Downloading

I hope this is not a stupid question. Can I download open source software to my computer which uses Windows XP, put it on a cd and load a laptop which uses Windows 98?

There is no question too simple to warrant asking here. Yes - you can definitely download the app onto a Windows XP machine - or a Linux one for that matter - and burn it onto a CD to be accessed in Windows 98.

Hope that helps. Feel free to let me know if you have any other question.

Clement

Open source programs are just as available for Windows as they are for Linux/Mac/other systems. In fact, there are two projects that I am aware of that are dedicated to providing collections of high-quality open source software for Windows:

1) TheOpenCD: http://theopencd.org/ "TheOpenCD is a collection of high quality Free and Open Source Software. The programs run in Windows and cover the most common tasks such as word processing, presentations, e-mail, web browsing, web design, and image manipulation."

2) GNUWin: http://gnuwin.epfl.ch/en/index.html " The software included in GNUWin is not shareware nor freeware, but original free software and Open Source software, for which the source code is available, and that is and will always be free (free both as in 'free speech', and as in 'free beer')."

Both of those collections are very good, and both offer (last time I checked) downloadable ISO images that you can burn directly to CD.

Hopefully those links will get you going.