Over the years, several free alternatives to Microsoft’s Office Suite have come on the scene.  We have great computer-based applications, such as OpenOffice, and we have online options like Google Documents.  Zoho is another online-based alternative to MS Office.

Zoho currently contains online options for Word Processing, Spreadsheets, Presentations, Notes, Wiki, and email.  So far, I have only used their Presentation App, Zoho Show.  Zoho Show allows you to either create a presentation online or upload an existing Powerpoint presentation.  Once your presentation is published, you then have the option of sharing it with others.

By now, most people have heard of Microsoft Office (Word, Excel, Powerpoint, Access).  MS Office can be found on most business computers (hopefully legally).  In addition, most schools require students to use Office for many of their assignments.  However, not all computers come with a fully functional copy of MS Office.  By fully functional, I am not referring to Microsoft’s trialware version of Office which allows people to use the software for a specific # of days.  I have lost count of the # of people who thought that the computer they purchased last year came with MS Office for free, then did not understand why MS Office stopped working after the trialware expired.

If you really want MS Office, then you can pay the $100 + to upgrade your trialware version or pay $200 to $400 for a full version (depending on the exact Office package you purchase).  Or you can go to www.openoffice.org to download a free version of an Office Productivity Suite that is compatible with the common MS Office applications.

Advantages of using Open Office:

• Free
• Less vulnerable to attacks than MS Office applications
• Large array of file compatibility
• Ability to save files as PDF’s
• Ability to save presentations as Flash SWF files
• Open and Save files in Word, Excel, and Powerpoint formats.
• Ability to be run as a “Portable App” (more on this in a later post)

Is Open Office for you?  That depends on your needs and wants.  Most people who have Microsoft Office do not come close to fully utilizing the program’s capabilities.  In many cases, Open Office will more than enough cover individual needs in an office productivity package.  If you want a program that has all of the same eye candy and bells and whistles of Microsoft Office 2007, then Open Office 2.x will not fit that bill.  You should go ahead and purchase MS Office 2007.  On my personal laptops, I still use Microsoft Office 2003 for most of my office productivity work.  However, I also use Open Office as well.    On computers that I do not already have a Microsoft Office license to install, then Open Office is an excellent and very cost effective alternative.

Do you have problems opening up Microsoft Office 2007 files because you are still running Office 2003?  I am constantly getting .DOCX files from people using 2007.  I (and several million other Office users) and sticking with Office 2003.  Instead of asking the Office 2007 users to re-save their files in the more broadly compatible format for Office 97 – 2003, I use Microsoft’s Office Compatibility Pack to convert the files to the 2003 format.

Click Below to download the Conversion Utility from Microsoft.
Download details: Microsoft Office Compatibility Pack for Word, Excel, and PowerPoint 2007 File Formats