[!@#$%!]

for crap footage from a crap camera i'd say windows movie maker (pc) or i-movie (mac) will do the trick, both of which are more of less free.

both premiere & fcp require big bucks, as does AVID. there is adobe premiere elements that sells for about $100 however, which should be enough.

no serious camera will come with "free software", so stick to the cheap solutions. and certain crap cameras have their own special formats which are not compatible with anything else and require the rubbish software they came with.