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We are living in a world which encourages a culture of proprietary software. Most of us have always used only proprietary software on our computers. Our children are being taught to use it, too, but they are partially or completely unaware of free software and the benefits it provides.

As more Oregon schools roll out Google's free suite of productivity software this fall, they're also trying to educate parents and ease concerns about privacy. Oregon was the first state to sign up for Google Apps for Education in 2010 and make it available to K-12 school districts. The free software allows students to access their class work from home, the library, or anywhere they have internet access. But the very thing that makes Google Apps so accessible and appealing worries some parents: They don't want Google or anyone outside the district to have access to their children's private information.

excellent software for Macs to sync iCal with Google Calendar. Free 30-day trial, $25 to licencse it. Winner of Macworld Eddys 2008. Can also sync to iPhone as read-write. Great blog with other useful Mac tips and very clear visual tutorials on using the tool.

Software for Mac OS 10.4 and Leopard 10.5. In addition to syncing calendars on your LAN, BusySync syncs with Google Calendar, allowing you to: * View and edit calendars online - Calendar events can be viewed/edited in both iCal and Google Calendar and automatically synchronized between the two. * Sync calendars between home and work - Users can sync their home and office computers with Google Calendar (as an alternative to syncing calendars with MobileMe). * Share calendars remotely - Users in remote locations can share calendars with each other by syncing with Google Calendar, even while traveling.

"Gliffy is free Chrome Extension for drawing. Gliffy lets you Draw Shapes, Flow Charts, ER Diagrams, Venn Diagrams, and lot more."

via Kevin Jarrett

Building a 21st century school now has an easy answer: Google Apps Education Edition Google Message Security, powered by Postini, is included free for K-12 schools who sign-up by July 2010. No hardware to maintain, no software to install, no ads, and no cost for schools.

Google Docs is an easy-to-use online word processor, spreadsheet and presentation editor that enables you and your students to create, store and share instantly and securely, and collaborate online in real time. You can create new documents from scratch or upload existing documents, spreadsheets and presentations. There's no software to download, and all your work is stored safely online and can be accessed from any computer

I use Skype and enjoy the free functionality. It's far from perfect, but has a place in my e-learning toolkit. (I've also used Jah-Jah to call my daughter in Thailand and was very pleased with this alternate take on internet telephony.) Like all things tech, Skype could go. As this article shows, the big hitting billionaires who run the show are in dispute. If i have to switch, so be it! Will Google Voice move into this space? Who knows? Wait and see as the future unrolls on a daily basis

Open source email archiving.  Note the Google archiving aspect is part of their "Enterprise Edition"  not free.

Google SketchUp Teacher Guide FUN projects you can use in your classroom, using FREE Google SketchUp software

Great find Fred

Very useful, easy-to-learn mind mapping tool that integrates with Google Apps.