Now, I know this is a craft blog not a tech blog. Despite this I have blogged about some slightly techie topics before where it’s relevant to crafters, or at least to this crafter. This post falls into that category.

Previously I’ve blogged about two programs that I use in my designing; Inkscape and The GIMP. (Incidentally, is it just me or does Inkscape and the Gimp sound like a 80’s TV show? Just me, then?). They’re both open-source programs; free and maintained by volunteers. If you’ve been thinking about checking out some open-source software, you could do a lot worse than looking at Ninite.

Ninite is a very simple way to install open-source and trial software without having to worry about finding the latest version, identifying the right version for your computer, and stepping through a complex installation script trying not to say yes to a stupid taskbar (“tick this box if you don’t not want to not un-add this toolbar”).

Ninite does all the tricky stuff for you; you just pick what you want off a list of the most popular free/trial software, and Ninite builds a custom installer that does the work without any messing. I highly recommend it.