Free Office Alternatives

Everyone knows what Microsoft Office is: think Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook. These basic programs are assumed by many to come pre-installed on new computers. Some folks have even called Windows (the operating system) Office (the application suite) by accident, thinking they were the same thing. They are not the same thing. Today I’m going to outline what Office does and some alternatives that might be better.

Microsoft Office is called a productivity suite because its about getting work done. Most professional or administrative jobs require frequent documents to be created. Many accounting jobs require spreadsheets to present data in an accessible format. And everyone has to read their email. Microsoft has capitalized on the business professional since the mid-nineties with their Office Suite of programs. Microsoft Word is a word processor and document creator. Microsoft Excel is a spreadsheet editior and creator, allowing users to make formulas and even simple databases. Microsoft Powerpoint is for giving presentations. Users make slides with multimedia content that are presented in order by a speaker or manager, for exposition to a group. Finally Outlook is an email client with calender and contact management features. There are other programs in the professional suite, but I’m going to assume this core functionality.

Granted, Microsoft has done a great job with keeping office relevant and useful over the years, but they’ve started to lose people to a new breed of productivity tools that are free or even online-cloud based. Microsoft office costs around $240 per office user. You can get specials and deals and rebates, but for the full commercially-licensed Office 2010, that’s what you’re going to pay. This can be prohibitive to small business owners or office managers with a limited budget for IT software and hardware, I’ve seen it. Often times, businesses will go and purchase the home version of Office at Wal-mart, thinking they saved a hundred dollars or so. Microsoft has cleared up this confusion for you in the later versions of the software, including such warning at the top of the Home products as, “Not for Commercial Use.” That can be a little embarrassing if you’re trying to show a client a spreadsheet!

Increasingly, software vendors are creating cloud-based software, also known as software-as-a-service (SaaS). You’re already familiar with cloud-based productivity suites if you’ve ever used the Google Docs. The Google Docs is a suite of online applications that are free for gmail or google apps users. Simply go to docs.google.com and put in your gmail address and you can start creating documents, spreadsheets, and even rudimentary databases with forms. Google gets ad revenue from the ads that show up on the sides of your project, but they’re not too distracting. Projects can be saved online, eliminating the need for backing up files or having to manage and organize windows files or folders. They can be also shared with others, making collaboration easier across computer borders.

I must have hit a nerve with someone because as I was typing this, my site took a nose dive. Good, I must be getting close to the truth. Another potent Office alternative is Sun Microsystems OpenOffice productivity suite. This is a totally free suite consisting of a word processor, spreadsheet creator, presentation maker, and database creation tools. This has gained much popularity because it gives people the option of having a fully-functional office suite, installed on their computer, for free. Every computer I make or repair gets a copy of OpenOffice, I consider it so important. So what makes it such a big deal?

Well if nothing else, you save yourself or your business $240 bucks. Along with that, you get full compatibility with Microsoft Office documents and their .docx format, in a software suite that is licensed for free commercial use. Some people also like it because it has the look and feel of pre-Office 2007 Office, without the big start button in Office or the ribbon, which throws a lot of users off. Instead, Sun decided to keep the button layout that feels familiar to Adobe Photoshop or even your web browser. OpenOffice allows you to save as a pdf, too, if that is necessary. Overall, OpenOffice is a powerful suite of programs that Microsoft should keep an eye on.

So I hope you’ve gleaned a bit of knowledge from this post today. Know this: my intention with these daily articles is to provide useful, relevant knowledge to readers and attract frequent visitors to my site. I’m hoping I can entice you with free information and help, in return for thinking of me when your computer breaks, or when your business needs new computers, or when you need a new website. It is my pleasure to continue to post daily on technical issues or computer issues. If you have an idea for a blog post, please drop me a line at [email protected] and I will take it into consideration. Until then, see you tomorrow!