Office Suites: More Reviews and More Thoughts
Of course, Microsoft Office reigns supreme. So why even consider alternatives?
The respected journal ComputerWorld recently ran a major review of alternatives for both Mac and PC’s, pointing out a number of reasons why these software choices may be important to users. Each alternative gets a close but succinct look, with a clear judgment about its utility. After reading this article, you may wish to try out one or two, and maybe even select one as your primary office suite, especially if your budget is limited. Surprisingly, most writers will sacrifice little or nothing at all by going with a free or inexpensive alternative to Word.
Power users of Microsoft Office [maybe 5 percent of word processor users], who wouldn’t migrate to another suite anyway, do point out the hundreds, perhaps thousands of “add-ons” that stretch Microsoft’s capabilities and which no alternative suite can duplicate. Even I, who knows little about the range of add-ons, have found a couple that are invaluable and so far are keeping me in the Microsoft fold. For book authors, for example, Chapter by Chapter and BookWright are immensely helpful for managing an entire manuscript chapter by chapter and, at the end, formatting everything for submission.
The ComputerWorld review, written by Ryan Faas and David Haskin, approaches the topic from a very personal point of view. The writers are judging the software programs from the point of view of their own very particular needs and preferences. Even so, the review is worth reading, especially if one takes the time to read all of the “comments” from other readers as well at the very end of the review.
The review covers three office suites for the MAC:
- Apple iWorks
- ThinkFree
- NeoOffice [an OpenOffice variant]
For the PC, the reviewers cover:
- ONE Special Edition
- CelFrame Office Pro
- ThinkFree Office
- GoBeProductive
- Corel WordPerfect X3
- OpenOffice
This list is not complete; I immediately think of some important omissions, like Nota Bene for Windows and Scrivener for MAC. The writers declare that the winners, for their own needs, are NeoOffice and OpenOffice, both free and richly powerful. ThinkFree and ONE Special Edition also receive high marks. Mentioned only in the reader’s comments is StarOffice, a $69.00 version of OpenOffice from Sun Systems, with some additional capabilities [frankly speaking, this is the option I’m personally considering, for its layout and PDF capabilities]. Dedicated word processors, such as AbiWord, are not included.
Early this year, ComputerWorld also ran a comprehensive survey of online office suites. Reviewed here are:
In my view, writers should take these online applications into account when choosing a word processor or office suite, especially as desktop and online applications are beginning to merge. ThinkFree already offers both; Zoho is rumored to have a desktop version in the pipeline, while already offering integration with Word.
Which is the best? Typically, confusion reigns.
ComputerWorld writer Richard Ericson, who is review editor for The Office Letter, declares ThinkFree as hands-down winner. His individual reviews of each online application are quite thorough. He correctly points out that ThinkFree’s word processor is currently the most powerful of those reviewed. A forthcoming Premium addition will also offer linkage between online and desktop versions.
Google Docs and Spreadsheets, on the other hand, is the application that has walked off with numerous awards this year for best application. One aspect of this online application that I’ve never seen discussed is the capability of adding a Docs Widget on one’s Google Homepage. I myself have set up a Google Homepage bringing together lots of writers tools, clocks of various sorts, a calendar, todo lists and more. And prominently on display is the Docs Widget, listing several of my recent documents, which are only a click away. [If I do as planned, I’ll even soon have a Becoming A Writer Seriously feed widget available to anyone who wishes to place it on their own homepage.]
I myself am personally drawn to Zoho Office Suite. This site offers the broadest array of applications, including project management, chat and mail. I particularly like the extraordinarily powerful Zoho NoteBook, which allows users to collect in one place snippets from all kinds of applications. And Zoho Writer also is available as a Zoho Widget, a more useful one in my view than the Google Docs Widget, at the PageFlakes homepage. [See my blog sidebar: I’ve just set up an Online Office which YOU can use without any additional setup.] Zoho also offers a plug-in for Microsoft Word, for those who want the best of both worlds. With this plug-in, documents can be saved in both online Zoho and offline Word, and shuttled back and forth almost effortlessly. For what it’s worth, Zoho Office Suite is also judged the best of the bunch in an exhaustive and comprehensive review by DonationCoder.
There’s an enormous amount of development going on with online and offline office suites. We are quickly approaching a point where writers will make a choice of both an offline suite and an online option. What those choices will be, of course, will depend on individual tastes. In the meantime, check out the reviews described in this post. You are certain to learn a lot.
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