Face it: In corporate America, Microsoft is the lingua franca. But the recently released OpenOffice.org suite offers you an alternative. Billing itself as a seamless replacement for Microsoft Office apps, OpenOffice.org saves you the $479 cost of either the new Microsoft suite or the $239 for its upgrade. The open source freeware is backed and financed by — big surprise — Sun Microsystems.
Graphic artists, contractors, and people who are behind in their upgrades will love OpenOffice.org. Why pay for software you're only going to use once a year?
Able to run on Linux, Windows, and Mac OS X, the package operates best as a translator for the old Microsoft applications you probably already have on your hard drive. For example, a PowerPoint file in the latest Microsoft format was sent to me for review. I was supposed to look it over, make tweaks, and send it back out. But I have last year's PowerPoint, and Microsoft's latest free PowerPoint viewer wouldn't display the notes or make any changes. So I used OpenOffice.org to access the file, do the needed work, and save it as PowerPoint 95.
But keep in mind that actually composing new documents is tough to get used to. On startup, the software engages an arcane feature that tries to complete every word as you type it. The word processor sometimes shifts embedded graphics on the page, breaks up tables in strange ways, and makes it difficult to set the options for headers. The revision feature can act up when converting a Word doc, and the free suite won't open WordPerfect files. For the hassles, however, the yearly savings are worth it. I may never have to go back to OfficeMax.
PLAY
Blonde Ambition
Maxed Out
Geek vs. Geek
Boy Toy
Ben Kenney, The Roots
Life Imitates Star Trek
Read Me
The Republic of AI
Talking Fashion
Containment Strategy
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
Gusgus
Elvis Presley
Sonic Youth
SOCOM: U.S. Navy Seals
UFC Throwdown
Toxic Grind
All About Lily Chou-Chou
One Hour Photo
fetish
Free-Range Sound
Digital Filmmakers
Debug It Yourself
Plug-and-Play Camp
Hi-Fi, Lo-Effort
One Suite Fits All
