Did you know there is a free alternative to Microsoft Office? If you only need to use an office suite for writing basic documents, spreadsheets and the occasional powerpoint, you don’t need to pay hundreds for Microsoft Office. Here’s a quick look at OpenOffice.
OpenOffice is a multiplatform, multilingual open source office suite. OpenOffice is compatible with many other office suites, including Microsoft Office. This means that you can open Microsoft Office files as well as save Microsoft Office files. If you have a .doc Microsoft file that you need to open at home, you don’t have to worry about compatablity issues because OpenOffice will read and write to that format.
One of my favorite functions of OpenOffice is that it allows you to save files directly to PDF. So if you are writing a document, spreadsheet, or any other office file you have the option to save it as a PDF. As a college student this is great since most professors prefer to have electronic copies in PDF format.
If you dual boot Windows and Linux this program is a must have. I have it installed on both my Windows and Linux partitions so that I can access my files whether I am in Windows or Linux.
To download OpenOffice visit the download page. OpenOffice is available to Windows, Linux and Mac users.
If you need a lightweight document writer, take a look at Abiword which is open source and available for Windows, Linux, and Mac.
Image from http://id.openoffice.org/images/open-office-metro-ad.jpg
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Written by Eric
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March 23rd, 2008 at 12:49 am
[...] Jonathan Schlaffer wrote an interesting post today onHere’s a quick excerptDid you know there is a free alternative to Microsoft Office? If you only need to use an office suite for writing basic documents, spreadsheets and the occasional powerpoint, you don’t need to pay hundreds for Microsoft Office. … [...]
March 23rd, 2008 at 12:50 am
[...] Jonathan Schlaffer wrote an interesting post today onHere’s a quick excerptDid you know there is a free alternative to Microsoft Office? If you only need to use an office suite for writing basic documents, spreadsheets and the occasional powerpoint, you don’t need to pay hundreds for Microsoft Office. … [...]
March 25th, 2008 at 7:15 am
On a Mac you don’t need an application to save anything as PDF!
Just choose ‘Print…’ and click on the ‘PDF’-button.
March 25th, 2008 at 10:15 am
@tripleX
You made a good point about being able to print to PDF on a Mac. I had forgotten this was available by default, since it isn’t on Windows or Linux. You can setup a virtual printer to print to PDF in Windows, Linux, and Mac. Guess Apple decided to include it by default!
March 27th, 2008 at 11:45 pm
[...] Nathan_Buggia wrote an interesting post today onHere’s a quick excerpt [...]
April 15th, 2008 at 10:02 am
[...] free alternative to Microsoft Office. For more information on OpenOffice check out my recent post Open Office- The [Free] Microsoft Office Alternative. However, if you already use OpenOffice on a daily basis, then you have probably noticed how slow [...]