"But the most reliable indication of the future of Open Source is its past: in just a few years, we have gone from nothing to a robust body of software that solves many different problems and is reaching the million-user count. There's no reason for us to slow down now."

-- Bruce Perens, on the future of Open Source software. (Open Sources, 1999 O'Reilly and Associates)

"tool"

Definition: instrument used to shape, form, finish

Synonyms: apparatus, appliance, contraption, contrivance, device, engine, gadget, gizmo, implement, instrument, job, machine, means, mechanism, utensil, weapon, whatchamacallit

Credit: thesaurus.com

Tools represent Humanity's greatest achievement -- the desire and the ability to rise above the flesh, to enable each of us to create whatever we imagine. From the ealiest stick, digging out grubs from a fallen tree ... to the latest hand-held, head-held, or mentally-directed device, tools allow us to devise, revise, ruminate, communicate, work and play.

The following sampling are tools developed upon need for one purpose or another...