Open Office.org

Can't afford MS Office?

            Can't afford Microsoft Office, but still need the compatibility to function with the rest of the corporate world?  There is now a less painful solution by using an Open Source product called Open Office.org, currently at version 3.1.

            Open Office.org is the result of over twenty years of software engineering.  It has blossomed from a single Word clone to an entire Microsoft Office competitive suite of products.

Writer: (Comparable to Microsoft Word) It is a fully functioning word processor desktop publisher with powerful features which include: Autocorrect, Autocomplete, Autoformat, Style and Formatting control, Text Frames and Linking, Table of Contents, Indexing, Bibliographical References, Illustrations, Tables, and other object manipulation tools.  While simple enough for a quick memo, it is stable and powerful enough to complete entire books.

Calc: (Comparable to Microsoft Excel) New users to Calc will find the look and feel familiar to what they would have remembered from Excel.  Calc is very intuitive and easy to learn. It is loaded with powerful features such as: Advanced Datapilot technology, Natural language formulas, an Intelligent Sum Button, Style and Formatting control and even a Scenario Manager for those "what ifs."

Impress: (Comparable to Microsoft Powerpoint)  Impress is an outstanding tool for creating effective multimedia presentations.  Impress also has a very familiar look and feel to what people would remember from Powerpoint.  Impress is packed with the ability to use 2D & 3D clip art, fontworks, special effects, animation, easily configurable custom menus and other high-impact drawing tools.  Impress allows you to output work in a variety of formats including: pdf, html and flash.

Draw: (Comparable to CorelDraw, Microsoft Visio, Adobe Illustrator) Draw is a very versatile drawing utility that allows you work on anything from vector graphics to photo realistic images.  Primarily for vector graphics, it also excels at elaborate flowcharts, organizational charts, network diagrams.

Base: (Comparable to Microsoft Access) Base enables you to manipulate database data with easy within the Open Office.org suite.  You can create and modify tables, forms, queries, and reports using your choice of database.  Base comes with its own integrated HSQL database engine.  Base offers the all levels of users a variety of Wizards, Design and SQL views.

One of the biggest selling points for Open Office.org is it is compatible with so many other Office Suites including: Wordperfect, StarOffice, Lotus, MS Works and most importantly Microsoft Office formats (including Office 2007.)  This can make company wide transitions almost seemless.  There are only minor changes (if any) to most documents when imported into to current version of Open Office.

Open Office.org, all of this value for a cost that anyone can afford, Free.  Open Office.org is released under the LGPL license which allows you to use it for any purpose (personal, commercial, educational or public administration, etc.) with no limit to the number of computers you can install it on or worries about legality of the installs at your home or office.

For more information:  http://www.openoffice.org/