Free Software Options
You just saved a bundle on your laptop purchase but it only has the basic operating system software and purchasing the software to accomplish the task and have the productivity you were looking for is now going to cost you more then you just paid for your laptop. Well the good news is that today there are a number of alternatives out there that you can use and many of them are free.
We all know that free is good, and there are some great alternatives to Microsoft Office out on the market today, some of which offer additional features that are not offered by Microsoft Like a PDF writer.
So where do you find these free software programs and just what can you accomplish with free software anyways. There are a number of sites on the internet today where you can go and find very good software packages that you can use for free and are available by downloading them strait on to your computer you can be up and running in minutes.
One great option you might check out is Google Documents and Spreadsheets and can be found by typing Google Documents and Spreadsheets your web browsers search bar. It allows you too create documents, spreadsheets and presentations online. There you will find the Google On-Line word processing and spreadsheet applications. One of the draw backs to this option though is you have to be connected to the internet when ever you want to use these application. They are very user friendly though and the learning curve is not that complicated. This program allows you to share and collaborate in real time, safely store and organize your work, and control who can see your documents.
Zoho Writer is another free online word processor. This to is a very good program and like Google you will have to be on line in order to use this product.
IBM Lotus Symphony Documents
IBM announced in Sep 2007 that their Lotus Symphony Documents was available and FREE and has a built in PDF writer. This free software can be downloaded at their website.
Lotus Symphony
"Voted office productivity software product of the year for 2008 by Datamation Magazine readers. In what can only be described as an upset, relative newcomer, Lotus Symphony, beat out Microsoft Office, OpenOffice 2.3.1, ThinkFree Office and other nominees by Datamation Magazine Readers." You can download this free software at their website also.
Other free Office alternatives that are out there are:
ThinkFree Office
If you have been working with Microsoft Word, Excel or PowerPoint, with ThinkFree Office 3 you'll feel right at home. It looks feels and behaves just like the Microsoft products whether you're using it on Windows, Linux, or Macintosh. The download link for ThinkFree Office is located on their website and it too is free.
Sun Microsystem's Open Office
This free software has been around for years and includes a very nice suite of applications and it too has a built in PDF writer. The download link for this great software package can be found at (www.openoffice.org)
So, consider the above and save a bundle. These applications all are compatible with the Microsoft applications as files can be saved in word and excel format. Before you purchase an expensive software package don't you owe it to yourself to at least check out some of these products?
Gloss