There are four major criteria for selecting software in education that are considered here.
 

1. Does the computer application serve an important educational purpose or multiple important purposes?
2. Is it low cost?
3. Is it well written (e.g., bug free; easy to use; accurate; etc.)
4. Are there compelling tutorial programs that efficiently educate students and teachers about its potential use? There are many fine software programs of value to the educational community, but most assume prior training in its concepts and use and do not yet provide the tools to teach teachers and students about the program. This last criterion often makes the difference between a program that becomes an important educational teaching tool and one that has just a few enthusiastic users.

• FreeGIS. This major international product currently has a version that is only in German. Many other sources of free GIS software are tracked at its web site.
• GeoCommunity. "The GeoCommunity provides FREE and shareware GIS and CAD software tools, utilities, compression programs, translators, and map viewers for mapping and location based applications."
• MapInfo Corporation.
• Manifold. "Manifold System Release 5.50 Professional Edition is the most comprehensive, the most powerful and the easiest to use GIS and mapping system ever created.  Nothing else, at any price, even comes close."
• Open GIS Consortium, Inc. (OGC). "OGC is an international industry consortium of 258 companies, government agencies and universities participating in a consensus process to develop publicly available geoprocessing specifications. Open interfaces and protocols defined by OpenGIS® Specifications support interoperable solutions that "geo-enable" the Web, wireless and location-based services, and mainstream IT, and empower technology developers to make complex spatial information and services accessible and useful with all kinds of applications."

There are also many GIS programs with new developments that this author has not had time to examine. Are there other GIS programs and projects that deserve high scores in the four categories provided on this web page? Visit the discussion thread on this question. If knowledgeable about such resources, please respond via the discussion thread link.