Comments on: 5 Free or Open Source Alternatives to Microsoft Office Software http://itmanagersinbox.com/1001/5-free-or-open-source-alternatives-to-microsoft-office-software/ Resources for IT Managers Thu, 03 May 2012 02:38:49 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.2 By: Useful Softwares | Warren Tang's Blog http://itmanagersinbox.com/1001/5-free-or-open-source-alternatives-to-microsoft-office-software/#comment-1476 Useful Softwares | Warren Tang's Blog Thu, 06 Oct 2011 08:14:27 +0000 http://itmanagersinbox.com/?p=1001#comment-1476 [...] Softwares Updated on 10/06/2011 by warrentangOfficeMicrosoft Office OpenOffice.org LibreOffice5 Free or Open Source Alternatives to Microsoft Office SoftwareEmailThunderbird http://www.mozilla.org/support/thunderbird/profile Running from a USB drive [...] [...] Softwares Updated on 10/06/2011 by warrentangOfficeMicrosoft Office OpenOffice.org LibreOffice5 Free or Open Source Alternatives to Microsoft Office SoftwareEmailThunderbird http://www.mozilla.org/support/thunderbird/profile Running from a USB drive [...]

]]> By: Dave http://itmanagersinbox.com/1001/5-free-or-open-source-alternatives-to-microsoft-office-software/#comment-1413 Dave Mon, 21 Mar 2011 03:28:39 +0000 http://itmanagersinbox.com/?p=1001#comment-1413 This is a good list of free alternatives. Let me add one to the list as an alternative to Visio. LucidChart (http://www.lucidchart.com) is web-based which makes it particularly appealing for teams as it supports real-time collaboration. This is a good list of free alternatives. Let me add one to the list as an alternative to Visio.

LucidChart (http://www.lucidchart.com) is web-based which makes it particularly appealing for teams as it supports real-time collaboration.

]]> By: Sam http://itmanagersinbox.com/1001/5-free-or-open-source-alternatives-to-microsoft-office-software/#comment-1392 Sam Sun, 02 Jan 2011 21:30:06 +0000 http://itmanagersinbox.com/?p=1001#comment-1392 Thanks for the insight and the list of open source software. Thanks for the insight and the list of open source software.

]]> By: DrK http://itmanagersinbox.com/1001/5-free-or-open-source-alternatives-to-microsoft-office-software/#comment-1389 DrK Sun, 02 Jan 2011 19:26:39 +0000 http://itmanagersinbox.com/?p=1001#comment-1389 OpenOffice is more than an alternative--it is in many ways superior to Microsoft Office, and offers a tremendous amount of flexibility both for use as an office suite, as a platform for new products, and/or as components in some other solution. Besides Dia, don't forget that OOo (and derivatives, see below) includes a Draw program. Don't forget Inkscape (http://inkscape.org/) and GIMP (www.gimp.org GIMP is more a Photoshop replacement than a Viseo replacement). For those in more technical fields, look at the Eclipse based UML and associated tools (http://www.eclipse.org/modeling/mdt/?project=uml2) PortableApps carries Dia, GIMP, OOo, and Inkscape (Windows only, but still handy to always have on a USB flash drive or SD card). Because of the rather poor track record of Oracle, who took over Sun, there is a good deal of concern about the future of OpenOffice. Many of the principle developers are continuing to work on it, but as part of the LibreOffice suite, which is now under the Document Foundation (documentfoundation.org). The three main supporters of OpenOffice all have used different derivatives (Sun (now Oracle) had StarOffice (now Oracle Office), IBM used the components in an Eclipse wrapper for Lotus Symphony, Novel has supported and distributes go-oo. All of these are based on the core OpenOffice code, which are customized to support proprietary (which the various vendors have license to use) features, provide a different user experience, etc. See http://wiki.services.openoffice.org/wiki/OpenOffice.org_Solutions for a list of various other customizations and options for use of OpenOffice. Go-oo is now collaborating with Libre Office. We will have to see what IBM and Novel do as time goes on. The good news is that these are all compatible with each other, and even plug-ins designed for one typically work with others. This can be a bit confusing! If all you want is an office suite, just download LibreOffice. You can choose plug-ins/add-ons from OpenOffice site or the Document Foundation. There is also some other helpful free open source software of high quality that works well with OpenOffice/etc. TreeLine (http://treeline.bellz.org/) is a very robust but easy to use application to create outlines and hierarchical/XML databases. FreeMind (http://freemind.sourceforge.net/wiki/index.php/Main_Page) and VYM (View Your Mind http://www.InSilmaril.de/vym) are nice mind-mapping tools. Finally, if you need a fully functional embedded database with full transactional support (ACID), it is simple to add the H2 database (http://www.h2database.com/) as a replacement for the lighter weight database engine distributed with OOo/LibreOffice. There are also several extensions for use with MySQL on the OOo page, if you need to step up to an enterprise class RDBMS. Keep your eyes open for increasing integration with XML databases (such as eXist http://exist.sourceforge.net) and/or the Drools (aka JBoss rules) platform. Combined with semantic web approaches (http://www.semanticdesktop.org/) very elegant and powerful enterprise (and personal) document management, data extraction and data mining (perhaps using tools like Mondrian, RapidMiner, JasperReports, R, and/or Weka--all FOSS) and rule-based workflow. This will be a huge change for many, as the power of systems currently costing 5-6 figures becomes available for 'free' (you still need to invest in time, energy, people, training, just like you would with anything else). Much of this will happen first with OpenOffice/LibreOffice/etc. because #1 they are open source and easier to enhance, and #2 they use international standards internally (rather than Microsoft's long-standing FUD technique of creating its own one-off but still mostly XML Windows-only pseudo-standards). OpenOffice is more than an alternative–it is in many ways superior to Microsoft Office, and offers a tremendous amount of flexibility both for use as an office suite, as a platform for new products, and/or as components in some other solution.

