Free and Low Cost Alternatives to Microsoft Office |
When your talking about/dealing with a shoe string budget you need options for the office software you use. It needs to be cost effective, compatible with what you had before, what you have currently and in the future.
I’m not going to argue that Microsoft Office is the defacto standard right now for office packages, but it’s not the end-all-be-all of office suites. And as a business owner or operations manager you should have options.
I’ve gone through and collected some information about some office packages on the Internet that can help you and they are fully compatible with Microsoft Office.
The first thing you have to do is audit your office; what do you use Microsoft Office for? To what extent is it serving? Are you only using office for the ability to create WORD documents or do just general word processing; try ABIWORD [freeware]. If your buying Microsoft Office for the purpose of viewing those ‘special’ documents; download the free viewers. If you need to be able to export to PDF; get PDFCREATOR [freeware]- it converts all programs so they can export to PDF.
And don’t stay with Microsoft Office for Microsoft Outlook, there’s email clients out there that are just as good and that are free. Again, examine what you use the applications tat come with Microsoft Office and see how they can be retrofitted in to something else.
The Microsoft Office packages are not cheap [unless your a life time student] and you have to have a license for each machine that wants to use it. Use you can try to do terminal services, but you will have to buy at least one copy of Microsoft Office.
If your a small business, every dime counts.
So what I’ve here is some options for you to think about. Every office is different; every person is different and all I’m doing here is providing options. The office suites offered here are fairly small in size. download them, test them out, make a decision and save some money.
OpenOffice
Compatible with other major office suites, OpenOffice.org is free to download, use, and distribute. Download it now, and get:
Writer – a word processor you can use for anything from writing a quick letter to producing an entire book.
Calc – a powerful spreadsheet with all the tools you need to calculate, analyse, and present your data in numerical reports or sizzling graphics.
Impress – the fastest, most powerful way to create effective multimedia presentations.
Draw – lets you produce everything from simple diagrams to dynamic 3D illustrations.
Base – lets you manipulate databases seamlessly. Create and modify tables, forms, queries, and reports, all from within OpenOffice.org
Math – lets you create mathematical equations with a graphic user interface or by directly typing your formulas into the equation editor.
OpenOffice.org is synonymous with quality
- the roots of OpenOffice.org go back twenty years, creating a mature and powerful product
- hundreds of thousands of users participated in the beta testing of version 2
- independent reviewers around the world have recommended the product
- with a fully open development process, OpenOffice.org has nothing to hide – the product stands or falls on its reputation
OpenOffice.org is easy to use
- the software looks and feels familiar and is instantly usable by anyone who has used a competitive product
- it’s easy to change to OpenOffice.org – the software reads all major competitors’ files
- few language barriers – if it’s not yet available in your language, the chances are it will be soon
- OpenOffice.org is supported by a global community of friendly volunteers, only too happy to provide assistance to newcomers and advanced users alike
OpenOffice.org is free software
- you may download OpenOffice.org completely free of any license fees
- install it on as many PCs as you like
- use it for any purpose – private, educational, government and public administration, commercial…
- pass on copies free of charge to family, friends, students, employees, etc.
OpenOffice.org is standards compliant – certified by OSI as open-standard compliant, and the first software package in the world to use OASIS OpenDocument Format (ISO 26300) as its native file format.
OxygenOffice Professional
(was: OpenOffice.org Premium) is an enhanced version of OpenOffice.org which is a multi-platform office productivity suite. It includes the key desktop applications, such as a word processor, spreadsheet, presentation manager, and drawing program, with a user interface and feature set similar to other office suites. OxygenOffice Professional contains more extras like templates, cliparts, samples, fonts and VBA support.
Few of the extras you get with OxygenOffice Professional:
- Possibility to run Visual Basic for Application (VBA) macros in Calc (for testing)
- Multiple monitor support for Impress
- Improved Calc HTML export
- Enhanced Access support for Base
- Enhanced performance
- Enhanced color-palette
More than 3,200 graphics are included, both clip art and photos. These pictures are integrated into the gallery and can easily be placed into any OxygenOffice document. Several templates and sample documents are included, as well as over 90 fonts.
The extras are integrated by default in the installation of OxygenOffice Professional, but they are optional, so the user can decide what parts to include and what parts to leave out. These extra templates, fonts, and graphics are free for both personal and professional use.
