Which office to install on windows 7. Top ten office software packages
At the beginning of this year, sales of office Microsoft package Office 2013. It has been redesigned with new useful features and integration with SkyDrive online storage, so you can access your documents almost anywhere. Alas, the prices for this popular and quite expensive office suite are now even higher. Licensing conditions have also become tougher - now one license is intended for only one device, while, for example, in the case of Microsoft Office Home and Business 2010, according to the license, two copies of the program were installed - one on a desktop computer, the second on portable device(a laptop). Of course, you can go the other way - get a so-called household license by subscribing to Microsoft Office 365 Home Premium for 2149 rubles. per year, which at first glance is about four times cheaper. In this case, the application package can be installed on five computers at the same time, including "certain smartphones and tablets." However, for home users, this is also not cheap, because the subscription will have to be renewed annually, and not every user will like the idea of a “cloud” office.
Therefore, the task of choosing an alternative office solution for a home PC is quite relevant, especially since the potential majority of users in practice do not need such a powerful and multifunctional solution as Microsoft Office. Finding affordable or generally free alternatives to the expensive brainchild of Microsoft today is not so difficult on the market. Another question is whether they will suit you as a replacement for the usual office product. That is, will they be convenient to use, are they functional enough in terms of the tasks to be solved, and how successfully are they compatible with Microsoft Office format files, because MS Office, without a doubt, will continue to be actively used at the corporate level and in the vast majority of cases will have to deal with files created in its environment. Support for the Russian language is also desirable - both at the interface level and in terms of spell checking. Therefore, we will try to evaluate the possible options for such alternative solutions, taking into account the above aspects.
Free "office"
In addition to MS Office, the list of office products on the market includes many different solutions that differ in the supported platform and the range of features provided. There are also free office products among them, the palm among which is quite long time belonged to the multiplatform office suite OpenOffice.org. Now the situation has changed - the OpenOffice.org solution has faded into the background, and it has been replaced by the LibreOffice office suite, developed by the non-profit organization The Document Foundation as an offshoot of OpenOffice.org. Today it is perhaps the most complete free alternative to office Microsoft solution. However, LibreOffice is quite "heavy" and slow. Therefore, users who agree to sacrifice functionality (see table) in favor of compactness and more high performance, you should pay attention to the free editions of SoftMaker Office and Kingsoft Office Pro, known in the market under the names SoftMaker FreeOffice and Kingsoft Office Suite Free.
LibreOffice 4.0.2
Developer: The Document Foundation
Websiteprograms: http://www.libreoffice.org/
Distribution size: 184 MB
Work under control: Windows (all versions); There are versions for Mac and Linux
Distribution method: freeware (http://www.libreoffice.org/download)
Price: is free
LibreOffice is an office suite created in 2010 based on the well-known office solution OpenOffice.org. This set of office applications is an open source software product. source code and can be considered as a serious competitor to Microsoft Office, as it offers the same wide functionality. At the same time, the package has Russian-language assemblies, which provide for a Russian-language user interface and spell check, and is characterized by good compatibility with MS Office. True, this solution cannot boast of speed - opening and saving documents in LibreOffice (especially in spreadsheets and presentation editor) takes much more time than in MS Office. But thanks to its powerful toolkit, LibreOffice is definitely one of the best free alternatives to MS Office today.
When you start LibreOffice, the main window (Fig. 1) opens with icons for launching the applications included in the package - in particular, the Writer word processor (Fig. 2), Calc spreadsheets (Fig. 3) and the Impress presentation preparation system. The capabilities of the Writer text editor are impressive: support for tables of contents and links, full-fledged formatting, automatic spell checking and autocorrect, the ability to include illustrations, etc. Thus, in the editor, you can prepare documents with a very complex design - books, brochures, etc. Spreadsheets also include all the functionality necessary for work, including tools for entering complex formulas, creating various charts, and performing statistical analysis. Impress features allow you to prepare impressive multimedia presentations with all sorts of animations and special effects. In addition, LibreOffice includes a program for managing databases. Base data, the Draw diagramming and sketching editor, and the Math formula editor. Finally, this office suite includes another useful tool - a module for creating PDF files integrated into applications, with which you can export created documents to PDF format(including according to the ISO PDF/A standard).
