Super Moms Face Challenges TOGETHER

Like MS Office, But Free

TechHero

by Michael Penner

Free software that actually works as good, if not better, than paid software is becoming an established trend on the internet. The driving force behind this phenomenon are software developer communities that are volunteer based and quality minded. The software many such communities produce is known as Open Source Software because the source code is not hidden and can be modified by anyone that has the inclination to do so. They make money through donations, and it is surprising how effective this has become. Prestige also plays a part, since being known as a key developer in a successful Open Source project can bring with it many more paying clients on other projects.

In recent years this has led to the emergence of a viable alternative to the popular Microsoft Office ® suite of applications in the form of a free open source product called OpenOffice (www.openoffice.org). With the recent release of version 3.1, I decided to give it a go and installed OpenOffice on my two Windows based computers and my Macintosh G4 running Leopard. The result has been pleasantly surprising and has in fact made my life easier in many ways, not the least of which is cost savings and a significant performance improvement over my current copy of Microsoft Office.

I can now easily share files between my Macintosh and Windows computers, and other people using Microsoft Office. OpenOffice provides seamless compatibility with Word and Excel, though I must admit I have yet to test the same with PowerPoint and MS-Access. And yes, I sent a donation to pay for the software.

But OpenOffice doesn’t provide an e-mail client, such as Microsoft Outlook® which is integrated with the MS Office Suite. For that, I installed a free product called Thunderbird (www.mozilla.org). I no longer run Outlook, but this not because I find Outlook deficient. I just find Thunderbird easier to use, and of course I can install it on all my computers without paying a dime.

OpenOffice and Thunderbird won’t work for every situation, but given the expense and cost of ownership that MS-Office can incur, these two applications are definitely worth the time to investigate.