Open Source Software for Windows – Open Office

Open Source Software for Windows – Open Office

When it comes to every computer, no matter what the user’s needs are almost everyone has similar needs in common; an office suite of tools. Microsoft Office, being the leader of this field, is found on almost everyone’s computer, be it the free trial version or a fully licensed suite. Of course this software is great for filling our word processing, presentation and various other work type needs, but the one thing that is less then desirable about it is the price tag. If you’re looking to get a hold of a copy of Microsoft Office 2010 be prepared to pay 160 dollars for the home/student version and upwards of 700 dollars for the professional. In my honest opinion that is far too much… for ANY software. There are, of course, ways to Microsoft Office for free, but if pirating and breaking the law aren’t you cup of tea why not look into open source software for Windows?

Open Office is a suite of software that offers tools as counter parts to each individual program in Microsoft Office’s suit but for the price point of completely and totally free. Open Offices suit of software include Writer (Word), Calc (Excel), Impress (Power Point), Base (Access), Draw (Publisher and Visio) and Math (Equation Editor).

Open Office was a God send for me during my college years. I had just bought a new laptop and required all of the office tools to do my school work; unfortunately all my new laptop came with was the trail version of the software suite. Once that had run out I was left to my own devices to find a suitable office suite of tools. Before I went the route of piracy I decided to do a little research into open source answers to my question and low and behold, I found Open Office. Because Open Office’s output files had full compatibility, none of my professors had any issues with opening files I sent them.

Open Office is definitely one of my most used pieces of open source software for Windows. With excellent software, and at the price point of free, how can you go wrong?