Priced for a student’s budget - free - open source desktop software presents a viable alternative to commercial software packages for those who can’t shell out the big $$$. I’ve never personally been an open-source zealot myself, but at these prices - you can’t afford not to consider them! These programs all run on multiple platforms (yes, even Windows!), and are surprisingly easy to download and install.
http://oedb.org/blogs/ilibrarian/2007/back-to-school-with-open-source/