …a photoshop program that’s just as good as Adobe Photoshop

Answer by Fraggle
Basic productivity: Open Office, Libre Office or MS Office
Image Editing: Gimp
Desktop Publishing: Scribus
3D graphics: Blender
Audio Editing: Audacity
SVG Editing: Inkscape
Audio/Video Player: VLC
Web Browser: Firefox
Ebook Organizing and Conversion: Calibre