Rice. 1. LibreOffice main window
Rice. 2. LibreOffice Writer word processor
Rice. 3. LibreOffice Calc Spreadsheets
When you start LibreOffice, a main menu opens with icons for launching specific applications: a text editor, spreadsheets, etc. The interface of each application is similar to Microsoft interface Office, so you can start working in this solution literally immediately after installation. Documents open in different windows. Compatibility with Microsoft formats implemented at a high level - MS files can be opened Office versions from 6.0 to 2010 and save files in MS Office 97/2000/XP/2003 and MS Office 2007/2010 formats. True, the display of imported documents in some cases is not entirely correct. For example, we noted that Writer paginates DOC documents differently than Word and slightly shifts the text in callouts vertically, while Calc can distort the type of chart (depending on the type) and sometimes shift chart labels.
SoftMaker FreeOffice 675
Developer: SoftMaker Software GmbH
Distribution size: 58.7 MB
Work under control: Windows 2000/XP/Vista/7/8; there is a Linux version
Distribution method: freeware (http://www.freeoffice.com/en/download); to use the product you need to register and get a free serial key
Price: is free
SoftMaker FreeOffice is a light version of the commercial product SoftMaker Office 2012, offered on the market in two editions: basic Standard and extended Professional (the latter additionally includes " mail client"). The solution is compact, fast, minimum requirements to hardware resources and good support for MS Office formats. In addition, the product can work from any flash drive, which allows you to always have at hand desired programs. SoftMaker FreeOffice is localized in Russian and can be configured to automatically check spelling in Russian (you will need to download and install the Hunspell Russian Dictionary). Possibilities free version SoftMaker FreeOffice (compared to SoftMaker Office) is, of course, limited, and documents with complex design cannot be created in this office product. Also, it is impossible to save DOCX-, XLSX- and PPTX-files in it (only reading files in these formats is available); documents in DOC, XLS and PPT formats are opened and saved without problems. However, the functionality of this solution is quite enough to perform most office tasks faced by home users, so this product is very promising for equipping a home PC.
SoftMaker FreeOffice includes three modules: text editor TextMaker (Figure 4), PlanMaker spreadsheet (Figure 5), and Presentations presentation software. TextMaker can help you prepare a variety of documents with bolded and bordered paragraphs, lists, tables, floated images, links, columnar text, and a table of contents. With PlanMaker, you can perform all basic operations in spreadsheets, including calculations with function connection, using named references, analyzing data, illustrating calculations with graphs and charts, and so on. With Presentations, you can create easy-to-design presentations with a variety of transitions, animations, audio annotations, and videos. SoftMaker FreeOffice also has the ability to export working documents to PDF format.
Rice. 4. Text editor TextMaker (SoftMaker FreeOffice)
Rice. 5. PlanMaker Spreadsheets (SoftMaker FreeOffice)
The interfaces of applications from the SoftMaker FreeOffice set are very similar to the interfaces of the corresponding applications of MS Office 2003, so there is a minimum of time to master the products. Thanks to broad support all popular office formats provides the ability to open and save files in DOC, XLS and PPT formats for MS Office versions 6.0-2010 (including password-protected ones), as well as OpenDocument documents, RTF, HTML and a number of others. For DOCX, XLSX, and PPTX files, only opening is implemented. Display created in MS office documents, as a rule, fully corresponds to the original ones, although exceptions are possible. For example, we noticed that TextMaker in some documents, when displayed, changes the borders of labels, flips text in callouts, and can resize OLE objects. In PlanMaker, we encountered an inability to work with pivot tables created in MS Excel.
