A lot of people tend to buy the web cams for their computers. They do it first of all for interactive chats like those possible in Skype system, where people are able to see each other. Some need webcam for other purposes, still we have to mention no camera will work unless you get the necessary software. Not all people are ready to pay for it, as some of the licensed versions are too expensive for the regular user. Some users on the other hand just prefer to use all the variety of open source webcam software available in the internet. Here are just several examples of the programs you can use to deal with the freshly installed camera.
Fwink is the application suitable for most versions of Windows OS. It enables you to take pictures using the camera and send them as the photo to the site or as avatar to forum. There are also several effects available, you can print a message over the image or make the time stamp. The disadvantage of Fwink is that it will not let you use the camera as actually the video device, as it only works with still images. On the other hand it offers the breathtaking quantity of formats you can export the image in, for example GIF, JPEG, PNG, TIFF, BMP, WMF etc. If you want to take a picture, still you need to pose for it, feel free to use the ATI Remote Wonder to trigger the webcam.
Another nice example of the open source webcam software is the Dorgem Webcam Capture Software. This program is also completely free and available everywhere in the net. It works on all versions of Windows except for Windows NT. This application can easily work with video stream, so feel free to make a small movies for you and your friends. It has been tested with a lot of cameras and no defects were found, so the program was considered to be quite reliable.