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War on Word: Low-cost and free office suites may delete Microsoft dominance
08/01/2002
At $479, the full version of Microsoft's Office XP Standard edition now
surpasses what some users paid for their entire home computer systems.
Even upgrading from Office 97 carries a price tag – $279 – that might
cripple a household's tech budget.
Until recently, few free or low-cost software programs offered
dependable alternatives to the Microsoft productivity suite, which
dominates the world's computer desktops.
Alternative programs didn't allow users to accurately view PowerPoint,
Excel and Word files arriving from the outside world. Worse, they often
badly mangled files during attempts to store creations in the .doc, .ppt
or .xls formats.
That's changing.
In May, Sun Microsystems released its StarOffice suite in a free version
that provides compelling features for those wanting to sidestep endless
Microsoft upgrades.
Meanwhile, Czech programmers at Software602 Inc. are refining their free
creation, 602Pro PC Suite 2001, to enhance interoperability with Word
and Excel files.
Everyday computing
But for common, everyday word processing, spreadsheet and other basic
needs, these two products are hard to ignore.
Right now, most of the buzz in the tech world surrounds Sun's bold
attack on Microsoft's dominance. Sun opened its source code to more than
50,000 developers, who donated their time and collaborated for 18 months
to produce OpenOffice 1.0.
Available as a free download at OpenOffice .org, it is essentially the
same base product that Sun now sells as StarOffice 6.0 ($75.95 at
Sun.com). Buying the StarOffice version will get consumers a setup guide
and user's guide, plus a certificate for one free call to the company's
support center. It also contains a more robust spell-checker, a database
program, an extensive clip art gallery and more fonts.
But many users may find OpenOffice 1.0 is all they need.
This 50-megabyte download package opens and accurately renders most
Microsoft Office formats, then allows users to save them in the same
form. The Writer portion of the suite has the form and function familiar
to anyone raised on Word.
OpenOffice's Excel equivalent, Calc, can produce up to 256 worksheets
per file with all the bells and whistles that most users require.
Its answer to PowerPoint – Impress – boasts similar transitions and
special effects.
For its word processing program, where most users spend the bulk of
their time, OpenOffice borrows from WordPerfect's design with a vertical
tool bar that holds shortcuts.
About the only thing OpenOffice 1.0 doesn't offer is an equivalent to
Office's Outlook e-mail and personal information manager. Other
drawbacks: The spell-checking and thesaurus features won't impress some
users. Unlike StarOffice 6.0, it won't work with WordPerfect files.
Versions are currently available for Windows, Linux and Solaris
operating systems, and an early "developers version" for Mac OS X
recently sprang to life.
Business slant
As a result, more than 1 million downloads of StarOffice 6.0 were made
during the short period that Sun offered it for free, says Nancy Lee,
group product marketing manager.
At OpenOffice.org, curious users jammed the Web servers, downloading the
free version more than 4.5 million times in the opening days of its
availability in May.
"We've already had a huge start," Ms. Lee says. "People are finding they
just don't need all the bells and whistles to get their work done."
Eric Raymond, co-founder of the Open Source Initiative, says,
"OpenOffice.org 1.0 may be the single best hope for consumers fed up
with Microsoft's desktop monopoly."
Czech offering
Currently available at Software602.com, this free, 13-megabyte download
works only in Windows 98 and higher versions. The company makes money by
selling $30 to $50 add-ons such as a thesaurus or mail merge.
Its word processor, 602Text, is capable of opening and saving in most
Microsoft Word version formats. Although stripped to its basics, it
contains all the standard tools needed to turn out professional-looking
documents.
Edit tracking allows users to see changes made by others when
collaborating, just as in Word. And a "format brush" is handy for
duplicating text display styles. Tool bars are customizable and
flexible. One useful option even displays a word count, line count and
other important document information.
The spreadsheet component, 602Tab, doesn't do macros and has a limited
number of chart styles available. And if you want support, the company
will charge you for calls, which can be placed only during an eight-hour
window every day.
Either OpenOffice 1.0 or 602Pro PC Suite may prove ideal for that extra
computer in the house. Both are easy to install, require a minimum of
disk space and are simple to learn.
And, best of all, the price is right.
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