OpenOffice
OpenOffice is a fully fledged office application suite, complete with a
word processor, spreadsheet and presentation graphics program.
OpenOffice will be more familiar to some people as Sun
Microsystems' Star Office, which until recently was a free download.
With the launch of Star Office 6, Sun changed its
policy: the full office application suite would now cost (a still very
reasonable) ?50, while this completely free version is available to
download.
Both share the same source code, with a few
differences. Open Office does not include the Star Office
Adabas D database, certain fonts (especially Asian language
ones), some templates and certain file filters. This is
because Sun pays to license third-party code in Star Office
which it doesn't have permission to give away in Open Office.
But yes, you do get a fully featured word
processor, spreadsheet, and presentation graphics program
that are all compatible with Microsoft Office, along with an
HTML editor, maths and a drawing package.
It's the best choice if you're on a tight
budget, fancy trying something different or don't want to hand
over more money to Microsoft.
It is a large download, so be prepared for a
long wait and use a download manager for convenience.
Note: Download from the OpenOffice web
site:
Open Office web site:
http://www.openoffice.org/
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