Tuesday, February 1, 2011

Software Alternatives


                                 I do a lot of writing. I wouldn’t say that I have mastered the art of it, but I do believe that my potential is unlimited. I believe though that one has to have the right software for these purposes. I believe that Microsoft Office Suite fits into this category. It has a very good word processor and has only gotten better over time. Not only can you write and edit your writings with Office, you can do a whole lot more.

                          With Microsoft Office you get the Word processor and a whole lot more. Here are the other products that come with the suite: there is Access, which lets you build databases, there is Excel, which is used for spreadsheets, there is Info Path, which lets you design form’s, there is Lync, which lets you communicate with others right there in the office suite, there is Power Point which lets you create presentations, there is also the following products:  One Note, Outlook, Project, Publisher, SharePoint Workspace, and Visio.

                         They also make a version for the Mac and mobile phones as well. I like many others have only one real concern with Office: affordability. So if there are any out there who haven’t heard or don’t know, there are a few alternatives. One of the best known is Open Office. If you haven’t tried it, you need to. It does everything that Microsoft Offices does, and then some. The best part of it, it’s free. Open Office was a part of Sun Microsystems (the good people that gave us Java), which was bought by the bigger software company, Oracle.  For now let’s just hope Open Office continues to stay free.


                         The other office suite out there that does the same is LibreOffice. It really does everything that Open Office does. It was formed by some developers who left Open Office after Oracle bought it. I believe that both make really great office suites. They both can open any Microsoft Office file. The downside, is that Microsoft Office can’t open their files. Another really great alternative is Google Document’s. I’ve got to tell you that I was really impressed upon using this as well. It’s free also and it opens up all office files, including PDF. The only other office software out there that I know about is AbiWord. It is not as powerful, but still a very productive free office suite. I would really encourage you to get out there and try all of these wonderful software applications. Go ahead get out there and enjoy your day.          
     

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