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Jason Parker
MS Office too pricey? Here are 3 free alternatives

Jason Parker
Contributing Editor, Downloads
Friday, December 13, 2002
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Microsoft Office is a great productivity suite. It may be a little much for someone who just needs a word processor, but it covers all the bases. Plus, since most everybody uses it, there's rarely a problem with sharing files.

But what if you don't want to spend that much money--at least $300 for Office XP Standard--on software? Or what if you need only a word processor or a spreadsheet program, and don't want to fill up your hard drive with a bunch of extras? It hardly seems worth it to pay for the whole suite of tools if you're only going to use some of them.

Fortunately, I've found some great productivity apps that cost a whole lot less than MS Office--in fact, they're free. Plus, they're all compatible with Microsoft Office file formats, so you should still be able to swap files with your Microsoft-using friends.

602Pro PC Suite 2001 offers a great word processor, a spreadsheet program, and a graphics editor. If you don't need a presentation tool or a database app, this suite does the job quite nicely. (Free/Windows)

EasyOffice gives you a free word processor, a presentation app, a bookkeeping program, and a contact manager. I like this full-featured little suite so much I use it on my computer at home as well. (Free/Windows)

OpenOffice.org, an open-source project, provides you with a full set of office tools. The contributors to this program would like to make it the top free office suite in the world, and I think they're doing a good job. (Free/Windows)

While you may not get the exact same features with these apps that you would with Microsoft Office, you can definitely use them to perform all your basic productivity tasks. And just think of what you're gonna do with all that extra cash!

Do you think MS Office is worth the dough? Or are these free alternatives just as good? TalkBack to me!

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