It is for this reason that it’s always advisable to have a set of tools installed, especially if you suddenly need to knock out a spreadsheet or type up a letter and can’t get online.

Canonical (Ubuntu et al), Novell and Red Hat have all revealed that they plan to include LibreOffice in their future operating systems, so what makes it so good?

Libre, As In “Free”

The LibreOffice suite began as a separate fork of the highly respected OpenOffice project on September 28, 2010. Some members of the development team were concerned about the recent Sun Microsystems buyout by Oracle, who have already discontinued the free OpenSolaris OS.

The Document Foundation was formed, Oracle were invited to become a member and it was the hope of this foundation that the OpenOffice name would eventually make its way to the new project. This was never to be, and LibreOffice is now the “alternative” OpenOffice.

LibreOffice uses the same version number as OpenOffice, as it is based on the same source code. At the time of writing there have been a number of releases including three betas and three release candidates ““ all within a 4 month timeframe.

This new fork of the OpenOffice project also incorporates Go-oo, a set of patches released to improve the original OpenOffice. This project has since been dissolved and incorporated directly into LibreOffice.

At the moment there’s very little to separate the two, although message board chatter suggests that the LibreOffice project is more stable than its OpenOffice counterpart.

Download & Installation

LibreOffice is available for all three major operating systems on the download page. If you’re running Windows there’s an executable installer to download and run, Mac users can download PPC and Intel .DMG files and there’s .TAR.GZ archives for Linux users.

Ubuntu users (and those using Ubuntu-based distributions) can download from the repositories for a super-fast install.

Note: Installing LibreOffice on my Ubuntu 10.10 install replaced my OpenOffice suite. Make sure you’ve not got any unsaved documents open whilst installing!

First you’ll need to add repositories:

sudo apt-add-repository ppa:libreoffice/ppa

Then update your package manager and install with:

sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install libreoffice

Ubuntu users (and those using the GNOME desktop environment) will want to install:

sudo apt-get install libreoffice-gnome

If you’re running Kubuntu or the KDE desktop environment then you’ll want:

sudo apt-get install libreoffice-kde

Once it’s installed, you’re good to go!

What’s Included

If you’ve ever used OpenOffice, then you’ll find all the included modules familiar, right down to their names:

Writer

A highly flexible word processor that can read, edit and save text documents in a variety of formats (including Microsoft’s proprietaries). There’s no Microsoft Office-style “ribbon” layout, so if you’re fond of the retro simple look then you’ll feel right at home. You can export directly to PDF, HTML and even in MediaWiki format.

Calc

No Office suite is complete without a spreadsheet program, and Calc employs some pretty powerful features along the way. Natural language formulas allow you to use words as well as numeric formulas, there’s the Intelligent Sum Button which works out your numbers based on context and support for a variety of formats including Microsoft Office 2008 .XLSX files.

Impress

A straight-forward PowerPoint clone for those all-important presentations. Impress comes with everything you’d expect from a presentation tool as well as support for multiple monitors, PowerPoint files and the ability to export Flash .SWF files.

Draw

A graphics package for creating diagrams, flow charts, technical and general posters. The suite boasts an impressive maximum page size of 3 metres and support for most major image formats.

Base

Much like Microsoft Access, Base is a database tool with the power to organise simple inventories or take on much more complex tasks. Base supports MySQL, PostgreSQL, Access and Adabas D multi-user database types, as well as JDBC and ODBC for added compatibility.

Math

Designed to provide an “easy way to insert formulas into documents”, there’s a range of complex input methods to get your head round if you simply love numbers (or have homework to do).

Extensions

Included with LibreOffice are a number of pre-installed extensions. You can download many more from the LibrePlanet website, which is awesome. Some installed extensions include PDF Import (for importing and modifying PDF documents) and WikiPublisher (to preserve your layout for a MediaWiki format).

Conclusion

There’s not an awful lot of difference between OpenOffice and LibreOffice on the surface. The rapid development from beta to RC and soon a stable release means the team are putting a lot of effort in under the hood.

