Posts Tagged ‘open source’

With budgets tightening, software purchases can be burdensome.  Especially Microsoft software.

Enter OpenOffice.  I’ve used 2.0 for several years and it’s fantastic.  It’s a full suite that rivals the Microsoft Office suite with a word processor, spreadsheet, presenter, etc.  Oh yeah, it’s free.  Gotta love open-source software.

The interface is a combination of Office 2000 and 2003, which makes transition easier unlike the new interface of 2007.

The best thing about OpenOffice is that it can open and save Microsoft documents.  In other words, you can both open .doc files and save .doc files.

One of my more favorite features is the ability to save documents as a .PDF.  Score!  You can save even more money by not buying Adobe Acrobat.

It may not be for everyone as it does some things slightly differently than Microsoft.  However, for me the effort to best the small learning curve is totally worth the cost.  Free.

Read a review and see screenshots of 3.0, set to release possibly next week.  Or, better yet, download it and check it out.

Stereotypical So What?: With an easy to learn interface, powerful software, and compatibility with Microsoft, good stewardship compels those with tight budgets to explore OpenOffice for their office productivity needs.