Besides Dia, don’t forget that OOo (and derivatives, see below) includes a Draw program. Don’t forget Inkscape (http://inkscape.org/) and GIMP (www.gimp.org GIMP is more a Photoshop replacement than a Viseo replacement). For those in more technical fields, look at the Eclipse based UML and associated tools (http://www.eclipse.org/modeling/mdt/?project=uml2)

PortableApps carries Dia, GIMP, OOo, and Inkscape (Windows only, but still handy to always have on a USB flash drive or SD card).

Because of the rather poor track record of Oracle, who took over Sun, there is a good deal of concern about the future of OpenOffice. Many of the principle developers are continuing to work on it, but as part of the LibreOffice suite, which is now under the Document Foundation (documentfoundation.org). The three main supporters of OpenOffice all have used different derivatives (Sun (now Oracle) had StarOffice (now Oracle Office), IBM used the components in an Eclipse wrapper for Lotus Symphony, Novel has supported and distributes go-oo. All of these are based on the core OpenOffice code, which are customized to support proprietary (which the various vendors have license to use) features, provide a different user experience, etc. See http://wiki.services.openoffice.org/wiki/OpenOffice.org_Solutions for a list of various other customizations and options for use of OpenOffice. Go-oo is now collaborating with Libre Office. We will have to see what IBM and Novel do as time goes on. The good news is that these are all compatible with each other, and even plug-ins designed for one typically work with others.

This can be a bit confusing! If all you want is an office suite, just download LibreOffice. You can choose plug-ins/add-ons from OpenOffice site or the Document Foundation.

There is also some other helpful free open source software of high quality that works well with OpenOffice/etc. TreeLine (http://treeline.bellz.org/) is a very robust but easy to use application to create outlines and hierarchical/XML databases. FreeMind (http://freemind.sourceforge.net/wiki/index.php/Main_Page) and VYM (View Your Mind http://www.InSilmaril.de/vym) are nice mind-mapping tools. Finally, if you need a fully functional embedded database with full transactional support (ACID), it is simple to add the H2 database (http://www.h2database.com/) as a replacement for the lighter weight database engine distributed with OOo/LibreOffice. There are also several extensions for use with MySQL on the OOo page, if you need to step up to an enterprise class RDBMS.

Keep your eyes open for increasing integration with XML databases (such as eXist http://exist.sourceforge.net) and/or the Drools (aka JBoss rules) platform. Combined with semantic web approaches (http://www.semanticdesktop.org/) very elegant and powerful enterprise (and personal) document management, data extraction and data mining (perhaps using tools like Mondrian, RapidMiner, JasperReports, R, and/or Weka–all FOSS) and rule-based workflow. This will be a huge change for many, as the power of systems currently costing 5-6 figures becomes available for ‘free’ (you still need to invest in time, energy, people, training, just like you would with anything else). Much of this will happen first with OpenOffice/LibreOffice/etc. because #1 they are open source and easier to enhance, and #2 they use international standards internally (rather than Microsoft’s long-standing FUD technique of creating its own one-off but still mostly XML Windows-only pseudo-standards).