It’s just nice to know that if OpenOffice is discontinued then there’s a worthy replacement just waiting to take its place.

Have you swtiched to LibreOffice yet? Still using OpenOffice? Reckon Oracle will flip the switch? Let us know in the comments below!

If you’re regularly tapping away on a word processor, balancing the books with a spreadsheet or knocking your boss’ socks off with a killer presentation then you’ll appreciate the importance of a decent office suite.

Here’s a selection of completely free work-related tools that you may or may not have heard about.

OpenOffice.org

Chances are you have heard of this one. It comes pre-installed on a myriad of Linux distributions, including the massively popular and newbie-friendly Ubuntu.

Now at version 3.2 this freeware powerhouse provides a complete solution for any discerning Microsoft Office convert. Modules include:

• Writer ““ a word processor that natively exports PDF files.
• Calc ““ a spreadsheet application also with PDF support.
• Impress ““ a presentation program which can export to SWF & PDF and handle PowerPoint files.
• Base ““ a database program similar to Access.
• Draw ““ a vector image editor.
• Math ““ a tool for calculating mathematical formulae.

It also works on Windows and Mac, so if you’re thinking of making the switch you can try it out on your existing OS first.

Calligra Suite (formerly KOffice)

This year the KOffice team decided to rename their product Calligra Suite, with the aim of promoting the suite’s creative applications (as well as the boring office stuff you’d expect to find). This makes Calligra Suite a rich package, with 12 years of development behind it and a cracking line-up.

Some highlights from the package include:

• Words (formerly KWord) ““ a word processor incorporating style sheets.
• Tables (formerly KSpread) ““ a spreadsheet application with templates.
• Stage (formerly KPresenter) ““ a presentation application.
• Karbon ““ a new vector image package.
• Krita (formerly KImageshop) ““ a bitmap graphics package.

There’s plenty more in the suite, which requires KDE and its libraries to function. This package also works on Windows and Mac.

GNOME Office

Comprising of several applications designed for the GNOME platform, GNOME Office provides a competent solution for your office needs.

Whilst not as feature-rich as the previous two, there’s still a tool for every job:

• AbiWord ““ a word processor with support for the OpenOffice.org (.ODT) format.
• Evince ““ included with your normal GNOME installation for viewing documents, including PDFs.
• Evolution ““ an email client, also included as part of GNOME.
• GNUMeric ““ a basic spreadsheet application.
• Ease ““ for creating presentations, still in development.
• Inkscape ““ a popular vector image editor and presentation tool.

You’ll need to download each individually, though if you’re using a distribution that uses GNOME you’ll notice a few of them on your machine already.

IBM Lotus Symphony

Symphony is a refreshing change from the usual approach to office software. Instead of providing several different applications to perform each task, Symphony uses a single application in several different ways.

The program can handle word documents, spreadsheets and presentations and even has a built-in web browser (useful for checking links in documents without losing track of your work).

You’ll need to supply IBM with a little bit of information before downloading, but if you’re after a lightweight single program for office duties then you might be impressed with Symphony’s fairly unique approach.

Google Docs & Microsoft Office Web Apps

My wildcard! The two forerunners in cloud-based office and publishing solutions, both Google and Microsoft’s products will work on any PC with an internet connection and compatible browser.

They’re not strictly Linux applications, but they do function just as well on the Linux platform as they do on other operating systems.

If you’re torn between the two I’d recommend Google Docs as it allows you to download your work in a variety of formats, rather than Microsoft’s limited proprietary Office file types. Both allow you to print directly from the application and support collaborative editing.

If you’re really after that “application feel” try using Chrome and creating Web Shortcuts. You’ll might even forget they’re running on the cloud!

Conclusion

There should be at least one or two offerings here that take your fancy if you’re looking for that perfect-fit office solution. Considering they’re free, you might as well try them all till you find the one that fits. With selections like this, it’s a wonder why you’d ever pay for an office suite again really.

Do you have a favourite office suite? Do you prefer cloud-based or locally installed software? Any on the list that don’t cut the mustard? Let us know in the comments.

