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Survival Without MS Office
Posted by Unknown
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Saturday, September 12, 2009
Not too many years ago a monopoly swept the nation. Every business rushed out to buy a set of tools known as Office. It was considered the standard, the perfect working environment for all tasks on the computer. By the year 2000, nearly every business produced documents, spreadsheets or presentations using either the 1995 or 1997 version. Even Mac users were in the game by 1998. But Microsoft continued to change their product, making those using an older version feel inferior. In fact, the “upgrade crusade” marched on in 2007 so that backward compatibility was more difficult than ever.
The home user has been left behind. With the price tag of a new version of Office hovering around $200, most PC owners would rather try to get by without a new version every 2-3 years. Not only that, but learning the new tools and interface is time consuming.
So what do we do? First of all, there are plenty of other options with all the basic productivity of the the big name. Listed below are some options for students, parents, and anyone else that will produce equally acceptable results. Maybe you’ll never buy software again!!!
Open Office: An open-source suite that has no license and therefore is free. It is open-source so that improvements are created continuously. It flows easily from any Microsoft version. Most people find it much easier to learn.
Google Aps: Highly successful at most everything on the web, Google is now setting a new standard for online productivity. Although you will need to create a free account with Google, you will have access to your work wherever you can access the internet. Many high schools require students to have gmail addresses and calendars. By using the documents portion, you will have also spreadsheets, presentations and websites that are super easy to create.
Zoho: New online but similar to Google, the idea behind Zoho is to take our normal office suite and make it collabortive. You will need a log in but after that it is smooth sailing.
PowerPoint Alternatives: Sure there are many ways to write a simple report, but what about the big time, a presentation. This link lists 13 online options for making the smoothest, coolest presentations without having PowerPoint. One nice option is that these are available online for other people to view your presentation, making sharing a breeze. No more worries about version compatibility either.
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The home user has been left behind. With the price tag of a new version of Office hovering around $200, most PC owners would rather try to get by without a new version every 2-3 years. Not only that, but learning the new tools and interface is time consuming.
So what do we do? First of all, there are plenty of other options with all the basic productivity of the the big name. Listed below are some options for students, parents, and anyone else that will produce equally acceptable results. Maybe you’ll never buy software again!!!
Open Office: An open-source suite that has no license and therefore is free. It is open-source so that improvements are created continuously. It flows easily from any Microsoft version. Most people find it much easier to learn.
Google Aps: Highly successful at most everything on the web, Google is now setting a new standard for online productivity. Although you will need to create a free account with Google, you will have access to your work wherever you can access the internet. Many high schools require students to have gmail addresses and calendars. By using the documents portion, you will have also spreadsheets, presentations and websites that are super easy to create.
Zoho: New online but similar to Google, the idea behind Zoho is to take our normal office suite and make it collabortive. You will need a log in but after that it is smooth sailing.
PowerPoint Alternatives: Sure there are many ways to write a simple report, but what about the big time, a presentation. This link lists 13 online options for making the smoothest, coolest presentations without having PowerPoint. One nice option is that these are available online for other people to view your presentation, making sharing a breeze. No more worries about version compatibility either.
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