

OpenOffice is available for Microsoft, Mac and Linux. If this minor inconvenience matters, OpenOffice may not be the best choice for you. Minor and occasionally major reformatting is required while exchanging documents between the two.

The programs are compatible with each other in that they can both read and write the same file formats, but in practice, they are not identical. The documents created by OpenOffice may look different when opened in MS Office. This means that you can happily exchange documents with people who use MS Office.

It can, in fact, read and write documents created with MS Office. OpenOffice currently doesn’t have all of the advanced features that MS Office offers. It includes a word processor comparable to MS Word, a spreadsheet comparable to MS Excel, presentation software comparable to Power Point, a database comparable to MS Access, and even drawing and math equation tools similar to those included in MS Office. Now more popularly known as Apache OpenOffice and very similar to LibreOffice, OpenOffice can be an effective alternative to MS Word and even some other familiar MS Office applications.Īpache OpenOffice is a completely free suite of programs. OpenOffice Writer works the same way as Word. If you are thinking of purchasing MS Word, remember that it may cost you US$ 100 or perhaps even less to purchase and install it on your computer. Popular open source office suites: OpenOffice and LibreOffice
