- Image via Wikipedia
If you have ever used Microsoft Word, you are no doubt aware that its primary intention is to induce you to purchase a new computer every few years. After all, the expansions of Word’s functionality became very tiny after the Windows 95 Version of the software. In fact, other than the introduction of the .docx file type, the most recent few versions of Word have introduced nothing of consequence. And considering that the only possible reason to include a new file type, which previous versions of Word can not open, is to convince people reluctant to purchase the latest version, that the software may be beyond necessary.
After all, who needs to spend hundreds of dollars and sign all sorts of licensing agreements for a bloated software suite when there is a freeware, open source program, that will fulfill the needs of 99 percent of the people who would otherwise be using Word anyway? This is the beauty of OpenOffice, a piece of software released by Oracle a few years ago. OpenOffice is a free program which can open any kind of file that Word (and even Microsoft Works, the extended suite of programs) creates. Not only can the open source community of programmers make alterations to and expand on OpenOffice, but in some cases, the interface is actually more intuitive.
When you first download OpenOffice, you might be expecting an overt clone of Word. But after awhile, you come to realize that a lot of the functions you used to spend more time hunting around for among the long list of more obscure operations (such as page formatting and typesetting) are right out in the open. Why search around for something, when you can click on it without delving into a menu? The most wonderful part of all of this, however, is in how unbelievably simple it is to get OpenOffice. You do not even have to give them your contact information.
