Open Office (The Free Microsoft Office Alternative)
Open Office is an open source office suite package. Click HERE for the Open Office home page. This is a full featured product that provides basic office suite functionality (word processing, spreadsheet, and presentation). The two greatest things about this product are:
Here is my experience with the software so far:
We received ownership support to roll out Open Office to over 100 field users of a national contract service company. These users seemed like good candidates for this software as they only need basic office functionality with Microsoft Office compatibility.
The main decision to do this was based on cost. Employees need to be able to write letters, generate spread sheets and presentations and we had to do this the most cost effective way possible. Open Office seemed to fit the bill nicely.
The rollout has not gone without a hitch. A couple of the problems that we have run into are:
As a general comment I think Microsoft Office is a fantastic product. It is definitely the industry standard and has some awesome features. However, from a business standpoint where basic functionality is needed Open Office is really hard to beat with a free price tag. And it would be irresponsible for any IT department to blindly follow the Microsoft Office path without at least examining the alternatives.
I will blog more on this topic at a later date and let you know how our Open Office rollout is going and how the issues are working out from a long term perspective.
- Because this is Open Source Software it is absolutely free.
- It is compatible with Microsoft Office. The software can read and create documents in Word (.doc), Excel (.xls), and Powerpoint (.ppt) formats.
Here is my experience with the software so far:
We received ownership support to roll out Open Office to over 100 field users of a national contract service company. These users seemed like good candidates for this software as they only need basic office functionality with Microsoft Office compatibility.
The main decision to do this was based on cost. Employees need to be able to write letters, generate spread sheets and presentations and we had to do this the most cost effective way possible. Open Office seemed to fit the bill nicely.
The rollout has not gone without a hitch. A couple of the problems that we have run into are:
- Document formatting inconsistencies -- We are in the process of correcting most of these problems by having a talented admin reformat our commonly used word documents to look normal when opened in Open Office or Word. So far, our complaints have been reduced.
- Excel Spreadsheets macros do not work -- This is a larger problem only for people that use the complex features of Excel like macros and special formatting options. However, I have found that die hard excel users will not like Open Office. Most normal Excel function seem to convert without too much trouble.
As a general comment I think Microsoft Office is a fantastic product. It is definitely the industry standard and has some awesome features. However, from a business standpoint where basic functionality is needed Open Office is really hard to beat with a free price tag. And it would be irresponsible for any IT department to blindly follow the Microsoft Office path without at least examining the alternatives.
I will blog more on this topic at a later date and let you know how our Open Office rollout is going and how the issues are working out from a long term perspective.
