What are these office productivity tools that I am referring too?
For everybody's guidance (and for us to have one idea on the subject), office productivity softwares are those computer applications that deals in making digital documents and the manipulation of its data. It usually comes as a package which primarily composed of a word processor, spreadsheet, and a presentation tool. However, as technology evolves rapidly, more and more programs are being added to the office productivity package that eventually becoming a necessity also; like drawing, database, forms, and some programs for work collaboration.
When Steve Jobs (co-founder of Apple Computers) presented to the world the personal computer, one of the first questions asked to him was who will need such machine? It was a period when electrical typewriters are office admins' best friend and computers are only for computing! Without any second thought, Steve replied that PC computers are for all. And indeed – after a couple years his right! (Watch Pirate of Silicon Valley movie to get a little background on development of personal computers.)
Together with this physical component of a computer comes the softwares. Let's take some short discussion on the different office productivity softwares available today.
1.MICROSOFT OFFICE
Now, tell me which application do you use? I expect that most of you will gave me an answer of "Microsoft Office" for it is well known and commonly used program. Because of its popularity, most of the office softwares used this as their benchmark when it comes to graphical interface. Do I need to elaborate further?
Check out this book for further reading:Microsoft Office 2007: Introductory Concepts and Techniques, Windows XP Edition
2.OPENOFFICE
This is a promising contender of MS Office and getting a lot of attention. OpenOffice Org is a product of open source community and under LGPL license therefore it is free for everyone to use.
"Best of all, OpenOffice.org 3 can be downloaded and used entirely free of any licence fees. OpenOffice.org 3 is released under the LGPL licence. This means you may use it for any purpose - domestic, commercial, educational, public administration. You may install it on as many computers as you like. You may make copies and give them away to family, friends, students, employees - anyone you like. " -OpenOffice website
I can say that the interface is almost the same as MS Office versions before Office 2007. Just make sure when you save the file, use the proper filename extension (or format) to use so that it can be opened with MS Office.
I installed OpenOffice to most of our office computers and my officemate started to get along with it. Another cost-effective solution for a company isn't it?
3. NeoOFFICE
This a derivative of OpenOffice for Mac. Same features of OpenOffice with some additional features to accomodate the capability of a Mac machine.
4. GOOGLE DOCS
And this is a remarkable software! Oppsss... sorry just thinking aloud.
Although it is not much used for office purpose, the idea of using the software online without any installation and worries on licenses is for me a breakthrough. This will make every computer a simple input/output (I/O) device. You can work on your files on any computer with internet connection. Actually, I am using this technology for doing my drafts and researches for this weblog.
5. LOTUS SYMPHONY
I haven't really used this office suite before but I heard a lot of good feedbacks on this. You can try it and let me know your comment. By the way, it is an IBM product and ohhhh.... uses OpenOffice technology.
That's it! I gave you five office suites available for everyone to use. But don't limit yourself on the above list because there are a lots of softwares available out there - with a price or free. They are just waiting for your attention and try them.
Some extra note: next time, use the term "word processor" instead of MS Word, or spreadsheet for Excel. It's like Coke when you mean cola. Or Pepsi... (or bebsi in Dubai)...
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