Are you always rooting for the underdog? In the world of productivity suites, you don't need to pay a lot to get the basic tools for reading, writing and arithmetic. Read the reviews to find out what's in each bundle, from the freebies to the full-featured suites.
It's no secret that Microsoft dominates the productivity suite market, but that doesn't mean it's the only way to go. Corel, Sun Microsystems, Apple, IBM, and others offer alternatives at a fraction of the price of Microsoft Office 2007. Corel WordPerfect Office X3 sports interface improvements and one-click PDF, HTML, and XML publishing. The lesser-known StarOffice 8 provides basic productivity tools and throws in a couple of extras, such as a drawing program. OpenOffice 2 is Sun's free version of StarOffice. And IBM just rolled out a free test version of its Windows- and Linux-compatible Lotus Symphony suite.
If you to take productivity tools wherever you go, then you can pick from online services including Google Spreadsheets -- now with Presentations too -- as well as the free plug-in for Microsoft Office that enables you to save ODF files.
Microsoft Office Standard 2007
Microsoft Office Standard 2007 is a worthy upgrade if you need to make sleeker-looking documents and presentations. But you stick to your current software if you don't feel that it lacks anything.
Corel WordPerfect Office 12.0 Home Edition
Other than providing inexpensive versions of WordPerfect and Quattro Pro, WordPerfect Office 12.0 Home Edition is an uneven suite of applications.
StarOffice 8
Sun streamlines its productivity suite, StarOffice 8, a tempting bargain alternative to Microsoft Office.
ThinkFree Office 3
ThinkFree Office 3 is a low-cost alternative to Microsoft Office that lacks advanced tools but offers a free online component that's a handy work in progress for frequent travellers.
Google Spreadsheets
The online Google Spreadsheets is free, easy to use, and handy for collaboration, but stick with Excel for complex spreadsheets.
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vikingbrad
02/10/2007 07:47 AM
Pretty silly not to include OpenOffice.org which makes probably the best free alternative
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dan_rox77
11/10/2007 03:49 PM
Does anybody know whether NeoOffice is any good?
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Longinthetooth
14/10/2007 08:44 PM
I don't see how any of the products compared can be considered alternatives when none include a replacement to Outlook. Any Office suite must be based around the basics of Outlook, ie, e-mail, calander/diary/task list. If none include an alternative, is there a standalone alternative that can be integrated with any of the alternatives. It really is a worthy objective, and something I think such articles can help achieve if they actually say publically what is essential.
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