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Office Suites
OpenOffice.org
http://www.openoffice.org/
*NOTE:
The Open Office Suite is very handy and can save you a ton of money. I
use Writer all the time to create PDF documents. However, there are
several drawbacks you should be aware of. If you create a document in
Writer and need to send it to someone who uses Word then you will need
to save it as a Word document or they won't be able to open it. Also,
Calc and its formulas work fine when originally created in Calc. If you
have an Excel spreadsheet with a lot of formulas in them that you want
to convert into Calc you may find that some formulas didn't convert
well and your new spreadsheet doesn't work as it should.
While
this program is informally known as Open Office, since this title is
the trademark of another party, it is formally referred to as
OpenOffice.org. This program is offered for a variety of operating
systems such as, Linux, Microsoft Windows, and the MAC OS X. It free
and based on Star Office which is an office suite developed by
StarDivision and acquired by Sun Microsystems in August of 1999. The
source code was released in July of 2000 with the idea of cutting into
the major marketing share of Microsoft Office by affording a free and
first rate alternative.
Obviously, the great value of this
program is to individuals and businesses with multiple computers who
can then eliminate the need for additional licensing of each machine.
OpenOfice.org
is an assortment of applications that mesh together smoothly to supply
the features you would expect to find in a modern office suite. The
features available include:
Writer
This is a word processor that emulates the look and feel of Microsoft
Word with a comparable range of features. It offers the ability to
export Portable Document Files (PDF) and can also handle WYSIWYG
editing and creating of web pages. One of the things that sets Writer
apart from Microsoft Word is that many of the functions and formats
from the spreadsheet Calc are available in tables created by Writer.
Calc
A spreadsheet with roughly the same range of features present in
Microsoft Excel. However, Calc can automatically define a series for
graphing using the layout of the data. It can also write spreadsheets
directly into a PDF file.
Impress
Impress can create presentations similar to Microsoft PowerPoint. It
can export to Adobe Flash (SWF) files which can then be played on any
computer that has the Flash player installed. It can also create PDF
files. One of the drawbacks is the lack of ready-made presentation
designs. However, there is an ample supply of templates you can
download on the internet.
Base
Base is a database program comparable to Microsoft Access. It supports
the creation and manipulation of databases, along with the formation of
reports and forms that allow easy utilization of the data.
Draw
Draw is a vector based graphics editor with features similar to
CoralDraw. It is great for flowcharts and has many comparable features
of Desktop publishing software available in Scribus and Microsoft
Publisher.
Star Office 8
http://www.sun.com/
This
is the commercial version of Open Office.org offered by Sun
Microsystems. If you want more support and a few more bells and
whistles than Open Office you might want to try Star Office which you
can download for about $70. They offer three free phone calls to
technical support during the first 60 days and you can run the software
on as many as five machines at the same time. In addition, there is
extensive help available from the wizards available in the File menu.
Serif Software Free Site
http://www.freeserifsoftware.com/default.asp
Not
exactly an office suite but a collection of desktop publishing tools
from Photo and Page Plus to Web and Draw Plus. To promote their wide
range of products Serif Software sponsors a site that offers earlier
versions of their products that you can download for free (or a nominal
$10). You then
register the product as if you bought it. This puts you on their
mailing list for great price cuts on software you may decide to buy
later.
Hosting
For Hosting I have the
highest recommendation for HostGator. They are the only hosting company
I have ever dealt with that you can consistantly reach on the phone at
any hour for your sales or technical questions.
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