OfficeAlts.txt                                       04/04/13


1. What are we talking about?
   MS Office is big, expensive, and hard to learn.
   Office 2013/365 will be more expensive than 2010.
   What can you do as an alternative?
      [1] Office prices
   
2. Alternatives:
   Office clones:   
      Open Office, Libre Office, and KingSoft
   Browser-based (online) alternatives:
         Google Apps, Office Web Apps
      [2a] Google Docs & Office Web Apps
   Portable device "Apps"
      Android, iOS, WinRT, WinPhone         
      [2b] Portable Apps
   Open-Source office suites (FREE!)

3. Open Office/Libre Office
      www.openoffice.org       Apache version
      www.libreoffice.org      Libre version
   a. Why 2 of them?    Sun -> Oracle -> Apache
   b. What's in them?   Everything
      [3] Office Components
   
a. Word Processing:
      Word -> Writer
      doc, docx, and odt
         Set 'Save as' option to .doc
         
      Templates and styles - automatic   
         Who uses styles?     Templates?

      Pictures:  a. changing size, b. moving
         Captions and moving.

      PDFs  - Write but not read

      WordPerfect - Word and Libre (better), but not OO

b. Spreadsheets:
      Excel -> Calc
      Same compatibility situation
      Lotus 123 files
      
c. Presentations:
      PowerPoint -> Impress

d. Outlook vs Outlook Express
      Outlook is a business Email/Calendaring app.
      Not part of personal Office
      Not part of any alternative package

e. OneNote vs EverNote

f. Other content:
   1. Draw vs Paint
   2. Formula (like Word Equation Editor)    
   3. BASE vs ACCESS

1. OFFICE PRICES
----------------
   Home&Student: (Word, Excel, PwrPoint, OneNote)
   Home&Business = Add Outlook    Pro = Full suite
               H&S          H&B         PRO
           -----------   ---------   ---------
   2010:   $149, 3 PCs   279, 1 PC   499, 1 PC      
   2013:   $139, 1 PC    219, 1 PC   399, 1 PC
    365:       $100/yr - 5 devices, full suite

2a ON-LINE ALTERNATIVES
-----------------------
Google Docs:   (W, X, P)
   Uses/part of Google Drive - Cloud-based
   Limited create/edit capability
   Upload/Download files to use them
   
Office Web Apps: (W, X, P, N)
   Like Google Docs, only Microsoft
   Upload/Download to/from SkyDrive or Office 365

2b PHONE/TABLET "APPS"
----------------------      
Android Apps:  (Phone/Tablet)
   Office Suite Professional, Documents to Go, Quick Office Pro
   Cost $15 to 30, depending on range.
   Mainly for viewing, with editing/modification capability
   
Apple iOS:     (iPhone, iPad)
   iWork Pages, allows viewing/editing Office files
   
3. OPEN OFFICE COMPONENTS
------------------------- 
Writer   i.e., Word
   Native format:  .odt
   Word formats:   .doc, .docm, .docx., .dot, .dotx
   Other MS:       .rtf, .txt
   Other:          .pdf, .wpd
   Write:   .odt, .sxw, .doc, .rtf, .txt, .html, .xml, .pdf
   
Calc     i.e., Excel
   Native format:  .ods, .odc, .ots
   Excel formats:  .xls, .xlsm, .xlsx
   Lotus 1-2-3:    .wk1 thru .wk5
   Other:          .csv, .dbf

Impress  i.e., PowerPoint
   Native format:  .odp, .otp
   PowerPoint:     .pot, .potx, .pps, .pptm
   Others:         .pdf

Draw     i.e., Paint
   Uses BMP, GIV, JPEG, PNG, TFF, WMF files.
   Drawings, flowcharts, etc.
   Create Flash (.swf) versions
   
Base     i.e., Access
   Front end for data manipulation
   Spreadsheets, CSV files, Databases
   Read Access data
   Generate/manipulate dBASE data
   Report builder
   
Math     Formula/equation editor for documents