Win-get isn't the first attempt we've heard about to replicate the Debian Linux package management experience on Windows. But unlike Ed Ropple's proposal, Win-get already works. Sort of.

If you're not familiar with package management, here's how it works. You type "apt-get install <name of program>" into a terminal and your operating system will find that program online, download it, and install it. Newer versions of Linux have graphical interfaces that basically let you browse through a huge list of mostly free and open source software that you can download. No need to search the web for a good image editor. Just open your package manager and download GIMP.

Win-get aims to work pretty much like apt-get, but for free Windows software. We're not talking open source here, necessarily. Many of the programs in the win-get repository are free to download and install, but the source code may not be available. There's a huge list of software available for download.