Try Open Office, It's FREE
Over the years, I have used many different kinds of “office suites”. I mean, I go way back to the good old DOS (Disk Operating System) 3.1 or before, days.
I played with Open Office (OpenOffice.org) many times. I have recommended at certain times because it was free. Not because it was a great program. Well, I am here to tell ya, I am now recommending it cause it is a fantastic program.
Open Office has come of age. And what I mean by this is that it has nearly every feature that we expect today with our modern office suites. It comes with a word processor, called Writer. I almost can’t tell the difference between it and Microsoft Word. I love it, and IT’s FREE!! (Watch Out Bill Gates, now we all have a real choice!) This word processor even saves in HTML format, so you could make very funtional webpages. It’s not Frontpage, not meant to be, but it would make good simple pages for those who want to try their first website.
They have a spreadsheet program called calc. I see some differences between it and Excel. But, I promise for the average user, it’s got all you need and more! It has a database program, like Microsoft’s Access. Again, I see differences, but how many regular people use these things? And as I said, of the other program, it’s got all most of us really need.
Oh, and Ah!! A program like Power Point, and I am oooh so impressed!!! It’s very nifty.
It also comes with a nice little math program where your student of the day can actually do his math on the computer with the proper symbols if he likes! (or she, sorry gals…. I’m a bit math impaired myself..)
The only thing missing that I liked with Microsoft’s Office Suite, is Outlook. I am rather spoiled. Outlook is a great personal information manager (PIM) and email client. But, there are ways around that too (email me if you have a question)
This program (product) is sponsered by Sun Corporation, so it’s got a big name behind it and will continue to grow. But, it’s “Open Source” which means it’s free, and it’s source code is free so that anyone can play with the program and try to improve it and join the gang to works on it. Pirate NO MORE (no, you’d never do that, it’s a JOKE)…. It’s free, it’s great…
I’ve installed it!
It’s Microsoft Office compatible, comes with Word Perfect filters and will run on almost any operating system (Windows, Mac, Lindows, Linux, etc.)
The download is a bit over 70 megs. For those with DSL or Cable, this is nothing. For those of you on dial-up, plan on an evening with your machine…. or send off for the CD, or email me.. I can make ya one…
Hugs!!! Peg
