Part 1 of 3 Do you really need Microsoft Office?

It used to be that there were not a lot of options if you need a Microsoft Office compatible software system, but now wide range of options exists, here is a quick overview,

-          LibreOffice and Apache OpenOffice, both are installed on your PC, both are free.

-          Kingsoft and SoftMaker Office, both are installed on your PC, both are low cost(cheaper than Microsoft Office).

-          Google Docs and Zoho, both are web browser based and both, are free, or low cost.

All of these systems provide reasonable alternatives to Microsoft Office, and in the coming week we will review the pros and cons of each system.  We will look at, specfically, where each package rates on a scale of 1to 10 for usability, interoperability with Microsoft Office, and value for cost.