Open Office
I just found out about Open Office, a Microsoft alternative that can save in MS files. From what I can tell they offer alternatives to Word, Excel, Power Point, and Access. They also have a “Draw” program which seems to be similar to MS Publisher. I can’t believe I didn’t find this earlier! The other day I was looking for an alternative to Power Point that I could use to make a Power Point presentation.
I just read too that Microsoft is cracking down on pirated copies of its software. I am going to try Open Office. I would love to find a free, quality, alternative to Microsoft Office.
June 1st, 2006 at 3:48 pm
Glad you found OpenOffice.org! It’s a great program and can even be set up to automatically save in MS Office format if that’s what you need. (Tools > Options.)
Draw is wonderful — it’s perhaps more like Canvas or mini-Illustrator, with aspects of Visio (connector lines). Between Draw and Writer, you can do most things you can do in Publisher.
You can also use all your current MS Office templates in OpenOffice.org (except Publisher). Just open them up with File > Open. I also have a tip on my blog for converting MS Office templates, then bringing them into the OpenOffice.org template repository.
http://openoffice.blogs.com/openoffice/2006/03/templates_makin.html
Here’s one that’s on templates, and using Draw.
http://openoffice.blogs.com/openoffice/2006/03/making_postcard.html
The new OpenOffice.org equivalent of Powerpoint, called Impress, is a huge improvement over the 1.x version. It looks a lot like Powerpoint; I think you’ll like it.
Have fun with OpenOffice.org!
June 3rd, 2006 at 9:46 pm
OpenOffice is good. I’ve used it for years, mainly due to the fact that they provide a Linux version, which of course Microsoft doesn’t for MS Office.
June 7th, 2006 at 4:21 pm
Do you s’pose MS will sue for infringement on the word “Office”?