Microsoft Office is one of the more popular desktop softwares used, but for some of us it’s a bit pricey. There are some really great, free and open source alternatives that you could use – lets see what we have:
- OpenOffice – www.openoffice.org
- LibreOffice – www.libreoffice.org
- Abiword – www.abisource.com
Features
OpenOffice & LibreOffice
LibreOffice is a fork off OpenOffice. The features of both include:
Writer – a word processor you can use for anything from writing a quick letter to producing an entire book.
Calc – a spreadsheet with tools to calculate, analyze, and present your data in numerical reports or graphics.
Impress – multimedia presentations.
Draw – lets you produce anything from simple diagrams to dynamic 3D illustrations.
Base – lets you manipulate databases. Create and modify tables, forms, queries, and reports.
Math – lets you create mathematical equations with a graphic user interface or by directly typing your formulas into the equation editor.
Abiword
Abiword is really a crossplatform word processor, so, especially if you’re only interested in an alternative to Microsoft Word then its worth trying.
I currently use LibreOffice but before that had OpenOffice. I didn’t switch intentionally, but my main Operating System of choice, Ubuntu, switched to LibreOffice and I just stuck with it. I never looked at them comparatively – they both served my purpose.
