Starting and running a business requires a considerable investment of time, hard work and financial resources. Those that own a business quickly learn to look for ways to save money without sacrificing quality and function. For many offices computers and software make up a large portion of their expenses. For this reason we want to look at some open source alternatives to common programs used in offices.
Today we are going to talk about some open source alternatives to Word, Excel and Powerpoint. Before we begin, however, let’s discuss what open source really means.
Open source means that the code for the software is open to the public and not considered proprietary. People can alter the code any way they wish as long as they keep it open to the public. Some open source software costs money to use but most open source software is free. Today we will look at free open source alternatives to 3 common programs used by business.
1. Microsoft Word Alternatives
Word is a program used in most businesses across the country. It is an easy to use word processing program that allows you to create documents of all sorts. And since so many people use it, you often need it just to share documents with others. This has been a major sticking point for people wishing to utilize an alternative program.
Fortunately there are some great alternatives out there that are not only as powerful as Microsoft Word,but that are also free! Two options are Apache Open Office and Libre Office. They are just as powerful as Word and do allow you to create PDF’s, open Microsoft Word Documents and create eBooks. These can be downloaded for free and are very easy to learn to use!
2. Excel Alternatives
Microsoft Excel is the go-to program for making spreadsheets. Companies often use these to track money, expenses and even mailing lists. Excel is a powerful program that is utilized by many companies, making it hard to step away from for those wishing to switch to open source software.
Luckily both Apache Open Office and Libre have spreadsheet programs which can replace Excel for your business.
Both of these spreadsheet programs are called Calc and they are very similar in function. What’s best is that they can do everything Excel can do, all for free! This includes open, manipulate Excel files, create spreadsheets with formulas and much more. This is a great way to get out of the proprietary software trap.
3. Powerpoint Alternatives
Microsoft’s Powerpoint is a popular program used for creating presentations. It is easy to use and allows people with no graphic design experience to create beautiful presentations. For a long time Apple’s Keynote was the only real competitor to Powerpoint. Both, however, cost money and that can make them hard for companies to use, especially if they them on multiple machines.
Again we’ll turn to Apache’s Open Office and Libre Office for alternatives. Both have a program called Impress and it is the open source answer to Powerpoint. Impress allows you to create professional looking presentations very easily. They also allow you to open Powerpoint files, convert them to Impress and manipulate them.
Now, you may have noticed how similar Apache’s Open Office and Libre are, right down to the names of their software versions. This is because both come from the same program which were only recently split up under different groups of developers. Both versions of each program are open source and have similar functions, look and feel, however, is a bit different.
As with any change, there are usually a few growing pains. You need to learn how to use these programs and you have to look for formatting issues when you open files created in Microsoft. As long as you are aware of this, you won’t find it too much of a problem. after all these are free to use and can save your company a lot of money!