Additional tools like OOoWikipedia, which can search the free on-line encyclopaedia Wikipedia, are also included. An enhanced help menu, addtional User´s Manual, and the enabled extended tips are great to help beginners get started using OxygenOffice Professional.
OxygenOffice Professional is based on OpenOffice.org 2.1. This latest and greatest version has new functions like enhanced PDF management and direct export to LaTex.
The OxygenOffice Professional team of internatioanl developers changed the name of the project , (which was formerly known as OpenOffice.org Premium), to simplify things and point out that this project is independent from the OpenOffice.org project. Our team loves and supports the OpenOffice.org project, and did not want to cause any potential confusion.
PlusOffice
- Affordable, fully-featured set of office applications, based on OpenOffice.org office suite.
- As useful and capable as MS Office. Graphical User Interface (icons, desktop, windows and menus) is very similar.
- Can import, read, edit, exchange, and save filed with other office programs such as Microsoft Office.
- Is available for Microsoft Windows and Mac OSX.
- PlusOffice Free edition is licensed for unlimited number of computers.
PlusOffice is equipped with an information window that is shown when the application loads. You will find here info about updates, upgrades and new releases.
PlusOffice consists of a few integrated programs which allow editing text documents, creating spreadsheets and multimedia presentations, preparing graphics, and creating data bases.
- Writer – text editor
- Calc – spreadsheet editor
- Impress – multimedia presentations
- Math – mathematical formula editor
- Draw – graphic program
- Base – data bases creator and editor
PlusOffice allows you to export any document directly to a PDF file.
PlusOffice allows you to view and edit documents in MS Office formats such as doc, xls and ppt.
PlusOffice uses ODF (Open Document Format) as the default format for its documents. This format allows you to view and edit files using any text editor. The ODF standard is becoming widely used by business and public sector, including US State and foreign governments. Microsoft has recently announced that the ODF is going to be supported in Microsoft products.
SSuite Office – The Fifth Element
As with all installations, please create a restore point before installing any software. After installing the office suite, drag your Windows Taskbar to the Top of your screen. Go to your Startup folder and run the “Clock” or “Desktop Startup” shortcuts.
Crystal Office
Crystal Office is is the essential office suite ideal for home and business users, delivering more tools that make your work go faster and your life go easier. Find all the essential office software to complete routine tasks faster and with better results. Create and edit text and graphics in letters, reports, documents and Web pages. Perform calculation and manage lists in spreadsheets. Keep track of appointments and tasks. Open, edit and save Microsoft® Office documents.
What’s Included:
• NotePro – feature-packed easy to use word processor. Create polished documents of any length or type, including reports, letters, resumes and brochures. Manage standard text files, Rich Text Format, Word, and HTML.
• DayMate – a versatile intuitive day planner. Use DayMate to create and schedule reminders than can pop up messages, start applications or open documents, check for new e-mail, dial phone numbers, send messages, and open a specified Web sites.
• CellPro – a powerful and easy-to-use spreadsheet application. Use CellPro to create budgets, invoices, receipts and expense reports. Organize, analyze and manage important data and financial information. Open and save Microsoft Excel files.
• ChartPro – a project management software application that is used to create and display projects using a Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) Chart. A WBS chart displays the structure of a project showing how a project is organized into summary and detail levels. Using a WBS chart is a more intuitive approach to planning and displaying a project.
• Clip Plus – the award-winning Windows Clipboard enhancer. It works alongside the regular clipboard and automatically grabs and saves text. images, and objects as they are copied to the clipboard – making them available for saving, reuse, and printing.
So there; there’s a few options and I’ve just saved you at least $400.
I’m sure there’s more office suites out there that can help you; there’s even ones that are web based, but I just don’t quite trust those yet [general stuff should be fine- nothing confidential].
I could be completely off base- if so, I welcome your feedback!
Thanks for reading!
And I love coffee! 
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There's a lot of awesome open source free alternatives to microsoft office/windows. linux is getting more popular on the desktop, and comes bundled with open office and/or abiword (both free). there's an article that talks more about them here: http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/200733...
Well yes, Taylor, thanks for pointing that out; I think that was the point of my article completely. I think I already mentoned ABIWORD and OPEN OFFICE already, but thanks.
And Linux is doing better and I think everyone should reference your link from 2007 [almost 3 yrs ago] about the alternative to Windows. I guess I should mention that a new version of Ubuntu is coming out v9.10 [a bit more current though].
Thanks for your comments.