Freeware vs Proprietary software

We live in a digital age now and a computer is a common feature in most households. While technology has become cheaper, computers are still expensive. What is more expensive is the software that we need to run in. Microsoft charges exorbitant rates for its operating systems, office suite etc. Norton is exorbitant too. For a long time I was happy with the common commercial software, but recently I have been miffed. They are resource hogs, annoying, expensive and pain to upgrade and keep up.

My old laptop kept crashing with windows. I deleted windows and installed Ubuntu and it runs like a dream. I am more than satisfied with openoffice and Gimp that it comes with. All the free software with Ubuntu works perfectly. I also use AVG free for anti virus. I am appalled at how much we get charged for what comes free. On my PC I prefer Mozilla for my browser, VLC media player, Audacity for audio editing, and such.

On the flip side freeware is not always supported nor is it always secure. Being open source there are chinks and bugs. However, not as if Microsoft is bug free. A lot of people I know are resorting to freeware. The only thing that keeps people loyal to windows instead of Linux is compatibility. At the same time Mozilla has become huge with its open source suite and others are catching up.

Will open source software and freeware give proprietary firms a run for their money? Will they eventually be able to bring costs down and quality of programs up? Or will freeware and open source forever remain the nerds resource?

gal here..
There is comparatively much lesser freeware available to us me finks.

I have heard excellent things about Ubuntu and Unix from hubby. I think he also preferred Red hat to windows.
I have no clue about their freeware since I can use only windows machine besides Mac.