Kingsoft Office Suite Free 2012 (8.1.0.3385)
Developer: Kingsoft Software
Distribution size: 39.1 MB
Work under control: Windows 2000/XP/Vista/7/8
Distribution method: freeware (http://www.kingsoftstore.com/download-office)
Price: is free
Kingsoft Office Suite Free is a free stripped-down version of the commercial office suite Kingsoft Office Pro from Chinese developers, which is widely known in China under the name WPS Office. This software product is notable for its modest dimensions, high speed and undemanding to system resources (it works even on netbooks without any problems). The solution has more high level compatibility with MS Office (in comparison with the above-considered office suites), and outwardly resembles an office product from Microsoft, and has impressive (albeit limited, when compared with Kingsoft Office Pro) functionality. True, this office suite does not have a Russian-language interface, and spelling in Russian is too tough for him. Nevertheless, the “office” from Chinese developers still looks attractive as an alternative to expensive commercial products for home PCs.
Kingsoft Office Suite Free includes: Kingsoft Writer word processor (Figure 6), Kingsoft Spreadsheets (Figure 7), and Kingsoft Presentation presentation software. A text editor is used to create professional-quality documents with styles, columnar text, colorful tables, charts, and even watermarks. Kingsoft Spreadsheets include all the necessary tools for processing, analyzing and graphic representation data, and the Kingsoft Presentation solution can be successfully used to create effective presentations based on thematic templates. Kingsoft Office Suite Free also has a built-in PDF converter that allows you to convert office files (including Word documents, Excel and PowerPoint) to PDF files; if necessary, the generated PDF documents can be password protected from changes.
Rice. 6. Kingsoft Writer word processor
Rice. 7. Kingsoft Spreadsheets
The office solution Kingsoft Office Suite Free outwardly resembles Microsoft Office 2003: the arrangement of panels, buttons and commands is almost one to one copied; functionality is almost completely duplicated. The fundamental difference is only in the support for tabs at the application level, and this is good, because with tabs, working with several documents becomes more convenient. Compatibility with Microsoft Office is almost 100% - you can open and edit MS Office documents (97/2000/2003/2007/2010) in DOC, DOCX, XLS, XLSX, PPT, PPTX formats, as well as files in DOT, RTF, XLT, CSV, HTML, PPS, etc. True, saving in the new DOCX, XLSX and PPTX formats is not supported, which means that documents will have to be saved as DOC, XLS and PPT files, but for most users this is indifferent. And in this solution, in terms of compatibility, of course, some distortions are possible when displaying documents created in MS Office, but after viewing a lot of materials (among which there were very complex structures), we managed to notice only a slightly different distribution of text within paragraphs. This sometimes results in text shifting on pages and within labels and callouts.
Office in the clouds
Thanks to the widespread use of the Internet, "cloud" technologies are getting closer to us, and everything large quantity various tasks, including work with office documents, are solved in the "clouds". An example of this is services Google Docs and Zoho Docs, which are real online offices with a traditional set of office software. With their help, you can create and edit documents in a text editor, work with spreadsheets and prepare presentations, however, subject to the availability of access to the Internet (you will also need to create your account on the corresponding service).
Of course, the functionality of "cloud" office solutions is an order of magnitude lower than that of the usual stationary products (in particular, MS Office). But when working in an online office, you can freely exchange documents with other users and work with them on project materials in real time. In addition, you can edit office documents online from any computer connected to the Internet (including from a computer on which no office suite is installed at all) - this is important for users working on different computers. It should also be noted that with a relatively small total volume of documents, you will not have to pay at all for using online services.
Google Docs
Developer: Google
Google Docs is a popular set of office web services, which is rightfully considered the best online solution of its kind. It is easy to use and relatively fast (which allows you to work even with a slower connection if necessary), and also has impressive sharing capabilities and tight integration with other Google products. Russian-language support is provided at the interface level (you will need to select the Russian language in the settings), spell checking in Russian is possible, but not all errors are underlined (apparently, the built-in dictionary does not include all terms). The level of compatibility with MS Office documents leaves much to be desired. The total amount provided for Google service Docs space in this moment limited to 5 GB, additional space billed (25 GB - $2.49 per month, 100 GB - $4.99 per month).
