What programs are you referring to, Claudia? Others besides Open Office? I have to be able to "fool" my clients into thinking I'm using MS Word.
There are many free and low cost alternatives to Office. Some of them are completely independent of Office, but others try to emulate Office, partially/fully recreating the old Menu and sometimes the Ribbon and features.
Many of them provide extensive feature support in the Word DOC, DOCX formats. They can open, edit, save or create DOC/DOCX format files that Word can use transparently. If you were using one of these the only concern you have is to ensure that your clients
are not going to use Word features that the alternate program does not support. That is most significant when dealing with the most current versions of Office, the alternatives may not have had time to implement those specific new features.
One place you most likely won't be able to fool your clients is if you want to use the "collaborative" editing in sharepoint, ie more than one person editing the same file at the same time.
Here are some of the alternative Office Suites, and Word specific equivalents:
Office Suite Alternatives
2013 03 13- Two free, full-blown alternatives to MS Office - Open Office / Libre Office
https://windowssecrets.com/newsletter/two-free-full-blown-alternatives-to-ms-office/
As Microsoft's Office has grown in size and complexity, more than a few users have wondered whether there's a viable alternative — especially when it comes time to pay for an upgrade or new copy.
2013 07 16- Geek level comparison of LibreOffice and OpenOffice program code and their future
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/07/16/libre\_office\_hardware\_acceleration/
Provides overview of underlying code changes to LibreOffice and it’s future use of video card to speed up processing
LibreOffice 4.0 ships with new features, better looks
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/02/08/libreoffice\_40\_ships/
https://www.libreoffice.org/download/4-0-new-features-and-fixes
Review: LibreOffice 4 liberates you from Microsoft Office
http://www.pcworld.com/article/2042552/review-libreoffice-4-liberates-you-from-microsoft-office.html#tk.rss\_all
LibreOffice 3.5: The best Office killer yet
https://www.infoworld.com/d/applications/libreoffice-35-the-best-office-killer-yet-187534
Ultimate Collection of Best Free Alternatives to Microsoft Office Suite
http://www.askvg.com/ultimate-collection-of-best-free-alternatives-to-microsoft-office-suite/
10 superb free tools for all of your basic business needs 2013 01 14
http://www.pcworld.com/article/252603/the\_15\_best\_free\_business\_tools\_apps\_and\_services\_of\_2012.html
15 Best Free Business Tools, Apps, and Services of 2012 – 2012 04 23
http://www.techhive.com/article/258102/the\_best\_freeware\_for\_small\_businesses.html Best Freeware for Small Businesses
5 Free Open Source Alternatives to Microsoft Office
http://www.cio.com/article/716346/5\_Free\_Open\_Source\_Alternatives\_to\_Microsoft\_Office?taxonomyId=3000
Apache OpenOffice
LibreOffice
NeoOffice
Google Docs
KOffice
2010 09 27- Google spikes old MS file formats - Withdraws support for .doc, .xls, .ppt
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/09/27/google\_kills\_old\_ms\_file\_formats/
Five alternatives to Microsoft Office 365
http://www.techrepublic.com/blog/five-apps/five-alternatives-to-microsoft-office-365/1860
Zoho, OX, Google Apps, Think Free Office, Live Documents
2013 04 18- Going Google (apps), Part 1: Move your mail
http://windowssecrets.com/newsletter/going-google-apps-part-1-move-your-mail/
Part 2: Move your docs
http://windowssecrets.com/newsletter/going-google-apps-part-2-move-your-docs/
Part 3: Share/collaborate
https://windowssecrets.com/top-story/going-google-apps-part-3-sharecollaborate/
2012 12 12- Review: The new Corel Office
http://www.techrepublic.com/blog/window-on-windows/review-the-new-corel-office/7017
Winodws 8 compatible, (2010) Ribbonized
Bottom Line: Corel’s reboot of their fabled office suite brings a fresh look to WordPerfect and company. However, unless you are a diehard fan of the brand or work specifically with documents designed with the software, stick with something
else.
Windows Live Essentials
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows-live/essentials-other-programs
Mail, Writer, Photo Gallery, Movie maker etc.
