Step Into your New "office"

You may be pondering the installation of2. Sun Microsystems' OpenOffice.org-
MicrosoftÂ(R) Office products (Word,+ Pro's: It's free with some "strings" attached (mostly
ExcelÂ(R), OutlookÂ(R), and maybean agreement that you'll participate somehow in the
PowerPointÂ(R)) or looking to upgrade to a moreoverall open-source development process). It's also
recent release of the Office suite. Although thecompletely compatible with Microsoft Office formats.
Microsoft Office suite is excellent business productivity- Con's: Because it's open-source, "support" is a
software, it's not cheap (you'll pay anywhere from 150relative term (but the Help functions are surprisingly
to 700 dollars per instance, unless you're getting somewell-organized so that it's not a huge concern). You
volume discounts through a reseller). There arealso have to be careful to save into Microsoft Office
alternatives for you to consider, and those alternativesformats if you're planning on transporting these
have both pro's and con's.documents anywhere (not hard to do, but you have to
First, let's look at the alternatives (grouped by theremember to do it).
individual components within the Office suite):3. Corel's WordPerfect Office X3-
1. Word- There is an almost countless number of+ Pro's: These guys have been around for a long time
alternative word processors out there, such as:a.(remember when Word and WordPerfect were the 2
OpenOffice.org Writer (the entire OpenOffice.org suite,big players in the word processing space?).
which is part of SunÂ(R) Microsystem's- Con's: The product is solid, but there aren't any major
open-source strategy is available at openoffice.org)b.feature differentiators (WordPerfect is not all that
WordPerfectÂ(R) (the entire WordPerfectdifferent from Word, Quattro Pro is like a less-talented
Office X3 suite, which is owned by CorelÂ(R), isolder sibling of Excel's, etc.). For all of Corel's past
available at wordperfect.com)c. Lotus Word Probrilliance in the area of desktop publishing, it hasn't
(which is part of IBMÂ(R)'s Lotus SmartSuite,seemed to carry-over into the 21st century (at least
available at lotus.com)d. Adobe Â(R)not with this suite)
FrameMakerÂ(R) (available from adobe.com)e.4. IBM's Lotus SmartSuite-
StarOffice Writer (the entire StarOffice suite, which is+ Pro's: IBM is, obviously, another long-time player in the
part of SunÂ(R) Microsystem's proprietaryspace (Lotus 1-2-3 is pretty much the "grand-daddy" of
software catalog, is available at staroffice.com)spreadsheets), with lots of capital to throw around.
2. Excel- There is also a large contingent ofSupport is good if you can get to the right channel.
spreadsheet software options out there, such as:a.- Con's: Similar to Corel, there's just not any strong
OpenOffice.org Calcb. Quattro ProÂ(R) (part ofdifferentiators here (unless the whole Lotus Notes and
the WordPerfect Office X3 suite)c. Lotus 1-2-3 (partLotus Domino architecture makes sense to you, in
of Lotus SmartSuite)d. StarOffice Calcwhich case, please let me know, so I can consult with
3. PowerPoint- There's not quite as much directyou). The product offerings are good, but they're
competition in this space, but there are counterparts inalmost too complex.
all the suites previously mentioned, as detailed below:a.5. Sun Microsystems' StarOffice-
OpenOffice.org Impressb.+ Pro's: Just like with OpenOffice.org, compatibility with
Presentations™ (part of theMicrosoft Office is a plus.
WordPerfect Office X3 suite)c. Freelance Graphics- Con's: Support is a little better than for its
(part of Lotus SmartSuite)d. Adobe Presenter,OpenOffice.org counterparts, and the same warning
formerly Macromedia Breeze Presenter (availableexists for document portability as listed above.
from adobe.com)e. StarOffice Impress6. Mozilla's Thunderbird-
4. Outlook- Excluding the web-based email services+ Pro's: This product is quickly getting to be very
(such as Google™ gmail orrobust. It's not yet to the usability level of Outlook, and it
Yahoo!Â(R) Mail), there are some goodhas one-thousandth of Lotus Notes' complexity and
alternatives, such as:a. Mozillascalability, but for a free product, it's pretty awesome!
Thunderbird™ (available at- Con's: Similar to the observations about Sun
mozilla.com)b. Lotus Notes (available at lotus.com)c.Microsystems' OpenOffice.org offerings, the
Eudora, which will likely fold into or combine withopen-source nature of this product can leave a little to
Mozilla's Thunderbird in the not-too-distant futurebe desired in the area of support, but most of the
(available at eudora.com)normal functions are relatively intuitive.
Next, let's look at some of the pro's and con's of each7. Eudora-
of the major vendors' offerings:+ Pro's: Another "grand-daddy", this time in the email
1. Microsoft Office-client space. Very stable and reliable utility
+ Pro's: It's the "Big Daddy" of the bunch, no doubt. It- Con's: Time will tell what happens to this stalwart, but
has the most users, the biggest development budget,it appears to be in good hands (Mozilla)
files you generate with it are practically universal, andThe "bottom line" is that you do have some legitimate
it's got "hooks galore" into Microsoft's Windowschoices with your business productivity software, and
operating system.you can "mix and match" (many of these solutions can
- Con's: It's the "Big Brother" of the bunch. It's towardbe broken out... for example, Word can be purchased
the higher end in cost, all things considered, and it's notunpackaged from the Microsoft Office suite or Lotus
very petite regarding system requirements (but that's1-2-3 can be purchased unpackaged from Lotus
not a huge concern if you've upgraded your PCsSmartSuite). Take some time to investigate your
anytime within the last 2-3 years).options before opening your wallet.