Google Docs includes the Google Document text editor (Fig. 8), the Google Spreadsheets spreadsheet (Fig. 9), and the Google Presentations presentation service. There is also a toolkit for preparing various diagrams, diagrams, drawings - Google Drawing and creating forms for surveys - Google Form. Formatting options created documents are minimal, so the service is more suitable for preparing simple materials, spreadsheets and presentations. But the functionality designed for collaboration with documents will allow organizing private access with certain rights (editing or reading) to specific documents for selected users, which will ensure the possibility of effective coordination of materials during their preparation. All materials are placed in collections (Fig. 10) and can be created from scratch or downloaded ready-made in popular file formats.
Rice. 8. Google Document Text Editor
Rice. nine. spreadsheet processor Google Spreadsheets
Rice. 10. Organize Documents on Google Docs
The interface of all applications in Google Docs is very spartan and includes a minimum of tools and functions, but they are quite enough for preparation. simple documents. File export and import is supported for most standard formats - including loading and editing MS Office documents in DOC, DOCX, XLS, XLSX, PPT and PPTX formats. Since last fall, Google Docs users have lost the ability to export documents to the old MS Office 1997-2003 formats (DOC, XLS, PPT), and now export is only possible to DOCX, XLSX and PPTX formats ( HTML formats, RTF, ODT, PDF, etc. are supported of course).
Compatibility with Microsoft Office for complex documents is not yet perfect - distortions are possible in a variety of ways. For example, when opening imported DOC files, you can often see that the text on the pages is distributed differently, and the borders of the tables have disappeared, are missing or the content of the inscriptions is superimposed on other text, pictures torn between pages are also not uncommon, etc. In tables, the situation is the same - part of the formatting settings is discarded, charts often disappear, it is impossible in principle to work with pivot tables created in Excel (and the very appearance of such tables can be very different from the original one), etc.
Zoho Docs
Developer: Zoho Corp.
Zoho Docs is the largest office "in the clouds", which offers two dozen office web services (it is even possible to work online with databases and a calendar planner), however, many of the services are available only in commercial plans. The text editor and spreadsheets included in Zoho Docs are more functional than their counterparts in Google Docs, but the speed of working with documents in this online office is noticeably slower, and there are more situations when servers are unavailable. The interface of a number of office applications is Russified, the ability to check spelling (including in Russian) is implemented, but only in a text editor, and such a check is initiated manually. But compatibility with documents created in the MS Office environment is better than in Google Docs. The amount of space provided on the Zoho Docs service and the number of workspaces depends on the chosen tariff. When free plan Free is allocated 1 GB of space and is allowed to create only one workspace. Standard ($3/month) and Premium ($5/month) commercial plans allocate 2GB and 5GB free of charge, with up to 10 and 50 workspaces, respectively; it is allowed to increase the provided space for files for additional fee.
Zoho Docs' core services include the Zoho Writer text editor (Figure 11), the Zoho Sheet spreadsheet (Figure 12), the Zoho Show presentation solution, and the Zoho Notebook and Zoho Calendar. Document formatting capabilities in Zoho Writer and Zoho Sheet are quite impressive (which cannot be said about the presentation editor). However, it is still more convenient to create spectacularly designed complex documents in stationary software products, and not with the connection of online office services. The latter are more interesting to use for quick exchange of materials and when working together on a project - for example, in Zoho Docs, you can directly open access (read or edit) to a series of documents at once to several users working together on a specific project. It is even more convenient to create your own thematic workspace (workspace) for each project and open access to this area for a group of colleagues - as a result, all users of the group will have access to newly added documents automatically (that is, without any effort on your part). Documents and other materials are placed in the Zoho Docs environment by folders and workspaces (Fig. 13), the organization plan also provides the ability to assign tags to files, which may be useful for their quick search in the future.
Rice. 11. Zoho Writer text editor
Rice. 12. Zoho Sheet Spreadsheet
Rice. 13. Document Management in Zoho Docs Environment
The interface of Zoho Docs office applications is made in the style of MS Office 2007. The range of supported file formats very wide: you can even upload ZIP archives with their subsequent unpacking using Zoho Docs and import documents stored on the Google Docs service (however, it can also be distorted during import). Support for documents in MS Office is implemented DOC formats, DOCX, XLS, XLSX, PPT, PPS, PPTS, PPSX - both import and export.
