A Microsoft Office Alternative

Computers today can be very expensive especially when buying the software to complete everyday tasks such as writing a letter or creating spreadsheets.

In the past Microsoft Office has been the program to complete these tasks. With the release of Vista, Microsoft's latest operating system we were also given the option to upgrade to the latest version of Microsoft Office (2007). Prices starting for this latest software package start at £130 rising to an unbelievable £560!

Why spend that kind of money on a piece of software when you can download a package from the OpenSource community for FREE?

What's the catch? Well there isn't. All you need to do is learn where the formatting tools are located on a different program.

Get OpenOffice

About OpenSource

Open Source is a term used to describe a program which the source code is available to the general public for use and or modification from it's original design free of charge. Open Source software is generally built in a collaborative effort where groups of programmers work on and share changes within the community. The Open Source Initiative (OSI) ensures that Open Source software is free to the general public along with the source code for the programs.

Open Source software is as reliable as purchased software and sometimes better too. A piece of purchased software only receives the support from the company who produced it whereas Open Source software has support from the whole community. Upgrades and fixes are usually released much faster too.

About OpenOffice

OpenOffice.org is the leading open-source office software suite. It has several great features that work extremely well as Microsoft Office alternatives. These are:

• Writer - Very similar to Microsoft Word
• Calc - Very similar to Microsoft Excel
• Impress - Very similar to Microsoft Powerpoint
• Draw - An extra to the package
• Base - A database package.

Customising OpenOffice

Once you have installed OpenOffice and try to run any of the new applications you will have to complete the registration form.

Once you have gone through the registration you should see the open program. I chose to open StarOffice Writer first. Once it has loaded select Tools and then Options.

Now click the Load/Save + symbol and select General. Near the bottom of the dialogue box there is a Default File Format section we need to change the Document Type for Text Document, Spredsheet and Presentation. They need to Always save as: Microsoft Word 97/2000/XP. This will mean that both Microsoft Office and OpenOffice will both be able to read the same documents without any problems.
Now click OK.

Congratulations your Mircosoft Office alternative is now setup and you haven't spent a penny!