Open Office

If you read MEJ regularly you know I recently upgraded my computer system. Before giving Bill Gates and Microsoft my treasure for a new version of Microsoft Office I decided to try Open Office from Sun Microsystems and OpenOffice.org. It is a complete office suite with a word processor, spread sheet, presentation program, data base and Corel Draw like drawing program. It opens all Microsoft Office documents and documents can be saved so they can be read in Microsoft programs. So how much does it cost? Zip--Zero--Nada. It can be downloaded, 92mb, over the web or if you still have dial-up or slow DSL you can get a CD for about $7.00. My experience so far has been very good. I have had no trouble opening MS Word, Powerpoint and Excel files. If you are in the market for an office suite give Open Office a try before you give Mr. Gates more of your hard earned treasure. Information available at OpenOffice.org.