Hello dear readers! This is my first post, and I´m glad to have you here. Today´s main topic will be finding alternatives to the software that has been in our heads as a default office suite since 1990, it is indeed Microsoft Office. This office suite is quite powerful, with so many tools that are required for businesses, schools, and even for personal uses, but due to its price not everyone can afford it. So what do we do?
The answer is simple (it´s not piracy I swear!), freeware software which have most if not all the characteristics of the Microsoft Office suite. Just to make it clear, the suites that I´ll talk about are all considered to be highly compatible with Microsoft Office (just in case you need to send papers or homeworks to someone who uses that suite). Still if there is a really important job to do or send to someone, my greatest recomendation is to save your work in a pdf format, which will keep everything as it should be, in order.(More info. at the end where it says "Note").
Lets begin now with my top 4 (/._.)/ :
4. SavySoda Documents
This is a little suite which seems to be highly compatible (based on the users comments from the appstore) with other office suites, and it is totally free. Documents has support for a text editor (.Txt,.Csv,.Doc,. Docx) and for spreadsheets (.Xls , .Xlsx). You can work in this suite offline and it has a nice friendly interface for its users. The only downside to this app is that it is only available for download in Apple´s appstore (OS X, and iOS compatible).
It supports the following languages: Spanish, Deutsch, Simplified Chinese, Korean, French, English, Italian, Japanese, Portuguese, Vietnamese and Russian.
Here you can see some pictures:
3. Softmaker FreeOffice
Now this suite is a really good deal as it handles a text editor, spreadsheets and also slide presentations. It is available for linux, windows and also android mobiles. The Android version has some variations compared to the windows/linux versions, but still it is a nice and simplistic looking suite that has quite a lot of features and compatibility with even the 2013 file formats of the Microsoft Office Suite(.doc, .docx,.xls, .xlsx, .ppt, .pptx, etc). Among its features come the ability to make your work a PDF file, you can use images and draw, it has smart text, text art, you can work with lists, and there a whole bunch of other features, for more information you can check:
-For Android
-For Windows or Linux
FreeOffice claims that you can edit your documents in any language of the world, so you should give it a try dear readers.
Pictures:
2. LibreOffice from The Document Foundation
Compared to all the suites I´m presenting here, LibreOffice has the most software included in its suite. It not only has spreadsheets, word processor or slide presentation software, but it also includes Base, Math and Draw. Base helps the users handle databases, Math is good for making clean formulas and Draw allows the user to handle diagrams and graphics. This suite also offers a compatibility with Microsoft Publisher, and with Firefox themes. LibreOffice 4 is full of surprises, and it gets updated constantly so personally if you are not concerned by simplistic looks (like me), well this suite is for you, and it is great when it comes to compatibility,templates, tons of extensions and file formats too. This suite is available in 111 languages(see here), so don´t hesitate, look it up! This suite is unfortunately not compatible with mobile devices, but it is useful with Windows, Linux, and OS X. Here are some pictures:
1.Kingsoft WPS Office
And we´re finally here, my number one is WPS Office, the reason is that it is compatible with with OS X, iOS, Windows, Linux, and Android. Another great thing is the familiar looks to Microsoft Office and its custom themes to make it look fancy. This suite is not as complete as LibreOffice in the software, but it still has a text editor, spreadsheets and a slide presentations software, with multiple theme to download in the initial tab. It can produce pdf files, and it is greatly compatible with the other office suites.If you are like me, who grew up with Microsoft Office, but later on couldn´t afford it , then this suite is for you, as it will bring you back good memories with its nice interface and exceptional work. WPS Office currently supports about 44 languages, and it is being uppdated constantly, and it also has support for many file formats. For more information you can check out their webpage.
Here are some images of their Office Suite:
Note: Readers, just being totally honest with you, all of these software is amaizing, but be aware that even if the compatibility rate is high, the 100% is still a goal to reach for all of this companies. Expect some minor disorganization when using documetns made with this software, after opening them with Microsoft Office or other suites. My best advice to you dear readers for this little issues is to save your work in a pdf file, and let your boss or teacher know if you are sending a document, that this little compatibility disorganizations may occur, in this way they could check for you if there is anything to correct. My best regards to all of you dear readers. Have a Happy New Year !