When importing MS Office documents, some of the formatting is lost, but the results are often better than when performing a similar operation in Google Docs. True, the appearance of imported documents may be far from the original. In complex documents created in Word, for example, the paragraph indents, table of contents, pictures, all callouts and notes, although the basic elements of text formatting often remain unchanged. In turn, spreadsheets often change font types and sizes, long text in cells breaks at the border (in Excel it is visible if the next cell is empty), charts and images disappear, etc.
Let's summarize the above. Today you can find worthy alternative Microsoft office product. First of all, these are traditional desktop solutions in the MS Office style, which are well compatible with the formats of Microsoft office products and allow you to prepare materials that are very complex in design. In fact, you can prepare almost any document created in Word, Excel or PowerPoint in the considered alternative stationary applications (it is possible, however, that with less convenience). In addition, you can use the services of online offices - they have sufficient functionality for preparing simple documents, spreadsheets and presentations and are very convenient when you need to work together.
If you do not need the full power of MS Office products on home computer, then it is quite possible to save money by limiting yourself to a free desktop office in the form of one of the software products. As for online office services, in our opinion, it is more reasonable to use them for exchanging documents and quickly agreeing on them in real time. If the materials used in the course of joint work do not differ in complex design and there are no problems with the Internet, then this way of editing and commenting on documents in the process of working on a project can be very convenient and efficient. Another thing is when finalizing large, complexly structured and effectively designed documents that were previously created in the MS Office environment. Here you may be disappointed, because in practice, compatibility with Microsoft office formats in office services is far from perfect, and editing large documents is slow.
At the beginning of this year, sales of the Microsoft Office 2013 office suite started. It has been updated with an interface, new useful features and integration with SkyDrive online storage, so you can now access your documents almost anywhere. Alas, the prices for this popular and quite expensive office suite are now even higher. Licensing conditions have also become tougher - now one license is intended for only one device, while, for example, in the case of Microsoft Office Home and Business 2010, according to the license, two copies of the program were installed - one on a desktop computer, the second on a portable device ( a laptop). Of course, you can go the other way - get a so-called household license by subscribing to Microsoft Office 365 Home Premium for 2149 rubles. per year, which at first glance is about four times cheaper. In this case, the application package can be installed on five computers at the same time, including "certain smartphones and tablets." However, for home users, this is also not cheap, because the subscription will have to be renewed annually, and not every user will like the idea of a “cloud” office.
Therefore, the task of choosing an alternative office solution for a home PC is quite relevant, especially since the potential majority of users in practice do not need such a powerful and multifunctional solution as Microsoft Office. Finding affordable or generally free alternatives to the expensive brainchild of Microsoft today is not so difficult on the market. Another question is whether they will suit you as a replacement for the usual office product. That is, will they be convenient to use, are they functional enough in terms of the tasks to be solved, and how successfully are they compatible with Microsoft Office format files, because MS Office, without a doubt, will continue to be actively used at the corporate level and in the vast majority of cases will have to deal with files created in its environment. Support for the Russian language is also desirable - both at the interface level and in terms of spell checking. Therefore, we will try to evaluate the possible options for such alternative solutions, taking into account the above aspects.
Free "office"
In addition to MS Office, the list of office products on the market includes many different solutions that differ in the supported platform and the range of features provided. There are also free office products among them, among which the palm for quite a long time belonged to the multiplatform office suite OpenOffice.org. Now the situation has changed - the OpenOffice.org solution has faded into the background, and it has been replaced by the LibreOffice office suite, developed by the non-profit organization The Document Foundation as an offshoot of OpenOffice.org. Today it is perhaps the most complete free alternative to the Microsoft office solution. However, LibreOffice is quite "heavy" and slow. Therefore, users who are willing to sacrifice functionality (see table) in favor of compactness and higher performance should pay attention to the free editions of SoftMaker Office and Kingsoft Office Pro, known on the market as SoftMaker FreeOffice and Kingsoft Office Suite Free.
