The majority of consumers will have some kind of computer at home nowadays. Some will use it for fun whilst others may use it for work either full-time or part-time. In some cases computers come with standard desktop software like Microsoft Office loaded on.
In others, consumers may have to pay to buy these kinds of products. Given that they are so widely used, many see them as an essential buy but they don't come cheap. Many people will use the free OpenOffice.org suite as a compatible alternative.
What is OpenOffice.org?
This is a free suite of programs that can be downloaded and used without cost or license on both home and business computers. Designed originally to give an alternative to Microsoft's suite this software gives the same kind of features and benefits in a range of individual, yet connected, programs.
These include:
- Writer (for word processing)
- Calc (for spreadhseets)
- Impress (for multimedia presentations)
- Draw (for creating drawings/pictures)
- Base (for databases)
- Calc (for working on equations and calculations)
The software used here is "Open Source". Licensed for free use this also means that anyone can access the code that builds the programs to make improvements if they wish.
What are the Advantages of Using OpenOffice
There are a range of advantages to using this program as an alternative to commerical options. These include:
- This software is 100% free to download and to use.
- Users can use it for both personal and business use.
- Users can hold copies of the software on as many computers as they like.
- The programs in the OpenOffice suite cover all the major desktop applications.
- Documents produced are usually compatible with Microsoft documents. So, for example users can open up a Word document in Writer to work on it. They can also save documents with Microsoft file extensions to give compatibility that way.
- Programs closely mimic the look and feel of Microsoft Office making them easy to master.
- The Open Source elements of the base software mean that it is being constantly being improved by its users.
There are fewer reported disadvantages to using this program than advantages. It can run a little slower than commercial products and it may take a little time to pick up the differences and changes.
Who Uses OpenOffice?
People use the suite for various reasons and in various ways. Some simply do not see the point of paying to buy other desktop applications products when this suite comes free and does essentially the same job. So, they may simply use it as their sole software package.
Others may use it in tandem with other paid for programs. It can, for example, be useful if:
- A consumer has a single license to run Microsoft Office on a PC that doesn't extend to their laptop. Here, they could simply download OpenOffice to their laptop and swap files as necessary.
- A parent who gives their child a PC or a laptop but who doesn't want to pay extra to put MSOffice on it. The child may need to work on specific desktop applications for school work and they can then use OpenOffice and, again, swap files around as necessary.
- An individual that already has some Microsoft products under license but not the full suite. They can simply use the OpenOffice programs that fill the gaps.
OpenOffice can be downloaded even if a user has Microsoft products already installed on their computer making this a useful and cost free addition to many desktops.
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