Getting the Job Done Without Microsoft Office

When dealing with small business owners one has to walk a fine line between giving them what they want while saving them the much needed cash. They also often ask me if there are products out there that would allow them to either perform the same tasks as you would on Microsoft office 2003, 2007 or 2010. My answer is usually yes depending on the specific needs of the client.

While is true that most businesses use Microsoft Office to create their documents and spreadsheets there are other software products out there which would allow you to create the same types of documents for pretty much nothing and I mean nothing as in paying $0.00 dollars for these alternative office suites.

One such product is Open Office which has about 90% of the capabilities of the 2003, 2007 version of Microsoft office but not 2010. Open Office is free of charge and is available for all major operating systems, Windows, OSX and Ubuntu/Linux(bundled) . Open office allows you to create word processing documents, spreadsheets, presentations, formulas, databases such as Access and even Visio type diagrams although not as robust.

There is also another free solution from IBM called Lotus Symphony which is based on the Open Office engine with a more refined look in terms of user interface. Lotus Symphony has all the features of Open Office but behaves more like Microsoft Office 2007.

There is also another office suite from SoftMaker software called Office 2010 which is non-free and has some of the features the 2007, 2010 version of Microsoft Office has but at a much more affordable price; You can also save your documents as Open Office format(.odt) which will allow you to move to either platform(Open Office or Lotus Symphony) if you ever need to.

All of these office suites have the capability to save documents to the Microsoft formats and can read them as well although in some cases the conversion of extreme complex Microsoft documents is not 100% but more like 90 – 95 %. The way I see it; If you don’t required all the whiz bang of the 2010 version of Microsoft Office and you want to save some much needed cash or spend that cash on something else such as additional PCs, a Fax or any other piece of software you may require then give either one of the office suites a try since they are free and you have nothing to loose but a bit of time.

As far as the paid versions of SoftMaker Office 2010 they have a trial you can download for 30 days and use all its functionality. SoftMaker has pretty good tech support and can answer any questions you may have, Lotus Symphony does too. If you require tech support or have any questions about Open Office you can find most of your answers here (http://support.openoffice.org/).

You can download each version of the office suites here:

• Open Office (http://download.openoffice.org/other.html#tested-full)
• Lotus Symphony(http://tinyurl.com/lpsr2r)
• SoftMaker Office 2010(http://www.softmaker.com/english/ofwdemo_en.htm) 30-trial

Dell to upgrade its Ubuntu OS

On our last post we discussed operating system security and how Linux is much better at handling user permissions and its complexities. Well Dell also thinks that Ubuntu/Linux is more safe to use than Windows for regular home user and business users alike.

This page http://www.dell.com/content/topics/segtopic.aspx/ubuntu?c=us&cs=19&l=en&s=dhs&~ck=anavml shows you what you can and can’t do with Ubuntu and it also gives you a comparison between Windows and Ubuntu. Looking at the comparison it looks like your average home user can use Ubuntu with no problems. So why aren’t more of you using the system.

Lets see we can think of several reasons:

• Windows Specific software requirements
• Don’t know about Ubuntu
• PC accessories incompatibilities such as web cams, microphones, scanners, wireless routers or digital cameras
• PC hardware not supported

All of these reasons are invalid with the exception of two. Unless you require Windows specific software then you have an excuse not to switch over or use it in a virtualized environment such as VMWare (http://www.vmware.com/) or Virtual Box (http://www.virtualbox.org/).

With Ubuntu you can use your PC accessories as they have drivers available for them in fact on most of those items we mentioned above you can just plug them in and they work. Unless the item has just been released within the past 48hrs then we say you might have an issue due to the fact that the developers have not had a chance to implement the driver into the operating system or is a very obscure product. But we say is pretty safe to say that your accessories will work say about 80% of the time out of the box.

As far as PC hardware is concern Ubuntu works with most market hardware in fact the darn thing works on a MAC and that is truly an accomplishment; try installing Windows on a MAC hardware and your in for a world of hurt as Windows drivers are not available for MAC hardware components.

Now we think is pretty safe to say that the reason as to why most people don’t try Ubuntu besides the Windows only software requirement is because they don’t know about it. Well if this is the case head on over to the Ubuntu web site (http://www.ubuntu.com) and see what it has to offer. We think that if Dell which is the third largest PC manufacturer in world offers it then it means that is pretty good. Looking at those Dell comparison it makes no sense for home or even business users to spend a ton of money on software for Windows when they can get the operating system and its 20,000 plus catalog of software for free right from the OS it self. This means no need to run out and get and install cd/dvd or download software from some obscure site. We have been using it for a couple of years now and we recommend it to our clients all the time as it is safer and more reliable than Windows.