Free software downloadsFree office software downloads
OpenOffice 2.3
Everything from word processing to presentations and spreadsheets
Alternative to Microsoft Office
Saving £350
This free software is very strong product, and we found that any task could be tackled with this suite; it’s easy to find things and there’s an excellent help section.
OpenOffice is free and straightforward to download from the web. Installation is simple and the process doesn’t take too long if you have a broadband internet connection.
The suite includes Base (database), Calc (spreadsheet), Draw (drawing), Impress (Presentation graphics), and Writer (word processor) making it comparable with a fairly recent version of Microsoft Office.
While it doesn’t match our Best Buy, it’s a rival to Microsoft Office which is not bad considering it’s absolutely free.
Check out our free OpenOffice formatting tips.
Verdict: Easy to use and opens and saves Microsoft Office documents
Download: www.openoffice.org
Scribus
Free desktop publishing software
Alternative to Microsoft Publisher
Saving £120
Scribus is a free desktop-publishing software program that includes tools for creating brochures, flyers, newsletters, magazines and even books.
It has a range of tools that are more suited to professional users, including good support for fonts and good colour output tools. We found it a bit difficult to understand how to download it, but the interface is polished and it can create PDF files to share with others.
This application wasn’t tested fully.
Verdict: Polished page layout software that’s good for brochures and flyers
Download www.scribus.net
Google Docs
Your documents are stored online
Alternative to Microsoft Office
Saving £350
Existing as an online program that you access over the internet, Google Docs and Spreadsheets has a clean interface that can create word processing documents, spreadsheets and presentations.
One advantage is because your documents are stored online, you can access them and edit them from any PC with an internet connection. We liked the fact you can work with Microsoft Office files and you can export files to the PDF file format for easy sharing.
However, features are limited, such as only having access to 19 fonts, and basic formatting. This application wasn’t tested fully.
Verdict Easy access to your documents, but only if you have an internet connection
Download http://docs.google.com
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