UnPirate: Finding the best substitute for Microsoft Office

The Pirated: Microsoft Office

It is not surprising that users rely on Pirate Bay to access the programs found in Microsoft Office. The software costs close to $300 for the standard version while the professional version retails for double that price. If you are looking for a free and legal alternative, you can find many software products available online that will work just as well.

OpenOffice.org: A free open source office software package

OpenOffice.org has many of the same capabilities of Microsoft Office, including word processing, graphics, spreadsheets and presentation software. Due to the simple formatting used as well, you can open files from other programs, like Office documents. I tested it with a Word document from the Microsoft Office 2007 version and it ran without any problems. The only drawback of OpenOffice is that as of right now, you can not use it with the .docx format. The experience is really familiar to anyone already used to MS Office.

Zoho.com: More to offer businesses

If you are looking for office software geared more towards businesses, then Zoho.com will probably be your best bet. Besides basic word processing and spreadsheet applications, you can find project management tools, invoicing, web conferencing, online reporting and more. You can also download a plugin for Microsoft Office or Outlook that lets you access files offline.

Google Docs and Spreadsheets: Create and share online

Google Docs and Spreadsheets allow you to easily create your documents online and share them with other users. Since this is an online version, you won’t need to download any software and can access your work at anytime. It does not have any advance features like Office, but it’s convenient for simple word processing documents and spreadsheets.

Site: [OpenOffice]
Site: [Zoho.com]
Site: [Google Docs Tour]