Here is some of the software that I am a big fan of, all of which are free. 
XAMPP – this is a great solution in the event that you can’t use the built in LAMP feature of Ubuntu. this will install Apache MySQL PHP and Perl on your OS of choice. I am currently using it to power this blog.
ISORECORDER – WIndows Powertoy that allows you to rip and burn iso images from your CD drive or folders. DVD inages can also be used/created if you are running Vista.
Daemon Tools Lite – bar none my favorite optical media emulator
VirtuaWin – Windows Virtual Desktop Manager that is amazing!
HandBrake – this is by far the best Open Source software I have found yet. this is a DVD to MP4 converter. It started off just on the *nix platform (including OSX) but has now moved to windows as well, and works wonderfully I might add.
Smoothwall Express 3.0 – Linux based firewall distribution.
Dansguardian – Linux application that can be added to just about any linux distro including smoothwall.
