Ten years ago, applications might have mattered. However, OpenOffice (or whatever it is called today) is IMHO superior to Microsoft Office. Gimp and Inkscape are great drawing programs
I had to do a Google search and read a random blog post to find out how to add shapes to a picture in Gimp. This and its stupid name are some of the things which prevent mass adoption of such products. The response from the Gimp authors on the shape issue was according to the blog, "we don't think you need that function". This is a third reason why mass-market adoption is but a pipe dream.
It is impossible to enjoy idling thoroughly unless one has plenty of work to do. -- Jerome Klapka Jerome