Openoffice

[EveKnight75]

OpenOffice is a free office suite application that you can download off the Internet. For those of you who keep having issues with MS Office applications, this is a great alternative.

Many people here have already switched, and they're saying positive things about it. I've started this thread because I've read mention of it on two different threads already.

I use OpenOffice Writer the most often, and it's probably the best program to discuss here, seeing as how we're all writers.

You can download up to 10 different languages for the dictionaries and thesauruses. For me, that's a huge advantage, because I often have to work with different versions of French, Spanish, and English when it comes to university papers. The grammar checker isn't that great, but the spell-checker always seems to work properly, even when it's not in English.

There's also a special feature known as a "master document". Basically, what it does is combine several regular documents into one larger document. The separate documents remain saved separately, but they can all be viewed back-to-back in the master document. OpenOffice itself claims that one of the reasons this was created was for multi-chaptered novels. I save each chapter as a document and combine them into a master document under the fic's title. Any disclaimers, notes, and review replies that apply to the entire document can be typed in the master document.

There's also a password feature for protecting individual documents as well as master documents. If you don't want your parents, underage siblings, or children to stumble upon your stuff by accident, you can ensure that they won't be able to view the documents on the family computer. I can remember my passwords, but my mom and sister don't know them, so I'm not as apprehensive about saving my adult fics on the family PC in the living room.

OpenOffice is compatible with Windows, Linux, Sun Solaris, Free BSD, and Mac OS X. I only know about how well it works with Windows. It works very well. Better than MS Office, actually. MS Word tends to freeze in the middle of work, shut itself down abruptly for no reason, disrupt other programs, and lose work. The spell/grammar check is a joke, and the foreign-language dictionaries are useless.

If you have been experiencing problems with MS Office like I have, then I suggest you try OpenOffice. It's the best alternative I've found so far. If you can suggest other similar office suite applications that work very well and are easy to install, please do so.

[Guest echtrae]

As I stated elsewhere, I use Open Office. The only other program that I know of off-hand is Abiword. I haven't tried, just never got around to it.