Free Alternative to MS Office!

[tonyp56]

Hello everyone, if you'd like a FREE office suite check out http://www.openoffice.org/. I recently downloaded it and installed it on my computer and it seems to work OK. It opens and edits MS word, excel, and powerpoint documents, and it also saves documents so that they can be opened by MS Office as if it were created in MS Office. Of course it doesn't have all the bells and whistles that MS Office does, but it doesn't cost $300+ for it either. I like it!

It's a 45MB zip file download, it would take awhile on dial-up!

It is Freeware, not shareware, or a stupid trial version. Sun Microsystems and others are the ones that have created it, it is more or less a community of people who work on the software.

Ok, it is actually open-source under the GPL/LGPL/other licenses (General Public License and the Lesser General Public Licenses). Basically it allows anyone to change, add, or etc to the software as long as what ever changes they make are also covered by the GPL/LGPL/other licenses. There is more information at http://www.openoffice.org/license.html. But it is 100% free, that and because I wanted to be as simple as possible is why I said freeware. Check it out.

Thanks

 

[Mark_AR]

I've used OPenOffice for a long time. I have no complaints.

If you want a free PHOTOSHOP type program.... Try The Gimp 2.0.

http://www.gimp.org/

It can be a little tricky to install, but for the price...

First you need: GTK+ Runtime Environment
http://gimp-win.sourceforge.net/stable.html

Then go to the second paragragh after you install the Runtime and DL Gimp 2.05.

Open source ROCKS!!!

 

[korsjs]

i have office 03 on my main computer, got it for 20 bucks through my wifes work. i need something to open those documents on my second computer and will give this a try. before you say you should have got two at that price, there was a limit of one.

i will let you know how i like it. thanks for the link.

 

[TuxCoder]

Open source ROCKS!!!

Yeah man.

I used OpenOffice a long time ago and it seemed to handle most files but some wouldn't open quite right. It should be much improved by now. I don't have any need for office apps at home but maybe some time soon I'll install it at work to see how it's doing.

The Gimp is pretty powerful but I personally can't stand its user interface... MSPaint is actually more suited to me in terms of user interface (but has <1% of the functionality of Gimp). Also, nitpicking, but I don't like its name either... I think it stands for something like GNU Image Manipulation Program but still.

Both are of course great open source programs though and I encourage everyone to try them out. Just look at the Mozilla projects; they have been gaining substantial popularity simply from many non-Linux users giving them a try.

 

[tonyp56]

I've used OPenOffice for a long time. I have no complaints.

If you want a free PHOTOSHOP type program.... Try The Gimp 2.0.

http://www.gimp.org/

It can be a little tricky to install, but for the price...

First you need: GTK+ Runtime Environment
http://gimp-win.sourceforge.net/stable.html

Then go to the second paragragh after you install the Runtime and DL Gimp 2.05.

Open source ROCKS!!!

Thanks for the link!

Thanks

 

[slacker9876]

For anyone looking for a killer browser package you should check out Firefox. It blows IE6 away. I never knew about any of this stuff until I started running Linux ... now I am an MCSE who will not use Microsoft products unless I HAVE TO, open source is great.

 

[hometheaterman]

I also use open office. I have Office but don't like it a whole lot and prefer open office. I also use Firefox as it seems to be less prone to letting spyware in. DB Power Amp is a great music player/ripper and a bunch of other stuff. Audacity is good music editor. There are very many open source programs that are very good.

 

[TuxCoder]

I tried Firefox and personally can't get used to the minor differences from Mozilla's main project. But when I'm setting up other peoples' (Windows) computers, I always go the Firefox route.

 

[hometheaterman]

At first I didn't like the minor differences but tried it again and realized it was much better and then started experiencing family members getting lots of spyware which they haven't gotten any since using firefox.