Options to avoid ultra-expensive Microsoft Office
Sep 10th, 2008 | By Robert Myles | Category: InternetIf you’ve recently tried to upgrade to a new version of Microsoft Office, you might be astounded by the price that it commands. It can cost over $400 for the professional version. Quite a pretty penny to pay.
Rather than paying Microsoft’s rather hefty fees, you might be more interested in looking at some of the alternatives that are out there.
One very reasonably priced alternative to Microsoft Office is Microsoft’s own Works. This is basically a stripped down version of the more robust Microsoft Office. However, Works usually does about almost everything the typical office user might need, and in most cases would be perfectly sufficient. What Microsoft does with Works is usually use an older version of it’s products and put in Works, so unless you need the newest whizbang features, you’ll most likely find the product to be just what you need.
Another excellent alternative would be Open Office. It’s a freeware version of Office created by developers as Open Source. What that means is that the programming done on Open Office is done out in the open by developers around the world.
Many users have found that Open Office is a good alternative to Microsoft’s Office products. It offers free alternative versions to Word, Excel, Powerpoint and Access. And the best part is that it’s completely free. There is no charge for using Open Office, it remains free for all users whether personal or corporate. It remains very compatible with most versions of Microsoft Office. Which means that if you create a document in Open Office and mail it to a friend or coworker with Microsoft Office that the document will open fine for them, and vice versa. However, many users have complained that Access isn’t very forgiving of the differences between the programs.
My personal favorite however is Google Documents. When you log in to your Google account, you get access to Google Documents, where you can create word documents, excel documents very similar to how it works in Microsoft Office.
One of the best parts about Google Documents, is that you never have to worry about losing your documents due to a hard drive going bad, as they are housed directly on Google’s servers with backups.
Also with Google documents it’s very easy to share and co-edit the same documents right online. We use Google documents almost exclusively in our office, and love how easy it is to collaborate on projects together.
You can create compatible documents using multiple alternative sources. Even though Microsoft Office is the leader, it doesn’t mean you have to spend all that money to get your office productivity done.