LibreOffice offers a powerful suite of office applications and is a great alternative to Microsoft Office. With laudable principles, nothing to pay and no ads, there’s no reason not to give it a try. LibreOffice is an open source project which includes six word-processing programs. It’s compatible with nearly all Microsoft documents. Tens of millions of people around the world use LibreOffice every day, in homes, businesses, charities and government departments.
LibreOffice is community-driven and developed software, and is a project of the not-for-profit organisation,
The Document Foundation.
LibreOffice components
The newest version, 5.2.0 is now out, and it looks and feel much more like its Microsoft counterparts. LibreOffice includes several applications that make it the most powerful Free and Open Source office suite on the market. And it’s the most actively developed and up-to-date suite of software of all the Opensource alternatives to Office. It’s faster than ever, more compatible and reliable, cleaner, lighter… and very much ready to serve as the only office suite you need.
- Writer: A word processor, it’s equivalent of Microsoft Word. If you’ve used Microsoft Word before, then you’ll be right at home with Writer and vice-versa. In fact, in many ways, Writer even blows Word out of the water.
- Calc: A spreadsheet program, it’s equivalent of Excel.
- Impress: Presentation software, it’s equivalent of Microsoft PowerPoint.
- Base: A database, it’s equivalent of Microsoft Access.
- Draw: A design program, especially useful for flowcharts.
- Math: A simple tool for equations.
Combined, they make for a powerful suite of programs. It also works with Microsoft’s “docx” standard, which most free office software isn’t compatible with. There is no catch to it. It’s not pirated software, and there are no ads. They believe believe that free software can provide better quality, higher reliability, increased security, and greater flexibility than proprietary alternatives. And almost every Word document and Excel spreadsheet identical or nearly identical to the way it looks in Office. I can safely say without hesitation or any major doubt that LibreOffice is ready to shine in both business and personal usage.
Find out more, and download from LibreOffice.
LibreOffice is available for Windows, OS X, and Linux. And did I say, it’s free!