When I originally switched from Windows to Ubuntu I was very interested in these cross-platform apps. After more than 10 years loyalty to Bill’s operating system, I had built up a trusted roster of often used software ““ but some of it was Windows only.

Here’s a selection of quality free software that works on both Linux and Windows machines.

Multimedia

VLC

The media player that just works. Most of the Internet has harped on about how good VLC is for years now, despite the program remaining fairly unchanged and well….a bit plain. Don’t let that put you off ““ simplicity is the key for this powerhouse of a video and music player.

If you’ve got a movie to watch or an album to listen to, rest assured, regardless of operating system, VLC will run it. A lightweight, codec-rich media solution that you should already have installed.

SMPlayer

An alternative to VLC, SMPlayer also does a stellar job of providing smooth, simple playback of your media. A frontend for the popular MPlayer, SMPlayer offers a slightly fancier interface and an improved playlist over VLC.

Features like automatic file resuming, a video equalizer, filters, sync control and the ability to search Open Subtitles directly within the program make this a very impressive package.

Boxee

Justin can’t get enough of Boxee, and I’m beginning to see why. Not to be confused with the set-top box you plug into your TV (that’s the Boxee Box) Boxee is a free media centre application for your Windows, Linux or even Mac computer.

Once installed you can simply use it as a front-end for accessing your local media, or plug your PC into your TV and access everything in your living room. You could even make your own dedicated Boxee Box out of an old PC. Fancy that, the Internet has arrived on your telly!

Web & Communication

Chrome / Firefox

Rarely do I group such applications together ““ especially when there’s fanboys lurking in the shadows, but Chrome and Firefox are two awesomely cross-platform browsers.

Chrome now keeps all your bookmarks synchronized with your Google Account, meaning you can log in from either OS with all your favourites intact. The Firefox 4 Beta offers a new feature called Firefox Sync which does the same thing.

Both Firefox and Chrome perform well under Windows or Linux (I find Chrome even faster on Linux), although you’ll need to install your extensions again.

Thunderbird

Especially useful to those who dual boot between Windows and Linux who demand a powerful email client, Thunderbird is the perfect solution. As modern Linux distributions can easily access data stored on a Windows NTFS partition, Thunderbird can be told to store all data on your Windows partition which in turn can then be accessed from a Linux environment.

This means you will never be out of sync with your email, even if you reboot your PC into another operating system. Clever, huh?

Deluge

One of the better cross-platform BitTorrent clients out there, Deluge is available for all 3 major operating systems. It has an interface reminiscent of uTorrent, and includes support for full encryption, a remotely controllable Web UI, plugins and more.

You can even control multiple instances of Deluge across the network, making it a very powerful BitTorrent solution for those that need it. Check out our full low-down for more information.

Pidgin

If you’re after an all-in-one instant messaging client for your PC, then give Pidgin a go. Formerly known as GAIM (way back when), Pidgin offers support for a startling amount of IM services.

These include AIM, Google Talk, ICQ, MSN and Yahoo as well as some more obscure platforms and an IRC client if you’re that way inclined. As Digsby‘s not ready for Linux yet, Pidgin fills its boots nicely.

Adobe Air & Java

Technically not apps at all, Adobe Air and Java both work on Windows and Linux to provide cross-platform compatibility with a multitude of programs. As these programs use a framework, there is no need for separate Windows and Linux versions – they should just work.

With great apps like Tweetdeck at your disposal, you’re bound to find something you like. We’ve got some great Adobe Air picks right here, and more information on the Java platform here.

Office & Graphics

OpenOffice

It doesn’t have the “next-gen” interface seen in Microsoft’s latest Office suite, but OpenOffice gets the job done. For those of you with the simple demand of an Office suite that opens a multitude of file formats (including all Microsoft Office files) then look no further.

There are 5 programs included in the suite:

• Writer ““ A simple yet powerful word processor.
• Calc ““ A spreadsheet program.
• Impress ““ A presentation application.
• Draw ““ For creating diagrams and graphics.
• Base ““ A database management tool.

Funnily enough, I’m using OpenOffice Writer for this very article.