]]> By: Sam http://itmanagersinbox.com/1001/5-free-or-open-source-alternatives-to-microsoft-office-software/#comment-1044 Sam Tue, 26 Oct 2010 22:26:02 +0000 http://itmanagersinbox.com/?p=1001#comment-1044 Thanks for the tip. It's nice to see another viable open source alternative to Microsoft Project. Thanks for the tip. It’s nice to see another viable open source alternative to Microsoft Project.

]]> By: Adel K http://itmanagersinbox.com/1001/5-free-or-open-source-alternatives-to-microsoft-office-software/#comment-1039 Adel K Sun, 24 Oct 2010 01:56:46 +0000 http://itmanagersinbox.com/?p=1001#comment-1039 ProjeLead is a web based Project Management software. The standard version is open source and offers several intersting features : share documents, forums etc... Check out and leave a feedback to the team. Thanks and keep the great job ! ProjeLead is a web based Project Management software. The standard version is open source and offers several intersting features : share documents, forums etc…

Check out and leave a feedback to the team.

Thanks and keep the great job !

]]> By: Vanja http://itmanagersinbox.com/1001/5-free-or-open-source-alternatives-to-microsoft-office-software/#comment-763 Vanja Sun, 10 Jan 2010 10:08:36 +0000 http://itmanagersinbox.com/?p=1001#comment-763 I prefer to use SSuite Office for a free office suite. Their software also don’t need to run on Java or .NET, like so many open source office suites, so it makes their applications very small and efficient. http://www.ssuitesoft.com I prefer to use SSuite Office for a free office suite. Their software also don’t need to run on Java or .NET, like so many open source office suites, so it makes their applications very small and efficient.

http://www.ssuitesoft.com

]]> By: Proworkflow http://itmanagersinbox.com/1001/5-free-or-open-source-alternatives-to-microsoft-office-software/#comment-762 Proworkflow Fri, 01 Jan 2010 18:17:34 +0000 http://itmanagersinbox.com/?p=1001#comment-762 Always knew that SugarCRM led the way but never thought there's a lot more that's open-sourced based which means more options for companies, too. For those in need of web-based (SaaS) and open sourced CRM, you may also want to check out On-demand CRM at MorphExchange.com. It's surprisingly fast and powered by Sugar. Thanks. Always knew that SugarCRM led the way but never thought there’s a lot more that’s open-sourced based which means more options for companies, too. For those in need of web-based (SaaS) and open sourced CRM, you may also want to check out On-demand CRM at MorphExchange.com. It’s surprisingly fast and powered by Sugar. Thanks.

]]> By: Sam http://itmanagersinbox.com/1001/5-free-or-open-source-alternatives-to-microsoft-office-software/#comment-295 Sam Wed, 04 Feb 2009 04:40:48 +0000 http://itmanagersinbox.com/?p=1001#comment-295 John, thanks for the tip. I particularly liked the Intervals story. It is nice to see a group take an idea, apply lots of hard work and turn it into a success. John, thanks for the tip. I particularly liked the Intervals story. It is nice to see a group take an idea, apply lots of hard work and turn it into a success.

]]> By: Ioan Lucian http://itmanagersinbox.com/1001/5-free-or-open-source-alternatives-to-microsoft-office-software/#comment-294 Ioan Lucian Tue, 03 Feb 2009 21:07:20 +0000 http://itmanagersinbox.com/?p=1001#comment-294 Hello Sam, It's true. From RationalPlan Suite, only Project Viewer it's free ... but not only for RationPlan Single/Multi version. You have the possibility to import MSProject files and to view them also for free. Single/Multi version it's free to try. If you have a little time to evaluate them, I will be glad to hear your opinion. Thank you, Ioan Lucian Hello Sam,

It’s true.
From RationalPlan Suite, only Project Viewer it’s free … but not only for RationPlan Single/Multi version. You have the possibility to import MSProject files and to view them also for free.

Single/Multi version it’s free to try. If you have a little time to evaluate them, I will be glad to hear your opinion.

Thank you,
Ioan Lucian

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