How to Cut Microsoft Office Loose and Never Miss it! Option 3

Option Number 3: OpenOffice

OpenOffice.org 3 is the leading open-source office software suite for word processing, spreadsheets, presentations, graphics, databases and more. It is available in many languages and works on all common computers. It stores all your data in an international open standard format and can also read and write files from other common office software packages. It can be downloaded and used completely free of charge for any purpose. 

It is basically Office created for free on Mac or PC with 100% compatibility by a team of programmers sick of Microsoft. Pros: Free, powerful, for PC and Mac new and old; Cons: None

How to Cut Microsoft Office Loose and Never Miss it! Option 2

Option Number 2: Apple iWorks; Pages

Pages is the successor to the word processing portion of Apple's multipurpose office suite, AppleWorks, which was discontinued in August 2007. 

Pages is a word processor and page layout application developed by Apple. It is part of the iWork productivity suite and runs on the Mac OS X operating system. The first version of Pages was announced on January 11, 2005 and was released one month later. The most recent Macintosh version, Pages 4, was released on January 6, 2009 as a component of iWork '09. On January 27, 2010, Apple announced a new version of Pages for iPad with an all new touch interface.

Pages is marketed by Apple as an easy-to-use application that allows users to quickly create professional-quality documents on their home computer.  A number of Apple-designed templates comprising different themes (such as letters, résumés, posters, and outlines), are included with Pages.  Among Microsoft Office applications, it competes with both Microsoft Word and Microsoft Publisher, and has compatibility with both. 100% compatible between Macs and PCs.

Pros: Apple product, stable, full featured; Cons: requires purchase 

How to Cut Microsoft Office Loose and Never Miss it!

The first thing I see owners of new macs scramble for is Microsoft Word. “Where’s Word?” “How do I get Word on this?” “Can I use my old version of Word on my new mac?”

You can almost see the panic set in. Microsoft would have you believe that there is no other alternative than to fork over $350 for their Office suite so you can use Word. 

Granted it considered the industry standard, but p-sssst, there are other cheaper and better alternatives. Some are free.

I can hear the reluctance now. Will it open and save all my existing Word documents? Probably yes if you’re not a “power user”.

Scientists and others in the psychological, sociological fields have asserted that humans use maybe .01 to.10 percent of our brain. Most Word users use less than .08 of its features, so why pay for them? Many people don’t use all of Office anyway. It’s a lot like buying a pizza for only the pepperoni.

Option Number 1: Google Docs

A free service from Google that allows you to upload and save documents from your desktop, edit them online from any computer, and invite others to read or edit your documents. Files are stored in Google's secure servers. Search for “Google Documents.” So you can’t lose them or delete them by mistake.

I can’t say enough good things about Google Docs and how handy it is. All you have to do is google “Google Docs” and create an account. It only takes a few moments. Not only can you create documents online you can also create spreadsheets and presentations. Yes you can even download the file if you need to.

Google Docs is the best of both worlds; online access from any computer with an internet connection and all the power and features of Word. And it’s all FREE! 100% compatible between Macs and PCs. Pros: Free, powerful, sharing; Cons: Requires internet connection (not really a “con”).