As any social scientist can attest, the computer has become an essential tool in contemporary social research. In setting up my computing environment, I have found the following software—most of which is free and open source—to be useful.

Operating Systems

Mac OS X	Not free, but it does the job and it's part of the Unix family. At the moment, this is my primary OS.
Fedora	When playing around with Linux, I prefer this desktop-oriented distro. It aims to be bleeding edge, but it requires nearly constant updating.
Ubuntu	The most popular Linux distro—a more polished and usable form of Debian. Best entry choice.

Statistical Software

R	A powerful and flexible statistical computing environment. Best for those comfortable using a command line.
Stata	Requires less effort to learn than R but is proprietary and has a more limited set of functions. Good documentation.

Productivity Software

TexShop	LaTeX editor for Mac OS X. Clean and simple interface for writing professional papers.
BibDesk	A reference management system for Mac OS X that is designed to work with LaTeX.
OpenOffice	A software suite that can do most things that MS Office can do. Now works natively with the Aqua interface in Mac OS X.

Web Software

Smultron	A simple text editor for Mac OS X that is excellent for editing HTML, web scripting, etc.
Cyberduck	Great FTP, SFTP, and WebDAV client for Mac OS X. Works well with Smultron.

Other Goods

VLC	Cross-platform media player that supports a wide range of formats and streaming.