GIMP

GIMP stands for GNU Image Manipulation Program, and it is the Linux equivalent of Photoshop. The interface can be tricky at first, especially if you’re used to Adobe’s efforts but there’s plenty of guides and documentation to help you on your way.

For those of you who would prefer a more Adobe-like interface from the get-go, then try GIMPShop, a hack that alters the interface to make GIMP more closely resemble Photoshop.

InkScape

For vector artists on a budget, InkScape steps up to the mark. Essentially a free equivalent to Corel Draw, Adobe Illustrator and Xara X, InkScape is a community developed and driven project with versions for Windows, Linux and even Mac OS X. InkScape uses the W3C standardised Scaleable Vector Graphics format (.SVG) to save files, and as such is compatible with a wide range of advanced features.

Do you have any favourite software that works cross-platform? Maybe you’re searching for a Linux equivalent to a much loved Windows program? Get it off your chest in the comments.

Thanks to reader Robert Backlund for suggesting this article. Have you got an article you would like to see? Why not get in touch? Don’t forget MakeUseOf Answers for those tough techie questions!

OpenOffice, the popular free office suite, is able to solve this problem through the extensions made available for it. One of these extensions is made by a company called SMEStorage, which specializes in “mutli-cloud data access.” SMEStorage has the ability to use Google Documents as an online document/file storage, making it easy to access OpenOffice files with multiple computers.

Setting Up SMEStorage

Before you can use SMEStorage, you will need to set it up. This take a little more effort than, say, installing a Firefox extension.

You will first need to download the MultiCloud File Manager extension from the OpenOffice.org extension repository and install it. You then must go to the SMEStorage website and register an account with them. At the SMEStorage front page, select “I Want to Use Google Docs.”

Once you have registered, you need to open the MultiCloud File Manager extension in OpenOffice.org. There is a new set of icons in the upper left of the suite. Click on the folder icon furthest to the left.

When you open the extension, you will be asked to enter your login information. This is the username and password that you just created when you registered on the SMEStorage website. Once you have entered that information, click OK. The extension will begin the process of trying to connect to Google Documents.

You will be presented with a second login screen once a connection is established – this is verifying your login information to Google Documents. Enter your information again and press OK. The SMEStorage extension will finish importing your Google Documents information.

Browsing and Creating Google Documents

The browser that displays your Google Documents displays as a tree. Your documents will be located under All Files –> My Google Docs files. To open a file, you simply need to double-click on it. A status window will appear while SMEStorage downloads the information, and the file will then open in OpenOffice.org.

You can edit the document as you would normally, but to save the document you must use the new save icon that was added to OpenOffice.org by the extension. It is next to the new folder icon that was used to open the SMEStorage extension initially. You will be asked if you want to encrypt on the upload or not. This can be handy if you are on an open wireless hotspot and you want to make sure the document is secure. Otherwise, it isn’t usually required.

Limitations

SMEStorage is a great way to sync up files, but it should be noted that SMEStorage isn’t perfect. SMEStorage uses Google Documents as a storage medium and only a storage medium. The files that you save into Google Documents can not be edited while in Google Documents. This is not a problem, of course, if you have OpenOffice installed on your machines, but it is a unfortunate limitation of this extension. This is apparently to due to some conflict in the way Google Documents handles documents uploaded by third party programs.

You can get around this problem by downloading a document to your computer and then uploading to back to Google Documents with the option to convert the file to the Google Documents format selected.

Conclusion

If you like to use OpenOffice.org and you want to sync files between multiple computers this is an excellent way to do it. SMEStorage provides an excellent service for OpenOffice.org users, and the extension’s integration into OpenOffice.org is smooth.

This week we are looking at a CNet category entitled Business Software. These are applications that you can use to assist your day to day work. It doesn’t matter if you are a freelance worker or a 9 to 5′er, everyone will find an application that they either already use or something that they will. Some of the applications included in this category are Open Office, Adobe Reader and others along these lines.

