I'm impressed with Windows 7. After running the beta for months I've discovered it is everything Windows should be.

Sure there are niggles – but that would be true of any plausible alternative.

I was so impressed I decided to buy the operating system upgrade. Imagine my surprise when I discovered Dick Smith lists the Windows 7 Ultimate and Professional upgrades at $499 each.

The price is ridiculous. The same Dick Smith has notebook computers with Windows 7 installed starting at $899 – that's notebook not netbook.

OK. I understand the $899 notebook might not ship with Windows 7 Professional – that's not the point.

For just $400 more than the cost of a software upgrade I can have a new computer. The cheapest netbook on sale in New Zealand is $425 – just $25 more than the upgrade to Windows 7 Professional.

If I got to Digital Shop I can buy a desktop for just $487.64 with Windows 7 Professional installed.

That's right. In effect I can pay just $87.64 for a new computer.

So here are my choices:

1. Buy a new PC with Windows 7 Professional. Throw my existing, perfectly serviceable machine into a landfill. Have a better computer experience but stop sleeping at night because I'm destroying the planet.

2. Revert to Vista or XP. This costs nothing – but will give me a more annoying computer experience than at present.

3. Look once again at Linux.

What would you do?

Open source software is free. Anyone can download open source programs, run them, copy them and pass them on to friends and colleagues without paying a license fee and without breaking any laws.

Cost is not the most important point. Open source advocates say free means as in ‘free speech’ and not ‘no payment’.

This freedom means that users can change the programs to suit their own needs – something that is illegal with most other forms of software.

The only condition is programmers must pass the same set of freedoms on. Altered open source programs must be made available to everyone. The logic of this approach is it decentralises control – so the software keeps improving. At the same time, having large numbers of people looking at and improving on programs means that bugs are quickly eliminated – so quality control improves.