SSuite Office Free – several versions
http://www.ssuitesoft.com/ssuiteofficepremiumhd.htm
http://www.ssuitesoft.com/wordgraph.htm - Description of Word processor app
Ashampoo Office 2010
http://www.ashampoo.com/en/usd/pde/0338/Office\_Software/Ashampoo-Office-2010/Details
Textmaker (Word), PlanMaker (Excel) and Presentations (PowerPoint) menu, NOT ribbon, based equivalents. If you sign up for their newsletter they offer software for sale at prices ranging from $5-15 at various times in the year. But at US$40, even full price
is cheap.
2013 05 30- 10 reasons why Kingsoft Office is better than the competition
http://www.techrepublic.com/blog/10things/10-reasons-why-kingsoft-office-is-better-than-the-competition/3745
Kingsoft Office Suite 2012
http://www.topshareware.com/Kingsoft-Office-Suite-Free-2012-download-91031.htm
It's highly compatible with MS Office. Features spell check, a PDF converter, small package size, multi-tab interface, paragraph adjustment tool, drag-and-drop table feature, group convert hyperlinks and more.
Duracell 8GB USB2 with Corel Home Office (full)
http://store.worldstart.com/product/7621
Free Editor Version 2.0.1.0
http://www.freeeditor.com/
Some (many?) of the following Word specific tools may be part of the suites listed above
Word Alternatives
WordPad
http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/how-to-use-the-new-wordpad-in-windows-7.html
http://www.pcmag.com/slideshow\_viewer/0,3253,l=255105&a=255105&po=3,00.asp
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WordPad
<snip> WordPad is a basic word processor included with almost all versions of Windows from
Windows 95 onwards. It is more advanced than
Notepad but simpler than Microsoft Works Word Processor and Microsoft Word. </snip>
AbiWord
http://www.abisource.com/
Review here: http://www.davescomputertips.com/2012/08/word-processors-2-best-free-alternatives-to-microsoft-word/
A user written comparison of Word 2010 and OpenOffice.ORG Writer 3.5
http://user.services.openoffice.org/en/forum/download/file.php?id=14667 (ODT)
http://user.services.openoffice.org/en/forum/download/file.php?id=14666 (DOCX).
This comparison of the 2 document editors was performed by a “user” evaluating them for use by his company.
If you have the 2 apps installed and download the 2 files you can compare them side by side.
Windows Live Writer
http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=8621
Jarte
http://www.jarte.com/
Review here: http://www.davescomputertips.com/2012/08/word-processors-2-best-free-alternatives-to-microsoft-word/
Jarte is a free word processing program based on the Microsoft WordPad word processing engine that's already built into Windows. It's a fast-starting, easy-to-use program that offers word processing capabilities well beyond the WordPad feature set. The documents
it produces and works with are fully compatible with Word and WordPad.
·
Opens files with file extension RTF, file extension DOC, and file extension DOCX
·
Fast start up
·
Small size, efficient operation, and compact display (perfect word processor for netbooks)
·
Hot Connect lets you use Jarte with other programs
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Optional "Clickless Operation" feature greatly reduces clicking
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Can be run as a portable word processor directly from a USB flash drive, CD, or
DropBox folder
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High quality spell checker with custom user dictionary
WriteMonkey
http://www.writemonkey.com/
writing application with an extremely stripped down user interface, leaving you alone with your thoughts and your words. It is light, fast and free. With an array of innovative tools under the hood, it helps you write better. Editing
is for another day
Scrivener
http://www.makeuseof.com/pages/your-guide-to-scrivener
free online download guide to the tool
Learn to use the ultimate writing software: Scrivener. Allowing you to combine the various elements that make up your writing project, from outlines to research to note, Scrivener helped author Nicole Dionisio write two novels in a single year.
FocusWriter
http://gottcode.org/focuswriter/
FocusWriter is a simple, distraction-free writing environment. It utilizes a hide-away interface that you access by moving your mouse to the edges of the screen, allowing the program to have a familiar look and feel to it while still getting out of the way
so that you can immerse yourself in your work.
Five apps to simplify your writing projects
http://www.techrepublic.com/blog/five-apps/five-apps-to-simplify-your-writing-projects/1306?tag=content;siu-container