1. Foxit Reader
	FoxIt has been my PDF reader of choice for some time now. I originally read about it on MakeUseOf and have been using it ever since. Less likely to be attacked and has a lot of neat features like automatically filling in a PDF and being able to save and email the form. It opens 10 times quicker than Adobe Acrobat reader so, Check it out.
2. Adobe Reader
	Adobe created the PDF format so they have had their free reader on the market for some time now. Most corporate users use this and it has been the standard forever but if you want my recommendation ““ use FoxIt (see above).
3. OpenOffice.org
	OpenOffice offers a free suite of applications that rival Microsoft Office. If you are not a power user then its version of Word (Writer), PowerPoint (Impress), Excel (Math, Draw and Calc) will be sure to get you by. And at a much lower price than MS Office ““ it is hard to argue with.
4. Nitro PDF Reader (32-bit)
	Another PDF reader for 32-bit operating systems adds some pro features that were once only seen in Adobe Acrobat Professional. If you want to be able to drag and drop documents to create PDFs then look no further than this free alternative.
5. Microsoft Office Word Viewer 2003
	Now we all know that the Microsoft Office Suite is expensive and sometimes we work on computers that do not have Word available to us. In these situations, we can use the Office Word Viewer to read Word 2003 (or earlier) files. Just install and you will be able to view and print the document but not edit.

6. PowerPoint Viewer 2007 You can use this viewer to open and watch PowerPoint presentations from PowerPoint 2007 and earlier. This is very helpful for giving a presentation from a computer that does not have PowerPoint installed.
7. PDF ReDirect Using this free application you can create, encrypt and append to already created PDF documents.
8. Excel Calendar Template Have you ever wanted to print your own calendars ““ either blank or filled in? Well then, this is the application for you.
9. Office Convert PDF to JPG JPEG TIFF Free Have you ever had the need to convert a PDF to another image file type? Well, if so then this will do the trick for you.
10. Microsoft Office Compatibility Pack for Word, Excel, and PowerPoint File Formats If you are working with Office 2003 or earlier, you might want to be able to open the new .docx or .xlsx file formats. Using this pack, you can open them and modify them in your current version without an issue.

Why should we care about the metadata in our Word documents?  Well, there have been news stories about metadata getting people into precarious situations, such as letters supposedly being written by one person but the metadata saying something different. However, even if you are not doing anything wrong, you may want to just be careful with your private information.  There’s nothing wrong with that.

The process you can use to scrub that personal metadata from Word documents is quite simple.  It involves downloading and installing a free program called “Doc Scrubber.”

Just download, install and open Doc Scrubber just like you would any other Windows program.  Once you have it open, I think you’ll be surprised at how easy it is to run.

As you can see you can also analyze the document’s metadata to see what can be seen.  To do this, just select the “Analyze” button.

Then you will be prompted to browse for the document you want analyzed.

Let’s take a look and see what we can find out about one of my old documents I’ve had lying around.

Well, we know my initials (I hardly ever enter my name for program setups) and apparently I work for Toshiba!  Actually, I never changed that when I bought my laptop a few years back.  You can also see some other interesting things like when the document was created and last saved, edited and printed.

The interesting thing is that I now use Open Office as my Office suite of choice and my documents still end up with some metadata attached.  All the more reason to hit the “Main Menu” button and start some scrubbing.

When you hit the “scrub” button, you are given a few options.

You can save some real time by scrubbing more than one document at a time.  In other words, if you have just learned about this metadata thing, you can catch up and scrub everything you need to in a relatively short amount of time.

Next you’ll be given some more specific options as to what you want scrubbed.

Basically you can choose what information you find sensitive.  You can even reset the revision count and the author/company.  When you hit “next,” the magic begins.

Once the scrubbing is done, run an analysis of the scrubbed document(s) just to see what can still be seen.

As you can see, the document now reads that John Doe who works for Any Company Inc. created the document and the other settings were either reset or cleared, according to what I selected during the scrubbing process.

Like I mentioned earlier, you don’t have to be up to no good (like those showing up in the news) to make use of a tool like Doc Scrubber.  As you can see, the process of scrubbing that sensitive data is a simple one. Check out Karl’s article about scrubbing metadata from photos.

