Microsoft has dominated for a long time, but there are some new alternative office suites available. The world of freeware and open source applications has grown.
There are now lots of alternatives that allow users to create documents, databases, and spreadsheets at lower costs. Many of the applications are free. It’s a growing trend for uses that are no longer interested in Microsoft Office Suites.
Photo by adria.richards.
1. Think Free
This program is geared towards smart phone users, and it is a popular mobile application because it is an online program. People that are running platforms other than Windows will appreciate this. Mac and Linux users can run the suite without any issues. It is even compatible with the Microsoft Office suite.
This application can be downloaded free on the iPhone and Android phones. It also gives users up to 1GB of space online for document creation and storage.
2. Lotus Symphony
IBM is in direct competition with Microsoft. Lotus Symphony is marketed as productivity suite software. It is free for download on the IBM website. This suite has applications for documents, spreadsheets, and presentations.
It runs well on Linux systems, and it has received a lot of buzz in the open source community as a decent alternative to Microsoft Office.
3. Neo Office
PC users that are looking for a MAC alternative can utilize the Neo Office suite. The suite has been available since 2003, and it has been one of few alternatives that have been made exclusively for MAC systems.
It has been constantly improved upon, and it is still downloaded by more than 100,000 users annually.
4. Google Docs
The company that reinvented the search engine appears to have a hand in every other aspect of technology. Internet browsers and software applications were inevitable.
Google Docs provides online documents, spreadsheets, presentations, and forms that can be opened on any computer or phone.
5. Open Office
This suite has become one of the most well-known open source applications on the market. It is used in schools and businesses that are looking for ways to cut costs.
It’s a free download that has a program that’s equivalent to everything in the Microsoft Office suite. It’s the most commonly used free productivity suite because it runs on multiple platforms. Windows, Mac, and Linux users can all run this software without any issues.
There is also an alternate version of Open Office called Libre Office. Open Office is backed by Oracle, but the Libre Office Suite is total open source code. It is fully developed by the community of open source code programmers.
29 Comments
It is great to have so many free products available rather than spend hundreds of dollars. Many companies choose Microsoft Office because of the support that comes with the product. The latest English version 2012 has free editions for Windows and Android.
There is another free office software which is quite popular in China – Kingsoft office. It is also a good alternative to ms office, with similar interface and fully compatible with ms office. The latest English version 2012 has free editions for Windows and Android.
Twitter: kingsoft_office
Libre Office is definitely better than Open Office as it has lots of indepenant people constantly looking at bug fixes from what I’ve read. So I’ve moved to it as well.
Libre Office is built from OpenOffice, and has been moving forward with development and support. I think Libre Office will be the leading open-source office suite going forward.
I don’t know how you people use OpenOffice, i had it pre-installed with my Asuis Eeee PC netbook – it was so bugged that not only it couldn’t last more than 30 second after opening/creating a document without a crash, it even couldn’t patch itself – the autoupdater crashed as well! More people would buy because they have legit software that is supported.
I guess that could be one of the downfalls to open-source, free software – dedicated support. I don’t use OpenOffice much because I am used to MS Office and know where the options/functions are in that office suite.
I also use Open office before and it is truly great but for now I didn’t use it because my computer had been formatted and it was gone.
I tried OpenOffice briefly, but it seems many people are moving from OpenOffice to LibreOffice.
You can download open office from the web. Just search for Open Office to find the best site for you.
Google Docs is getting popular day by day to open documents online on the fly……..Thanks for sharing…
I’ve installed open office on wife’s asus eeepc and sons pc’s all with no issues. I personally prefer MS OFFICE due to use of macros pivot tables and the like, but the cost of MS is crazy given the alternatives available. MS need a better pricing model.
MS Office pricing probably won’t change as they sell well as it is. Most businesses probably run MS Office. Let’s face it, in reality MS Office really isn’t that expensive compared to other software packages. Have you recently checked the prices for Adobe’s products?
