Greg Johnston, tech columnist

Last week saw lots of excitement in the world of computer tech.  Microsoft’s Windows 7 rollout was of course the big news, and there is some anticipation it might spike PC sales at least a bit as some potential buyers may have been putting off new PC purchases to avoid machines with Vista pre-installed.  Apple has been leveraging the Windows 7 launch, trying to take some of the shine off Microsoft’s rollout with some hard hitting “Buy a Mac” commercials – I’ve seen three new ones this past week, and I hardly watch any TV. 

Whether or not you like Apple, you have to admit the marketing is brilliant and often funny. But let us say you’ve bought yourself a shiny new Windows 7 PC. What software will you load on it? 

After getting some quality anti-virus/internet security software, the next choice is usually some sort of office productivity software. In fact, it’s very likely your salesperson will offer you Microsoft Office. MS Office Home & Student 2007 for about Cdn$160 is a common choice for home users, giving you three licence keys (so you can put it on a total of three PC’s, with the understanding they have to be the same family and address). 

Should you shell out more money for a version of Microsoft’s Office suite? Or should you go with a free (or lower cost) alternative? Both Microsoft Works or OpenOffice.org might fit the bill, but not cost any extra.

If you meet the licensing requirements, and don’t need the more sophisticated email, contact management and calendaring functions of Outlook (no longer included in Home and Student), this is pretty reasonable for full versions of MS Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. If you’re a business user, at minimum you’re looking at MS Office Standard – about $500 Cdn for a full version (not upgrade), which can easily buy a decent basic PC.

If it’s a retail PC, chances are good it already comes with Microsoft Works – which most people turn their backs on faster than a sneeze in an elevator in these H1N1 conscious days. MS Works in the past deservedly earned a poor reputation. It had basic functionality for word processing and spreadsheets, but documents created in it couldn’t be edited or opened correctly in Microsoft Office, so no bringing work home, and the kid’s homework very likely wouldn’t open properly at school.

MS Works is still the little-brother version of Word and Excel from MS Office, but it does now have the ability to save in the formats of Office 97 through Office 2003 (.doc and .xls primarily), which has effectively become a standard in homes, businesses, and schools everywhere.

Since few homes or even small business users tap even a smattering of the extensive “power” features of Word or Excel, for many Works may be as much office software as they need, if documents are created primarily for use in-house. You do need to remember to save in Office 97-2003 format instead of the default .wps format, however, if you want to be confident of formatting remaining consistent if the documents will be worked on in MS Office or other office software at another location. Works does not include presentation software – that is, it has no equivalent to PowerPoint.

If you do make use of the more advanced features found in Word and Excel, or need presentation software, are you destined to shell out for MS Office?  The answer is no – maybe.

The no is because there are a number of free or low cost alternatives to Microsoft Office. Sun StarOffice and Corel WordPerfect X4 offer roughly comparable, and in some case better features to MS Office at considerably lower prices. 

But you don’t even have to pay to get a full-featured office productivity suite: OpenOffice.org (aka OOo) is an open-source offshoot of Sun StarOffice, and as usual with open-source software, that means the software is free for download.

The OpenOffice.org productivity suite includes equivalents to all the common Microsoft Office programs: Writer instead of Word for text, Calc for spreadsheets, Impress for presentations, Base for database management, as well as Draw for drawing and diagramming (on par with older versions of CorelDraw), and Math, a tool for editing mathematical equations.

Many people like that the features and appearance of OpenOffice closely follow MS Office 2003.  While with use I have found I actually like the new “ribbonized” tools in Office 2007, they have not enjoyed universal acceptance or appreciation.  So for those users, OOo might actually seem an improvement in appearance and organization versus the current Microsoft offerings.

OOo documents can be saved in the default ODF (Open Document Format), but it can also open and save in Microsoft Office formats (.doc, .xls, .ppt), and can open, although not save in the new proprietary MS Office 2007 formats (.docx. .xlsx, etc.). Office 97-2003 formats are the most widely used everywhere, and Open Office can be set to save in them by default, helping to avoid the problem of creating documents that others might not be able to open correctly.

This brings us to the “maybe” part I mentioned earlier in regards to whether you can get a free office suite and avoid paying for MS Office.  While OOo handles opening and saving in Office 97-2003 formats well, it can have problems opening Office 2007 formats, and as stated can’t save in them. If you exchange a lot of documents with others within or outside your household or organization who work in Office, especially Office 2007, you might find it easier to go with the flow and buy Microsoft.

OpenOffice.org is currently on version 3.1, with an update expected this December to 3.2, which is expected to offer performance improvements and other technical tweaks, as well as a major update to the interface of Impress.

So whether you are a home or small business computer user, chances are good you can get the office productivity software you need for no cost.  In these tougher economic times, no cost not only means more money left in your pocket, but is actually trendy.  So you can save money and make a fashion statement, while in the form of OpenOffice.org giving up little, if anything in function versus paying for Microsoft Office.

OOo is available for Windows, as well as Linux and Mac OS X.

greg@infotrek.ca
www.infotrek.ca

http://www.openoffice.org/
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/05/11/openoffice_3_dot_1_review/
http://download.cnet.com/OpenOffice-org/3000-18483_4-10263109.html
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2332504,00.asp

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