Looking for alternative to MS Office

[Dragonclaw]

I can't afford MS Office but i want a program that can do the same but is free or a lot cheaper.

I would use Word, Excel, Publisher and Access. What is available? Open Office is one but can i use that like Publisher too?

[Funkstar]

http://why.openoffice.org/why_great.html

Impress is their presentation app

[kungpo]

Office 2007 Home and Student edition?

[Vimeous]

Office 2007 Home and Student edition?

To get Access you new the Pro edition.

[kungpo]

To get Access you new the Pro edition.

Good point - I missed that bit. I'd then agree that OpenOffice is the next best best as it is pretty compatible with most of Office 2007, although I can't say how good compatibility would be with Access.

[speardane]

I'm not wildly keen on open office.

It depends what you want to do, and on what...

I like

• Gnumeric (spreadsheet) - windows installers also available - functionality and file compatible, but not macro/vba compatible
• Abiword (word processor) - windows version available
• Scribus (DTP) - windows version available - does less, but does it better - I feel it makes the compromises in the right areas
• I dont like Access - personally I find the problem is either a few tables - in which case Excel (etc) is better, or more complex, in which case a genuine dbms (eg My SQL) is preferable. With Access or a DBMS, you have to invest a lot of time - here's where being good at one is better than ok'ish at both...

they are all much faster than the ooo equivalents...

[freakyshadows]

Depending on what you need office for, theres Google Docs
docs.google.com

Easy to share your work, you can invite others to collaborate or view your documents.

[latrosicarius]

I dont like Access - personally I find the problem is either a few tables - in which case Excel (etc) is better, or more complex, in which case a genuine dbms (eg My SQL) is preferable. With Access or a DBMS, you have to invest a lot of time - here's where being good at one is better than ok'ish at both...

Quoted for truth


Also, along the same lines, why use Publisher, when MS Word or OOo Writer do basically the same things, if you know how to use column layouts or tables, and also, there are plenty of WYSIWYG HTML editors that will really let you control text & image placement on your page to a fine degree.

[Dragonclaw]

So, Open Office will do all that Publisher can?

[Syllopsium]

I can't afford MS Office but i want a program that can do the same but is free or a lot cheaper.

I would use Word, Excel, Publisher and Access. What is available? Open Office is one but can i use that like Publisher too?

I tried OpenOffice on Vista x64 for some very simple tasks recently. It crashed repeatedly.

It's impressive that it exists at all, but I wouldn't pay money for it.

PK

[Dragonclaw]

I have tried Open Office on Win7 64bit and all works ok.

[directhex]

I tried OpenOffice on Vista x64 for some very simple tasks recently. It crashed repeatedly.

It's impressive that it exists at all, but I wouldn't pay money for it.

PK

My wife can pretty much guarantee crashers in Excel 2007

So y'know...

[speardane]

if open office won't do everything, that Publisher can, then the Open alternative to consider is Scribus.

I have used Scribus (after preparing work in OOO) and it suited me really well - ie as a casual, impatient (not-DTP-professional)

[scaryjim]

... personally I find the problem is either a few tables - in which case Excel (etc) is better, or more complex, in which case a genuine dbms (eg My SQL) is preferable...

Quoted for falsehood

Firstly, a spreadsheet is not a database and cannot be used as one. If your problem genuinely requires *tables* then use a database. You may as well say that the problem only requires a few tables so use CSV files! Secondly, if you only require a small database or you want a simple graphical front end to access your data, you don't want to be messing around with MySQL and then trying to find appropriate tools to query your data. Access provides a full package: data mangement, querying, reporting, and forms-based GUI, all in a single self contained file. That's a pretty damn flexible and powerful feature set. The simple fact is that for a lot of data handling scenarios, Access is eminently appropriate. It also, to the best of my knowledge, doesn't have any direct competitor or alternative...

[peterb]

I haven't tried either of these, but a quick Google found Kexi, and of course there is OpenOffice Base 3 - part of the OO suite.

[speardane]

Quoted for falsehood

Firstly, a spreadsheet is not a database and cannot be used as one. If your problem genuinely requires *tables* then use a database. You may as well say that the problem only requires a few tables so use CSV files! Secondly, if you only require a small database or you want a simple graphical front end to access your data, you don't want to be messing around with MySQL and then trying to find appropriate tools to query your data. Access provides a full package: data mangement, querying, reporting, and forms-based GUI, all in a single self contained file. That's a pretty damn flexible and powerful feature set. The simple fact is that for a lot of data handling scenarios, Access is eminently appropriate. It also, to the best of my knowledge, doesn't have any direct competitor or alternative...

hopefully "falsehood" was meant to be humorous rather than offensive

maybe, in a quick short reply, I was imprecise - apologies...

even the word "database" can mean many things for instance - relationally organised DBs, OO Dbs and into "free form" DBs (and more still as we move from technologists to marketeers...)

• when I mentioned "tables" I was hoping to pencil-sketch a relationally organised set of data...
• Let's make a distinction between the files and how they are accessed and managed. eg the DB and the DBMS.
• so a CSV file <> a spreadsheet, although it's sometimes a convenient input / transfer medium

sure a spreadsheet is not full-blown DBMS, however in a number of ways it can access DBMS eg via ODBC; it can also manipulate tables of data and it can look up and cross- reference data; (look at Pivot tables for one instance). Undoubtedly a set of data in a worksheet in Column and Row format is a table...

there are a set of problems for which:

• a spreadsheet are a good solution, and a wider set for which it is a workable solution.
• ditto an RDBMS +SQL
• ditto Access

There are many points of intersection - where people could argue which is best - I expect we would!

Access databases may well be fine if they never expand in complexity - in my experience a good Access data structure is not a good relational data structure - and the MS Access - to SQL server conversion tool is a complete nightmare!

I think you'll find that many professional DBA's would rather prototype and collect base data using excel - or other flat file formats like csv, rather than going via Access.

if I was going to create a system to keep track of Books or Albums eg one main table and a number of lookup or validations - it would be easy - and also straightforward.


yes some people like access...

• I think I mentioned this was a personal view...
• the context was "looking for free alternatives"...
• if people don't want to buy s/w - its better to propose other possibilities than tell them there is no choice... do you feel he should find a way to use Access without paying for it...?

So for me one of the key points is that is it is better (and quicker) to master a small number of tools - you can probably guess the ones I choose! - and I guess you've invested your time in Access - it may well be that experience / expertise matter more than the underlying toolset choice...

I think in terms of use and alternatives - it depends very much on what the needs are...

Alpha 5 is a current alternative, Paradox and dBase / Clipper have been in the past, Filemaker on the Mac certainly has flexibility and ease of use. A number of PDA oriented DB tools such as HanDBase offer similar features.


PS "Access - "single self contained file" don't think so... As a test try take a copy of Access.exe and an MDB on a USB stick and try accessing the MDB from Access on a system where Office + Access haven't been installed...