Do you scrub the metadata from your Word documents?  If so, what program(s) do you use?

The program can be freely downloaded on PC, Mac, and Linux machines.  The best part?  It can open files from any other program!  Read more about Open Office here and here.

If you need inspiration or want to produce a specific kind of document, never fear!  Their free user-created Open Office templates are awesome, and can save you lots of time and money!

Truly, there is no reason to spend your hard earned cash on expensive software when you can get everything you need right in the Open Office suite.

If you need a word processing program, use OOO’s “Write” program; if you need a PowerPoint program, use their “Presentation” software. They even have an Excel-ish program and a database program like Access.

In addition to their powerful tools, they also offer a sweet repository of Open Office templates. You can choose between Business, Education, and Personal templates.  These user created templates are simple to download and simple to use.

This article will highlight some of the most useful templates available in each of the three sections.

Business

The Business section is stuffed full of excellent and resourceful templates.  If you want to publish ANYTHING, you should stop here first.  Open Office offers templates for every make and model of book, magazine, or document.  In addition to the standard letters and reports, you can also find lots of neat extras!

Business Cards

Every person needs to have a business card.  While there are lots of great places to get them made online or in your community, you can use Open Office to create your very own!

This simple template opens and is ready to be completed!  It takes just seconds, and you can use the menu to customize the look to your needs.

Event Posters

To get your business recognized or to announce sales or other groovy events, you might want to use the awesome poster template!

Again, you can change the picture, the background color, the fonts, etc.  Or, if you just need something quick, fill in the blanks and click print!

Time Cards

If you have employees, you need to keep track of the time and pay rates. Open Office hosts a simple template that will allow you to do both!

DVD Inserts

If you provide DVDs to your customers, you might want to include a professional looking DVD insert.  This template is incredibly easy to use!

Finally, you will need to know how to charge your customers, and Invoices are a legal agreement between you and your client.  The template calculates math and has spots for all of the necessary legal information.

Education

Educators will find many of the OOO templates quite handy!  Instead of purchasing expensive software or trying to create a tool on your own, you can instead peruse their repository of templates.

Lesson Plan Templates

There are a few different lesson plan styles, but all of them are fantastic.  They are easy to edit and modify according to your particular needs.  I like this one, but, again, there are others that are just as fabulous!

Rubrics

If you use a rubric for grading or you want to try out a few different types, OOO has the right resources for you!  I like to provide a hard copy of the grading rubric at the start of an assignment, and I like to provide a copy to parents in advance of a lesson.

These various templates are a great starting point for me, and they are off-the-shelf ready for new teachers, too!

Formatted Paper Guidelines, Formatted Paper Templates

If you are in college, you are familiar with the challenge of formatting papers in a particular documentation style (MLA, Chicago, Turabian, IEEE).  OOO has ALL of the formats ready for you to use!  I totally wish they had this kind of template when I was in college.  Be careful, though, and always make sure you use the correct style as instructed by your professor.

Grid Paper

If your son is in high school, and it is 11:00pm when he decides to start his math homework, NEVER FEAR!  OOO has printable grid paper for FREE!  No more midnight Walmart runs!

Gradebook Templates

There are several different kinds of gradebook templates, and you can customize each one to your liking.  I love that they are set up to do the math for you!

Personal

There are lots of times when you need to make a certain type of document for your kids or for the country club.  Who has time to search all over the web when you can stop by OOO and get what you need for free?

Recipe Cards

Every organization I have ever belonged to has made a recipe book as a fundraiser. Since I don’t cook much, I always struggle to remember what a recipe actually looks like.

OOO has a fantastic selection of recipe card templates that make the job of sharing recipes so easy!

March Madness and Sports Grids

A little friendly competition among friends is fun, but it can be such a pain to figure out those charts for Final Four!  OOO comes to the rescue!  Just print these out, and you have instant success.

Shopping List Templates

If you live in a place like Lakeville, you only get to a big grocery store once a month. Instead of just using slips of napkin, we printed out two of OOO’s shopping lists and we use one at the Big-Ole Grocer and the other at the Farmer’s Market.

