- [Linux](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linux) (e.g., [Ubuntu](http://www.ubuntu.com/)): the most powerful operating system available, and it’s free (as in speech and as in beer)! You don’t know the power a computer might have until you’ve gone Linux! Go ahead and unleash your computer’s potential.
- [Emacs](http://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/): THE text editor and cross-platform “OS”.
- [Conkeror](http://conkeror.org/): emacs approach to web browsing, combined with the technology of mozilla firefox. This is probably the most used application on my desktop, surpassing Emacs!
- [R](http://www.R-project.org/) (statistical computation environment, and much much more), [ESS](http://ess.r-project.org/) (Emacs Speaks Statistics), [LaTeX](http://www.latex-project.org/) (typeset professional-looking documents), [AucTeX](http://www.gnu.org/s/auctex/), [Sweave](http://www.stat.uni-muenchen.de/~leisch/Sweave/) (literate programming combining R and LaTeX), [Beamer](http://latex-beamer.sourceforge.net/) (typeset professional-looking presentations): tools every academic statistician should use. Best of all, they can all be used in Emacs for a unified user interface.
- [Org-mode](http://org-mode.org/): take notes, make outlines, organize thoughts, and export/publish to multiple formats (e.g., HTML and LaTeX).
- [Dropbox](http://dropbox.com/): Sync all my important files for free! You never know when your hard drive might die. Always back up to multiple locations!
