Open Source Office

OpenOffice.org is an open source and fully functional multi-platform professional office suite. OpenOffice.org was originally developed by StarDivision of Germany as a proprietary Office Suite called StarOffice, the code was acquired by Sun Microsystems in 1999 and made Open Source in 2000. Since then it has enjoyed ongoing development and increased functionality. OpenOffice.org 2.0 was released in October 2005, this version and those that have followed have built OpenOffice.org's capabilities and features to the point where it is a more than viable alternative to most other commercial software offerings.

OpenOffice.org gives you everything you'd expect in an office suite. If you are currently using or have used other office suites such as Microsoft Office or Corel Office you will find that OpenOffice.org is easy to migrate to. As openOffice.org supports Microsoft Office File Format you can continue to use your old Microsoft Office files, you can create files in a multitude of file formats including Microsoft Office formats and you can be fairly confident that the recipient will have no problem reading, editing and returning those files. You can also export your documents to Adobe PDF format with just one click. All that and its cheaper than the competition too, its free, but don't let that put you off read on for more details.

One piece of software more than any other has dominated the desktop computer since the mid 1980's, that is the word processor. The Ability to read and write documents has been important both in business and at home since computer use became mainstream. In the years since 1986 there have been a number of office suites available, however if you look at your local software retailer you will be lucky if you see more than one available for sale.

In the last 10 years, Word processors have been packaged into and sold as part of an application suite, commonly referred to as an Office suite. Office suites usually consist of a number of applications that are geared toward office productivity, these include Spreadsheet applications, Presentation applications, Small Database applications and a host of other tools (image editing, mathematical applications, virtual binders, search tools, spell checkers thesauruses).

Office suites have been dominated by Microsoft's versatile Microsoft Office suite, with this application suite taking 90%+ of market. This has had a profound effect on the Office Suite Market, if 90% of businesses are using Microsoft Office then they will be using File Formats that Microsoft Office can produce and read, as such to communicate with these businesses other businesses also had to use Microsoft Office. As such it appeared that Microsoft through had an unbreakable stranglehold over the Office Market, and with it the desktop operating system market.

Firstly it is no longer the case that you need to use Microsoft Office if you wish to exchange text documents with other organisations, the PDF (Portable Document Format) has shown itself as a very efficient method of information exchange (with readers for this format being available for at no cost for almost every platform). Secondly a new office application built on Sun Microsystems StarOffice has been developed by the Open Source community, that application is OpenOffice.org. Finally with The International Standards Body's Approval of Open Document Format as an international standard, there is the potential that a single format will be widely implemented in Office suites, allowing integration regardless of the software that you use.

OpenOffice.org Writer is a powerful word processor similar in look and feel to Microsoft Word 2003, it boasts a wide range of functions and tools, and is an ideal replacement form most other word processing packages. Creating professional documents, reports, newsletters, and brochures is easy after a small amount of practice, especially if you have previous experience with word processors. You can quickly and easily integrate images, charts and other objects in documents, create anything from letters and reports to electronic books with professional layouts. Writer can also function as a WYSIWYG HTML editor, and can be used in a similar manner as Microsoft Word for creating and editing simple web pages. Other benefits include its wide ranging format support including support for Microsoft Word documents and the the ability to export Portable Document Format (PDF) files with no additional software. Many Templates are available free from various sources on the web. (More)

openOffice.org Calc is a solid and fully featured spreadsheet application with a most of the capabilities of Microsoft Excel 2003. In addition to these it also includes a system which automatically defines data series for graphing, based on layout. With Calc you can perform calculations, analyze data, and visually communicate your data quickly and easily. It is simple to use data to generate impressive 2D and 3D charts, making numerical data more readable and usable. Its advanced feature set allow it to be used to produce decision making tools and to perform sophisticated data analysis and projection. Calc also has good format support, including support for spreadsheets created with Microsoft Excel, and a intuitive import wizard. It also supports the creation of PDF files with no additional software. Many Templates are available free from various sources on the web.(More)

OpenOffice.org impress is an intuitive presentation application and provides a powerful way to create effective multimedia presentations. The included tool set allows you to create stunning presentations with amazing special effects, animation, video and images. Impress has good format support, including support for presentations created with Microsoft Power Point and can export presentations to Macromedia Flash format, allowing them to be played on any computer with a flash player installed. Many Templates are available free from various sources on the web.(More)

OpenOffice.org Draw is a vector graphics editor, comparable in feature set to CorelDRAW, it will allow you to produce anything from simple diagrams and posters to more complex illustrations and logo's. It is not a graphical editor in the same sense as Photoshop and The GNU Image manipulation Program or Inkscape, but complements other elements in the OpenOffice Suite. It also has good format support, and will allow files to be exported as PDF Files-->(More)

OpenOffice.org base is a database program loosely similar to Microsoft Access. With base you can create and manipulate databases as well as the forms and reports to provide a method of input and easy access and evaluation of stored data . Similar to Microsoft Access, Base is able to serve as a front end to a number of different database systems, including Microsoft Access databases, ODBC data sources, and SQL servers such as MySQL and PostgreSQL. (More)

OpenOffice.org Math is a specialised tool for creating and editing mathematical formulae. Formulae can be embedded inside other OpenOffice.org documents, such as those created by OpenOffice.org Writer. Math will also allow you to export files to PDF format.(More)

You can download your copy here, make sure that you select the version that you want (the latest "stable" version if you are using it in production, or a testing version if you want to test drive new features or carry out testing) and that you select the installation for the relevant operating system.