Cheap Productivity

Can't afford Microsoft Office? No problem.

A few years ago, consumers had only a few viable options for accomplishing tasks like word processing and spreadsheet editing. Worse than the lack of options was the fact that every decent option cost money--sometimes a lot of money. Today, inexpensive options aboud, and they are much better than their price tag implies.

Free desktop alternatives to Microsoft Office
OpenOffice (www.openoffice.org) is by far the most popular desktop alternative to Microsoft Office (by desktop, I mean software that you install on your computer). It's a maturing product, but still lags behind Microsoft Office in terms of polish and ease-of-use. OpenOffice includes the functional equivalents of Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Access, and more. Over the past few years, it has gained popularity among organizations seeking to be free of Microsoft Office licensing costs without losing the ability to remain competitive. For someone on a shoestring budget, this is a boon.

Web-based alternatives
As web technologies mature, it is becoming more feasible to replicate some of the desktop software experience in a web browser. The benefits are obvious and plentiful: 1) your applications are available from any Internet-connected PC; no need to install the application, 2) your files are available from any Internet-connected PC; no need to sync between computers, 3) collaboration is a breeze, 4) the software is continually updated. The list goes on and on. The drawbacks are just as obvious: 1) if your Internet connection goes down, so do your files, 2) the browser can't yet provide as rich of an experience as the desktop, 3) browser-based apps are less secure than desktop apps*. Drawbacks aside, the price tag for these web-based apps (free, in many cases) is too attractive for many to pass up--even if advertisements are part of the package.

Some of these web-based office applications are much less mature than OpenOffice, but they're still worth a look. I recommend taking a look at Google Docs and Spreadsheets and Zoho Virtual Office. Google's offerings are ok (as an Excel guru, I can't really get excited about Google's far-inferior spreadsheet app), and InfoWorld's Oliver Wrist raves about Zoho Virtual Office. He spent an entire week using web applications instead of his beloved Microsoft Office, and Zoho was his clear favorite. I haven't tried it myself, but I plan to, based on what Wrist had to say about it. Be sure to check out his article about his experience with web-based productivity software if you want to see other alternatives.

Affordable version of Microsoft Office
If you happen to be a student or teacher who's not flat broke, and you want to stick with Microsoft Office, you're in luck. Microsoft created the Microsoft Office Student And Teacher Edition. It includes full working versions of Word, Excel, Outlook, and PowerPoint. The price ranges from $99-$139, and you can legally install it on up to three PCs in a household. The catch? There are a few, actually: 1) you have to be a qualified academic user, 2) you can't upgrade the product. For more information about the restrictions, see this page.

Some Final Thoughts
Some people have taken a look at offerings like OpenOffice and think that competitors are starting to catch up to Microsoft. Let me tell you, after using Office 2007 Beta for the past couple of months, I can confidently say that Microsoft Office isn't about to be displaced by these free apps. But in the future, this competition will be interesting.

Of course, office productivity suites aren't the only software packages that you can get for free. A Google search for free applications can keep you busy for hours, but if you just want to glance at a collection of popular free programs, visit http://theopencd.org/programs.

* http://www.informationweek.com/hardware/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=192500179&subSection=Servers