The Reminder is making its archives back to 2003 available on our website. Please note that, due to technical limitations, archive articles are presented without the usual formatting.
With two laptops and a desktop computer in my house, upgrades to machines or to software is a huge issue. Machines need to be maintained and software needs to be kept in line. When it comes to software, this can be an expensive proposition. Two years ago, I couldn't bring myself to pay for an upgrade I badly needed for the office suite of software we use around my house. I began doing some research and found out about Open Office. A completely free download, Open Office is a full suite that comes with a word processor, spreadsheet, and presentation software. Fully compatible with Microsoft Office and others, in the two years I've been using it, I haven't found anything it won't do. It even offers the ability to convert documents into pdf, something that using Office would cost you several hundred extra dollars because you would have to buy Adobe Acrobat. But lately, the possibilities have moved beyond a free downloadable program. A new programming language called Ajax has given software developers the opportunity to do some truly creative things directly in your web browser. One of the first things created has been fully featured word processors and spreadsheets that live online. Using Ajax, software programmers have developed websites that allow you to create documents directly in your browser. Simply register for free at one of these sites, login and you can begin creating and editing your documents using something that looks remarkably like Microsoft Word. You can create new documents, edit them, spell check, etc. all like working with a regular piece of software, and then save them either online in the free space they give you, or else on your computer. Google has already bought a site offering this service that is called Writely when they saw how popular it was getting to be. Another site offering the same service is Zoho. The creators of this service have actually gone one step further by now offering Zoho Sheet. The same idea as the online word processors, this site allows you to create spreadsheets. IRows provides this same service. This week I also discovered the logical next step, a full online office suite called Thinkfree.com. This is a massive change in the business. For years, Microsoft has basically held a monopoly on office software. I used to use Corel WordPerfect and refused to use Office. I felt WordPerfect was a superior product and I didn't feel any need to change; until my job changed and I started dealing more with governments. Both the provincial and federal governments use Microsoft Office exclusively. Needing to open documents from them, and send them documents they could easily deal with, I had no choice but to change to Office. While it's still true that governments use this product (which given the money they would save by changing to something open source, I still don't understand), I now have many more choices. If I absolutely want the software on my machine, I can get Open Office for free, or Star Office from Sun for about $80. If you usually have Internet access, why not give something like ThinkFree, Writely, iRows, or Zoho a try? They are all free. They offer storage space for your documents, full featured products and the ability to choose who sees what you create and how it will be used. It may save you $800 on an upgrade. ([email protected])5/15/2006
