Pierre Avignon is no pirate, but he does not believe in paying for software. His computer is filled with programs like Symphony -- a free suite that he downloaded from an International Business Machines Corp (IBM.N: Quote, Profile, Research) website (http://symphony.lotus.com).

It performs work for which he used to rely on Microsoft Corp's (MSFT.O: Quote, Profile, Research) Word word processor, Excel spreadsheet and PowerPoint presentation builder, all components of the Microsoft Office software suite.

"It is free. It is a great deal," says Avignon, a 43-year-old graphics designer from West Newbury, Massachusetts.

Free software was once almost exclusively borne of a grass-roots effort -- with an anti-Microsoft bent -- seeking alternatives to paid software. The movement produced myriad programs, but only a handful of widely used titles such as the Linux operating system.

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