Is it possible to "test drive" nav software?

[cjenkins]

We will be chartering in Croatia in a few weeks. I'm wondering whether it would be possible to do a "test drive" with some navigation software. We won't really need to have electronic charts, but we will have a PC laptop with us and it would be fun/educational to try out some electronic charts.

Is there any software that's available for such a test? Without costing $$$ ?

It seems like an opportunity to try out a system, see what features are useful, which are fun but not really essential, etc. Is it possible to try something out without committing to making that our permanent choice?
We are planning for a year-long trip in 2007-08 and I'm considering PC and Mac systems for the boat. The laptop for this trip is PC based, so that limits us a little.

Any suggestions?

Thanks,

Charlie