Despite losing its way of late - leading to rival LibreOffice taking the lead, OpenOffice is now firmly back on track and making waves of its own.įor those uninterested in such rivalry, the key thing to note is that OpenOffice will write and open most Office formats, while its cross-platform nature means you can use it across Windows, Mac and Linux without having to learn a whole new way of doing things. Of those free alternatives, the granddaddy is OpenOffice, the first serious rival to Microsoft Office. The need to run Office for compatibility's sake is no longer as compelling as it was either, with a raft of free alternatives all capable of opening even the latest Office document formats with few problems. But both don't come cheap, which can make it a prohibitive cost for an individual or small business. It releases updates twice a year, is available in over 100 languages, and has thousand of collaborators worldwide.If a friend or colleague asks you to recommend an office suite, your first thought is likely to be Office for PC or iWork for Mac. LibreOffice has equivalent word processing, database, presentation, and spreadsheet programs as OpenOffice. LibreOffice: This free and open-source software was originally “forked” or built using the same source code, from OpenOffice.Google G Suite: All you need is a Google account and you’ll have free access to Google Docs, Sheets, Slides and more.You can use all your favorite office apps and get a free 5GB OneDrive account to save all your work to the cloud. Browser-Based Office 365: I mentioned the expensive Office 365 suite, but I didn’t mention the free browser-based apps.They are Drawing (which is similar to Google Drawing in the Google Docs suite), and the Database (or Math) app which is a mathematical equation editor that can be used in either text documents or as a stand-alone app. There are two OpenOffice programs that won’t be found in Office 365. Nonetheless, despite its dated aesthetic, all the essential buttons can still be conveniently located, enabling users to create documents and spreadsheets in the desired format. The screenshot provided illustrates that the OpenOffice suite has a slightly outdated appearance compared to Office 365, with many buttons located in the sidebar rather than in the ribbon style utilized by Office. I’ll be honest, OpenOffice may not be as good as Office 365, but the question you have to ask yourself is - does it matter?ĭo you need all the bells and whistles that come with Excel (and let’s be honest, no home user uses 80% of the in-depth features) or Word? The OpenOffice apps are close enough to the Office options that the average user won’t care about some of the features that aren’t included.Ī side-by-side look at OpenOffice and Office 365 programs However, OpenOffice emerges as a viable alternative, offering a free solution that effectively accomplishes the task at hand. One key factor that may discourage individuals from opting for Office 365 is its high cost. Users can report issues or bugs, make product improvement requests, and see what others have to say on its active forums. The OpenOffice software is open source, which allows for quick improvements and contributions from users like you, from all over the world. Since 2012, over 294 million copies of OpenOffice have been downloaded. One of the first competitors to Microsoft Office’s suite of tools, OpenOffice is open-source software that has all the same programs as Office, albeit with different names. OpenOffice will uninstall and there is no need to restart the computer.Scroll down and find OpenOffice and click UNINSTALL.Type Add or Remove Programs in the Windows search bar.If, after downloading OpenOffice, you decide it’s not for you - you can completely remove it from your computer in a few easy steps. After you’ve chosen the apps you want to include click NEXT to finish the installation. To remove a program click on the little arrow and select THIS FEATURE WILL NOT BE AVAILABLE.If you chose ‘Custom’, continue to the next step. If you chose ‘Typical’ the installation will finish and you can start using all of the apps. If you want all 6 programs, just click on TYPICAL.
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