A Powerful and Free Office Suite

Open Office is a free open-source office suite that not only competes with Microsoft Office, but can open and save Microsoft Office file formats. It was created using code developed by Sun Microsystems for their Star Office product. Open Office includes a word processor, spreadsheet, presentation manager, drawing application and several other applications. There are versions for Windows, Linux, Mac, and Solaris.

Open Office is easy to use because the interface is similar to other office suites. Naturally, the first thing I had to try was the drawing program. Within seconds I was able to create 3D textured text and complex textured 3D objects.

Why switch to Open Office? Because now is the time to free yourself from Microsoft's Monopoly. If you are not prepared to jump right to Linux, Open Office makes a good transition. You can work with Microsoft Office file formats in Open Office. Then when you switch to the Linux, you can continue to work with Microsoft Office file formats in Open Office.

At the OpenOffice.org website, www.openoffice.org, there are links to download version 1.0, and version 1.1 beta2. Version 1.1 adds PDF and Macromedia Flash export; DockBook, PDA offic-file formats, and flat XML and XHTML.

When you click on the link to download a version for your operating system, you are taken to a chart of FTP servers hosting the download. For example, if you are located in the USA you would click on the Indiana U link.

If your operating system is Windows, you download a 60 MB zip file. With a 56K modem, it might take three hours to download. You'll need a zip file extraction utility to uncompress the download. The most popular zip file extractor for Windows is WinZip. You can download the WinZip trial version from www.winzip.com

The Linux version comes in a 70 MB "tarball". With Linux, you can open a terminal window and use the "tar" command to uncompress the download. Both versions come with an easy to use setup program. If installing on a multi-user system, like Windows 2000 or Linux, make sure you are logged in with Administrator rights before you install the program.

During installation, Open Office may inform you that it can't find a Java runtime environment. Certain features require a Java Runtime environment to function. I don't know what features those are (not the 3D textured graphics) You could go to Suns Java Website, java.sun.com, to download and install the Java Runtime environment before you install Open Office.

You can continue to work with Microsoft Office file formats without the excessive cost and frequent crashes. Open Office is easy to use and you can even create 3D textured text and complex textured 3D objects. Download this powerful and free open-source office suite today. ---------------------------------------------------------- Resource Box: Copyright(C)2002 Bucaro TecHelp. To learn how to maintain your computer and use it more effectively to design a Web site and make money on the Web visit http://bucarotechelp.com To subscribe to Bucaro TecHelp Newsletter Send a blank email to mailto:bucarotechelp-subscribe@topica.com

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