OpenOffice.org

What is OpenOffice.org? Well....its the answer to all all your word processing, presentation, and spreadsheet prayers. It can do all the above (and more) as well as or better than any other software available, it runs on any operating system, and ...its free! Unbelievable but true. Save your money, use OpenOffice.org.

OpenOffice.org can do the following :

• Word Processing (creating text documents)
• Presentations (for business events and meetings)
• Spreadsheets (for all your accounting needs)
• Databases (create databases for your inventory, tracking items etc etc)
  

Word Processing 

If you don't know what word processing is, its pretty easy to explain. If you wish to write text, then you need a type of software known as a Word Processor. These softwares are usually much more sophisticated than being mere digital typewriters. They allow you to check your spelling as you write, format your text with different fonts, colors, styles, and sizes, send your formatted text to a printer, include images in your page, create letterhead templates, templates for printing on envelopes, and much much more.

 

The more you use a word processor, the more you get into the depths of its functionality, and the quicker and tastier your documents become. OpenOffice.org is unique in the world of Word Processors because it is fantastically powerful, and it doesn't cost you one unit of currency. Its is completely free.

If you are already familar with this type of software its probably through using Microsoft Word (MSW). MSW has become the default word processing software for almost every situation, whether it be at home, at school, or at work. You can expect to be able to do pretty much everything MSW does with OpenOffice.org. This includes opening existing MSW files, and saving files as Microsoft Word files so your unenlightened friends and colleagues can open them (remember to tell them they should also install OpenOffice.org). The biggest difference - the cost.

Presentations 

If you have a great idea and you want to demonstrate it clearly to a group of people, then many use 'presentation software' to do this. Using this type of software you can easily create any number of nice slides containing text and images for demonstrating your ideas. The slides can be shown on a computer screen, printed out, or projected onto a large screen. Projecting presentations is, for example, the default method of presenting at business conferences and meetings.

If you are not a designer then don't worry. Most types of presentation software (including OpenOffice.org), have simple templates that help you arrange your text and images neatly. These templates make the process of creating slides about as simple as it can be, and the results look clean and professional. When you get really slick you can also add audio and video. Once you are used to using the software making good looking slides gets quicker and you can change, reuse, and remix your slides for using in other presentations. An archive of slides soon becomes a useful and time saving resource.

As with Word Processors, if you have used presentation software before it is probably been because you have used Microsofts PowerPoint (MPP). Once again, you can do pretty much all you did with MPP via OpenOffice.org, including opening MPP files and saving presentations so MPP can read them.

Spreadsheets

Generally speaking, if you have come within two miles of managing any part of a budget using a computer, you have used or seen a spreadsheet. Spreadsheets are commonly used for tracking small budgets, but they are not used exclusively for accounting purposes. Spreadsheets are also used for managing lists of information. These lists can be simple, such as a list of names and phone numbers, through to keeping to-do lists or tracking complex inventories.

As with the above examples, Microsoft rules the roost of Spreadsheet applications and if you have used a spreadsheet it has probably been Microsofts Excel (MEXL). OpenOffice.org does all MEXL does, and as with the other examples, you can open MEXL files and save your own files so MEXL can read them.

Database

Databases are slightly more complicated. They are slightly more abstract than the above examples. Essentially a database is somewhere you can store information so you can quickly retrieve it, and cross reference it with other information stored in the database. Commonly databases are used for managing more complicated lists of information than you would typically manage with a spreadsheet (this isn't always true but its generally the case).

Microsofts Access Database (MAD) is the most common type of database used for these purposes. OpenOffice.org's database is known as BASE and can interact with Adabas D, ADO, Microsoft Access, and MySQL databases.