It's no secret that Microsoft Office dominates the productivity suite market, but that doesn't mean it's the only way to go. Corel, Sun Microsystems and Apple offer alternatives that provide a core stable of programs at a fraction of the price of Microsoft's package. Corel's WordPerfect Office X3 sports interface improvements and one-click PDF, HTML and XML publishing. The lesser-known StarOffice 8 provides all the basic productivity tools and throws in a couple of extras, such as a drawing program. OpenOffice.org 2 is the (free) open-source version of StarOffice.
If you're not looking for an entire suite, you can pick from a bunch of free Web-based tools such as Google Docs & Spreadsheets or Zoho Writer beta. Of course, there are trade-offs: these online alternatives are not the best at converting Microsoft Office files, for instance, and are generally less feature-rich than their desktop counterparts.
On the other hand, these indie suites also provide unique benefits that Microsoft does not. For example, although Microsoft Word has more users, Corel WordPerfect is the tool of choice for writers and lawyers who need more control over long documents, and version X3 better controls hidden metadata. ThinkFree Office 3 offers a free online service component to complement its desktop software, which is handy for business travellers who want to tweak a document using only a Java-enabled Web browser. Only Apple's iWork, Microsoft Office, ThinkFree and OpenOffice work with Macs. Mac purists may opt for iWork 2006 to do word processing with Pages 2 and make snazzy presentations with Keynote.
So which to choose? Budget, work habits and necessity will all come into play, but to help get you started, the chart below shows what the standard edition of each office suite has to offer right out of the box. Read on to see which one is best suited for you. If your small business of 10 or fewer people is seeking a set of Web-based productivity tools as well as site hosting and design, check out our preview and slide show of Microsoft Office Live beta.
Curious about the next generation of Microsoft Office? Check out our preview of the RTM version.
| Microsoft Office 2003 | Corel Word-Perfect X3 | StarOffice 8 | OpenOffice 2 | Thinkfree Office 3 | |
| Rating | 8.0 | 7.0 | 7.0 | 6.0 | 5.3 |
| Price (inc. VAT) | £369.99 | £235 | £45.97 | free | £29 |
| OS support | Windows, Mac | Windows | Windows, Linux, Solaris | Windows, Mac, Linux, Solaris | Windows, Mac, Linux |
| Components | |||||
| Word processor | Word | WordPerfect | StarWriter | Writer | Write |
| Spreadsheet | Excel | Quattro Pro | StarCalc | Calc (Math edits equations) | Calc |
| Presentations | PowerPoint | Presentations | StarImpress | Impress | Show |
| Outlook | n/a | n/a | n/a | ||
| Database | Access (in Professional edition) | Paradox (in Professional and Student & Teacher editions) |
Adabas D | Base | n/a |
| Drawing | n/a | n/a | StarDraw | Draw | n/a |
| Support | |||||
| Phone | <2 free incidents (toll call); £45 per incident thereafter (toll free); £150 for 5-incident pack | £15 per incident (toll free); 10 incidents for £90; 15 incidents for £150; pay-as-you-go, £1.50 a minute | 3 free support incidents (phone or email) in first 60 days; $30 (~£17) per phone session thereafter | n/a | n/a |
| 2 free incidents; £29 per incident thereafter | unlimited free email enquiries | 3 free support incidents (phone or email) in first 60 days; $25 (~£14) per email session thereafter | Peer support only, via Web-based forums and tutorials | Web-based forums and tutorials |
Talkback
Hi there,
may I add, that professional <a href="http://support.openoffice.org/index.html">support can be found for OpenOffice.org</a> and that in many languages around the world.
Also, <a href="http://www.conficio.com/">we (Conficio)</a> are beta testing a unique support option - <a href="http://openoffice.screencast-tutorials.com/index">Plan-B for OpenOffice.org - support for non-technical users.</a>
K<o>