It saves us so much time, and I don’t have to find those little slips of paper!

Family Budget Planners

There are all sorts of different kinds of budgets and planners to download and print. There are, literally, pages and pages of different ways to organize your cash.  This is just one example, but there are so many more that you might like!

Creative Writing Tools and Templates for Script Writing

Script writing software is expensive.  Comic book layout software is expensive. Generally, most folks that want to write these kinds of ditties don’t have the income to afford them.  OOO has a whole host of resources for the aspiring writer.

Need to write a commercial?  Want to write a memoir of your life?  Need to format a screenplay?  OOO has the tools for you!

The Bottom Line

Open Office has awesome templates for every possible situation.  The best part is that these resources are fast to download (on any platform) and are FREE!  Let us know what Open Office templates YOU like.

Last week we discussed do you buy software or prefer to use a “cracked” version? We only received 729 responses which was about half the amount of responses we got on our previous poll.

I will chalk the poor results up to the fact people that do pirate software are scared of getting caught. So today’s poll will be a little tamer and you open source lovers will love it!

But let’s take a look at last week’s results now:

It seems that the majority of you that answered are pirates! Arrrr! Only 10% of responders said that they would NEVER ever download pirated software. Good to know!

So without further ado here is today’s poll:

As always if there is not an answer to suit your response, leave it in the comments. We want to see how many people are still using Microsoft Office. A lot of companies are embracing Open Office so where do you stand?

This article is going to major on the word processor (ie. Microsoft Word, OpenOffice, Google Docs, etc.).  When it comes to word processors, there is no lack in choices, even just in the free category (check out 6 Free Office Suites That Are NOT Microsoft and 5 Great Alternatives To Google Docs You Should Consider)!

In this article, I would like to go through some of the advantages and disadvantages of both the desktop AND the web-based word processor.

Feel free to “fill in the blanks” in the comments at the end and join in the poll!

What are the advantages to a desktop Word Processor app?

1. They do not need the Internet. For some people, this is a very important point.  Even in today’s day and age the Internet is not EVERYWHERE you go.  For example, I live in Upstate New York where almost everyone at least has access to the Internet.  When I go up to camp, in the “sticks”, the only Internet service option they had was dial-up.  There are also the so many countries where Internet connectivity is not very developed.  My father-in-law is a missionary in Haiti with nothing but a dial-up connection.  Does no Internet connection equal no word processor?  Not good!

   

2. The user has more control when the program goes “kaput.” For instance, if Google Docs is down for a bit, everything is on hold. If a program is local on your machine, you can actually do something about it.
3. There are many more features available in most desktop-based word processors. Right now, at least, web-based applications, like word processors, are still being perfected and OpenOffice and Microsoft Office still have more features than, say, Google Docs.

   

4. Performance MAY even be a factor. Some say that offline, desktop word processors perform better, making working much more fluent.

What are the advantages to a web-based Word Processor app?

1. You can access your documents from any computer with an Internet connection and a web browser. For many people this eliminates the need to carry around their laptop or maybe even storage devices.

   

2. You can easily collaborate with a document written with a web-based word processor. Many applications allow you to invite collaborators to make changes to your documents.  This has been a life-saver for my as bus captain at my church because I keep the list of bus stops and contacts in a private Google Document and the secretary can access the list at any time to update it and I can print it out on Saturday or Sunday when I need it.  The collaborative uses are virtually endless!

   

3. Organization can be a bit easier with most web-based word processors. If all of your documents are located in one place, imagine how much easier life would be!  For instance, you may have several different folders on several different storage devices or even computers.  Image not having to worry about trying to remember where that all-important school paper went!  Google Docs stores your documents in chronological order but also at the same time allows you to organize them into folders.

There are a few things to remember though.  Many people use both for different purposes because of unique strengths and weaknesses.  It may also be a good idea to back up your online documents, just in case something funny happens!

Cast Your Vote

OK, now it’s time for YOU to weigh in on this topic. What did I miss? What is your preference: desktop-based OR web-based applications?  Which application do you use more often?