What is it? 

OpenOffice.org is an office suite similar to Micro$oft Office. The big difference is that OpenOffice.org is FREE! Yes, FREE! no strings, catches, spyware or other nasty stuff. We are huge fans here at DEOSS because it is also open source. This means the source code is open to other people to develop. And people all around the planet are developing free add-ons for OpenOffice.org.

Is it any good? 

Yes. OpenOffice.org is a mature reliable and stable office suite used all over the world by government departments, businesses and individuals. OpenOffice.org "Writer", the word processor part, is in many respects better than M$ Word. It handles graphics much more easily. In fact its ability to place objects on a page accurately means you can use it as a basic desktop publisher. It even ships with a fairly credible HTML editor too - handy for writing and tweaking web pages.

What computers will it run on?

OpenOffice.org is available for Micro$oft Windows and Linux operating systems. It is very easy to install and it uninstalls just as cleanly - in the unlikely event that you decide you don't like it. It is quite a big download though, typically around 90 MB. It is also available for Apple Macintosh, though the installation is a bit trickier. We find that a spin-off product called NeoOffice is probably more suitable for Mac Users.

Can I use it with my existing Micro$oft documents?

Yes! For those interested in using OpenOffice.org to replace Micro$oft Office, OpenOffice.org will open and save...

• M$ Word (using Writer)
  
• M$ Excel (using Calc)
  
• M$ Powerpoint files (using Impress)
  

It will also open and save M$ Access database files though it won't handle complex Access database with forms & VisualBasic code - yet.

To summarise OpenOffice.org features...

• Installs easily
• Runs on Linux, Mac and Windows
  
• Opens AND saves in M$ Word, Excel & Powerpoint formats
• Supports the EU recommended Open Document Format
  
• Impress will convert Powerpoint files to SWF (Macromedia Shockwave Flash) format.
• Writer will behave like a desktop publisher and it is much easier to lay out pages & graphics
  
• OpenOffice.org ships with an HTML web page editor as standard.
• Will "save as PDF"
• Uninstalls cleanly
• FREE!
  

Where do I get it? 

OpenOffice for Linux and M$ Windows is availble for free download from...
http://www.openoffice.org

NeoOffice derivative specially for Apple Macintosh OSX is availble for free download from...
http://www.planamesa.com