True MS Products have come down in price but if they lowered them further no-one would question paying for their products and adobe are just plain crazy. Look if all software vendors started to sell at reasonable prices and only took a small margin they would be much better off. More people would buy because they have legit software that is supported. The world now has reached the point, due to its IT capable and willing users, that certain software should no longer be considered a must have when so many alternatives exist.
Companies go on and on about recovering their R&D, surely the exponential growth of MS shows they are easily achieving this. So they should flood the market with low cost sw and thereby increase their user base 10 fold. Its to easy to find alternatives and as my sons are now using open office why would they later wish to pay for a more expensive MS product ?
True, they could lower their prices, but then again I don’t know their profit margin is on the Office products. Just remember, however, they not only does R&D need to be paid for but also support for the product for many years in the future. Developing patches and service packs is also not cheap. They could increase their user base 10 fold, but how will they pay to support the 10 fold in user base? As I stated previously, however; I am not sure what their profit margin is.
Then again, Microsoft isn’t doing what most technology companies are doing with regards to prices for their products.
I don’t know how you people use OpenOffice, i had it pre-installed with my Asuis Eeee PC netbook – it was so bugged that not only it couldn’t last more than 30 second after opening/creating a document without a crash, it even couldn’t patch itself – the autoupdater crashed as well! I had to get rid of this monstrosity of a program and i’m using ABBYY Word instead as a text processor.
Looks pretty much like MS Word but doesn’t eats up as much memory and doesn’t crashes on first sight like OpenOffice.
While I haven`t used OpenOffice extensively, I don`t remember having the issues that you experienced. It`s too bad you had to go through that, but it`s good to hear that you found a Word processor that works for you.
I am an Microsoft Office users. Many company use it, since it supports with another product. and it is easy to use. I rarely use the open office, but the feature and appearance are a bit odd for me, I think, I’m not familiar with it.
It takes some time to get used to another office suite, but many people have switch to one of the free options. Many businesses have licenses for Microsoft Office, so their employees are familiar with that suite. I don’t mind Office myself, but others are deadset against using it. To each their own.
There are a lot of free alternatives available for those who need free software. This blog post is a great start to free office software.
I have found another little known office suite called “SSuite Office”. It is also free and has a lot of very useful applications included.
http://www.ssuitesoft.com
I have already been using open office and it’s a great alternative. Only problem with open office is that it cannot edit encrypted .docx files. Does any of the alternatives listed above support editing of docx files ?
It seems many use OpenOffice. As for encrypted Word documents, I haven’t really opened any encrypted documents so I really can’t help you there.
Yeah, many companies use Microsoft Office. It’s popular because of its brand and its quality as well. Open Office is great. Google Docs is really helpful for me when I have to make a presentation.
I agree. My company, however, blocks Google Docs because of the uncertain security aspect of it. Microsoft Office is used by most companies because they also get support from Microsoft with the licenses.
OpenOffice is a good free software that can using as an alternative for Microsoft Office.
OpenOffice is a good choice, however, many are starting to be concerned with the development of the suite, and the future of it now that Oracle owns the development. Libre Office is the same as OpenOffice, however, the development of that suite is done by a community, rather than a company.
Sorry, where are KOffice and GNOME Office?
http://www.go2linux.org/linux/2011/02/where-3-times-3-8-899
Twitter: linuxnote
I listed some of the popular choices, but I realize that there are many other options available. It is great to have so many free products available rather than spend hundreds of dollars.
I use openoffice on my home computer and think it’s great. At my office I use words as it’s my employers choice. I work in a large company 3000+ office workers worldwide. I am sure my company could have saved a lot by using open office instead. I am pretty sure we could done the same as today using openoffice..
Twitter: hupseymedia
Many companies choose Microsoft Office because of the support that comes with the product. With free or open source products, there is rarely any support – and I mean true support such as on-site help or 24 hours support. Open source or free is too risky for many companies, but it is great for the individuals.
I use Microsoft Office, mainly because I got the Ultimate edition for about 90% off the retail price. I have used Open Office, but have started to look at Libre Office.