OpenOffice.org

Article one of a series of articles entitled, Free Alternatives.

Frustrated that you can't open attached Microsoft Office documents in your email and don't want to shell out bucks for Microsoft Office or an Adobe pdf writer? Relax - there is hope.

By Mike McCarthy

I have found a great alternative to the Microsoft Office suite of applications called OpenOffice.org and best of all its Free!

OpenOffice.org (originally StarOffice) is a multi-platform, open source product acquired by Sun Microsystems (the Java folks) in 1999. OpenOffice.org is not only the name of the development project; it’s also the name of the product and website. OpenOffice.org applications rival (and in many cases out-does) the more popular Microsoft Office suite of applications. This includes Writer (similar to Microsoft Office Word), Spreadsheet (similar to Microsoft Office Excel), Impress (similar to Microsoft Office PowerPoint), Base (similar to Microsoft Access), Draw (Microsoft doesn't offer one anymore), and a few other nifty applications end-users might find interesting. One of the attractive things I found in evaluating OpenOffice.org is that I can open, read, and write in a multitude of file formats including Microsoft Office formats (.doc, .ppt, .xls, .dbm) and even read and export to Adobe .pdf format!

OpenOffice.org's license agreement is clear: When you download and install OpenOffice.org you can use it, give it away, join their development team, become a tester, or sign up for product feedback. In general, OpenOffice.org is free to use by any end-user up to and including corporations, enterprises, and any other like organizations. You just can't sell it. Sun Microsystems is the main supporter and contributor of OpenOffice.org, but not the only contributor in the continuing global development and support of OpenOffice.org. According to the OpenOffice.org web site,

“The OpenOffice.org project is primarily sponsored by Sun Microsystems, which is the primary contributor of code to the Project. Our other major corporate contributors include Novell, RedHat, RedFlag CH2000, IBM, and Google. Additionally over 450,000 people from nearly every curve of the globe have joined this Project with the idea of creating the best possible office suite that all can use. This is the essence of an 'open source.' community!”

So far, the only drawback to OpenOffice.org I see is that they do not (yet?) provide an email alternative to Microsoft’s Office Outlook. But then again, you can always download and install Eudora Mail or Mozilla’s Thunderbird. You can learn more about OpenOffice by clicking on the links below:

OpenOffice.org
Sun Microsystems, Inc.
Gnu Lesser General Public License

Contact Information:
mike@itcaz,com
http://www.itcaz.com