The programs are compatible with each other in that they can both read and write the same file formats, but in practice, they are not identical. The documents created by OpenOffice may look different when opened in MS Office. This means that you can happily exchange documents with people who use MS Office.

It can, in fact, read and write documents created with MS Office. OpenOffice currently doesn’t have all of the advanced features that MS Office offers. It includes a word processor comparable to MS Word, a spreadsheet comparable to MS Excel, presentation software comparable to Power Point, a database comparable to MS Access, and even drawing and math equation tools similar to those included in MS Office. Now more popularly known as Apache OpenOffice and very similar to LibreOffice, OpenOffice can be an effective alternative to MS Word and even some other familiar MS Office applications.Īpache OpenOffice is a completely free suite of programs. OpenOffice Writer works the same way as Word. If you are thinking of purchasing MS Word, remember that it may cost you US$ 100 or perhaps even less to purchase and install it on your computer. Popular open source office suites: OpenOffice and LibreOffice

Calligra, which runs on Windows, Linux, free Berkeley Software Distribution (BSD) and MacOS.Ĭlosed and licence based office suites like Microsoft Office and Word Star have somehow ruled the enterprise and personal desktop for several decades.

NeoOffice, a Java based branch of OpenOffice for MacOS.

Open Document Foundation’s LibreOffice, which is a fork of Open Office for Windows, MacOS and Linux.

Apache OpenOffice, which is a comprehensive suite for Windows, MacOS and Linux.

This has resulted in the birth of the following new open source office suites: Programmers belonging to the open source community are now using better code to reconstruct the decades-old king of the office – Microsoft Office. Inventing it using AI, ML, etc, remains a challenging struggle for a creative programmer. Open source office suites like OpenOffice and LibreOffice have evolved considerably in recent years, and smaller businesses can benefit by using these free software in place of Microsoft Office.Ī single new office suite can change the way we think about office automation. It is a bundle of software put together to facilitate the work of an organisation. An office suite is designed to make things easy.

Compare openoffice documents