It’s estimated that around 90% of the world’s desktop computers use Microsoft Windows as the operating system.  But that doesn’t mean to say you have to look to Microsoft for all your basic software needs.

Take office productivity tools for example.  A small business will be using a Word Processor, Spreadsheet and Email very regularly, if not daily.  The Microsoft Office package includes “Word”, “Excel” and “Outlook” to perform these functions and they have come to dominate the market; if you receive a spreadsheet file, it will invariably be the Microsoft Excel “.xls” format.

However, Microsoft Office Small Business Edition is selling for around £300 and this will only include a licence for one User.  A costly exercise.

With a bit of research on the Web, you can find a large selection of free programs to handle these basic needs, but the main problem is one of file compatibility. As mentioned before, anyone sending you a spreadsheet or text document will invariably use the Microsoft format, so you simply wouldn’t be able to open and edit the file with many of these free programs.

Enter “LibreOffice”, one of the best free office suite available.  It’s been under continuous development for about 20 years and is made available as “open source software”. Essentially, this means there are no licensing fees and you can install on as many computers as you need to.

It’s key advantages are:

• It’s free
• It’s as easy to use and looks very similar to the Microsoft Office software
• Includes full featured Word Processor and Spreadsheet programs
• You simply download it and install on as many computers as required
• It includes additional programs for database, desktop publishing, drawing and presentations
• There’s plenty of help resources available to help you get up to speed quickly

Find out more about LibreOffice and download the installation package