Four alternatives to Microsoft Office

[rpm]

Four alternatives to Microsoft Office

If you want to kick off 2009 with a fresh new start then take a look at these alternative Office suites that are free.

 

[rwenzori]

I see that IBM Lotus Symphony is also free. Is it any good?

 

[sunsoffun]

NeoOffice.... it must be really slow to startup.

 

[DJNgoma]

OpenOffice FTW

 

[Tux]

OpenOffice FTW

amen.

 

[ThatOtherGuy]

NeoOffice.... it must be really slow to startup.

LOL

 

[The_Unbeliever]

NeoOffice is imminent - it will only work on selected PC's...

 

[Luke7777]

Any alternatives to MS Publisher ? Have one kid on MS, one on OO

Will look at the extensions though, might help

 

[bwana]

I prefer iWorks (though I've only tried Open Office, NeoOffice, and of course m$ office).

 

[MrG]

OpenOffice really is not bad for personal use or student use so you dont have to pay the huge Office software costs.

Business use... would people agree Microsoft Office is probably still better just because of ease of compatibility between different systems etc.

If everyone was using OpenOffice great but most out there still use MS Office.

 

[Peder]

i find myself missing openoffice when i don't use it...

Although nowadays openoffice is quite interoperable and you can save everything in m$ etc...

 

[chiskop]

Business use... would people agree Microsoft Office is probably still better just because of ease of compatibility between different systems etc.

Rofl. Ease of compatibility between what? A large proportion of business users haven't moved to Office 2007 (and why should they?) so can't read the latest office formats in any case.

OOo docs can be read on windows, Mac and linux. And you can save to .doc if the recipient doesn't have OOo.

 

[Takkies]

Which Office Suite??

OpenOffice really is not bad for personal use or student use so you dont have to pay the huge Office software costs.

Business use... would people agree Microsoft Office is probably still better just because of ease of compatibility between different systems etc.

If everyone was using OpenOffice great but most out there still use MS Office.

I agree - no question. I use MSO2007 for my business.

I am sure though that most users don't really use the advanced features. In this case I would have to agree with them too. Many CA's for example only need to perform basic addition/subtraction of tables e.g. financial statements.

Certainly I would also recommend that if all you have is an old office and you can't afford (or can't justify) the upgrade I would suggest you look at OOs.

 

[Veroland]

I have been using OO for problably about 5 years now and will never go back M$ Office. OO is just lanes ahead!

 

[bwana]

Out of curiosity - Do the same people that believe OpenOffice is as good as Microsoft Office also believe The Gimp is as good as Photoshop?

 

[chiskop]

I think that OO meets the needs of 95% of word-processor/spreadsheet users' needs. I can't think of any MS Office features that I use, that are not available in OO.

I don't think the GIMP is any kind of replacement for Photoshop, if you're a serious Photoshop user.

 

[gerhardd]

What about VBA macro functionality in Excel? I use that extensively, would this work in openoffice?

 

[Cyberdude]

Version 3.0 of OpenOffice was released earlier this year

Really?

 

[Pyro]

What about VBA macro functionality in Excel? I use that extensively, would this work in openoffice?

5% has to include something.

 

[LazyLion]

Out of curiosity - Do the same people that believe OpenOffice is as good as Microsoft Office also believe The Gimp is as good as Photoshop?

Personally, I would not say so... on either count. But for people who are (1) Cash Strapped and (2) not computer fundies and just dabbling (this accounts for a large portion of my client base)... the free alternatives are not a bad offer.