Open Office

Open Office is an alternative to Microsoft Office. The main difference in the two programs is that Open Office is free and everyone likes a bargain. It contains a word document processor like Microsoft Word, calculation spreadsheet much like Excel and presentation creator much like MS PowerPoint. As you browse around in Open Office, you will realize that it is much like the old and classic version of Microsoft Office. However, there are a some differences. For example, Open Office
contains no ribbon interface and importing may alter formatting. Open Office does not have complete support for the new file formats created by Office 2007 and 2010. On another note, they do have an awesome import export system, updates cost nothing and the program is compatible with all computers. It runs a little slower but still works perfectly fine. Open Office does provide an option to add on grammar checking, but it is not built in like Microsoft. They have document viewing options, of course not as powerful as Microsoft but can still be effective with Web View. Both spreadsheet packages offer conditional formatting but they do not offer Smart Art. Open Office tend to be easier to understand because there is not nearly as many things you can do and you can open different applications in one page. I found this to be very beneficial because you cannot do this in Microsoft, you have to open each application separately. The file sizes are much smaller so they take up less space on your computer. I did not have a real problem with Open Office, I think I would use it if I did not already have Microsoft Office simply because it's free and much like Microsoft Office! So if your a student and can't afford an expensive system, or are simply looking for one but want to save money... Don't fray, download Open Office today!