LibreOffice 4.0.2
Developer: The Document Foundation
Websiteprograms: http://www.libreoffice.org/
Distribution size: 184 MB
Work under control: Windows (all versions); There are versions for Mac and Linux
Distribution method: freeware (http://www.libreoffice.org/download)
Price: is free
LibreOffice is an office suite created in 2010 based on the well-known office solution OpenOffice.org. This set of office applications is an open source software product and can be considered a serious competitor to Microsoft Office, as it offers the same wide functionality. At the same time, the package has Russian-language assemblies, which provide for a Russian-language user interface and spell check, and is characterized by good compatibility with MS Office. True, this solution cannot boast of speed - opening and saving documents in LibreOffice (especially in spreadsheets and presentation editor) takes much more time than in MS Office. But thanks to its powerful toolkit, LibreOffice is definitely one of the best free alternatives to MS Office today.
When you start LibreOffice, the main window (Fig. 1) opens with icons for launching the applications included in the package - in particular, the Writer word processor (Fig. 2), Calc spreadsheets (Fig. 3) and the Impress presentation preparation system. The capabilities of the Writer text editor are impressive: support for tables of contents and links, full-fledged formatting, automatic spell checking and autocorrect, the ability to include illustrations, etc. Thus, in the editor, you can prepare documents with a very complex design - books, brochures, etc. Spreadsheets also include all the functionality necessary for work, including tools for entering complex formulas, creating various charts, and performing statistical analysis. Impress features allow you to prepare impressive multimedia presentations with all sorts of animations and special effects. In addition, LibreOffice includes a database management program Base, an editor for creating diagrams and sketches Draw and an editor for mathematical formulas Math. Finally, this office suite includes another useful tool - a module for creating PDF files integrated into applications, with which you can export created documents to PDF format (including according to the ISO PDF / A standard).
Rice. 1. LibreOffice main window
Rice. 2. LibreOffice Writer word processor
Rice. 3. LibreOffice Calc Spreadsheets
When you start LibreOffice, a main menu opens with icons for launching specific applications: a text editor, spreadsheets, etc. The interface of each of the applications is similar to the interface of Microsoft Office, so you can start working in this solution literally immediately after installation. Documents open in different windows. Compatibility with Microsoft formats is implemented at a high level - it is possible to open MS Office files from versions 6.0 to 2010 and save files in MS Office 97/2000/XP/2003 and MS Office 2007/2010 formats. True, the display of imported documents in some cases is not entirely correct. For example, we noted that Writer paginates DOC documents differently than Word and slightly shifts the text in callouts vertically, while Calc can distort the type of chart (depending on the type) and sometimes shift chart labels.
SoftMaker FreeOffice 675
Developer: SoftMaker Software GmbH
Distribution size: 58.7 MB
Work under control: Windows 2000/XP/Vista/7/8; there is a Linux version
Distribution method: freeware (http://www.freeoffice.com/en/download); to use the product you need to register and get a free serial key
Price: is free
SoftMaker FreeOffice is a light version of the commercial product SoftMaker Office 2012, offered on the market in two editions: basic Standard and extended Professional (the latter additionally includes a "mail client"). The solution is compact, high performance, minimal requirements for hardware resources and good support for MS Office formats. In addition, the product can work from any flash drive, which allows you to always have the right programs at hand. SoftMaker FreeOffice is localized in Russian and can be configured to automatically check spelling in Russian (you will need to download and install the Hunspell Russian Dictionary). The possibilities of the free version of SoftMaker FreeOffice (compared to SoftMaker Office) are, of course, limited, and documents with complex design cannot be created in this office product. Also, it is impossible to save DOCX-, XLSX- and PPTX-files in it (only reading files in these formats is available); documents in DOC, XLS and PPT formats are opened and saved without problems. However, the functionality of this solution is quite enough to perform most office tasks faced by home users, so this product is very promising for equipping a home PC.
SoftMaker FreeOffice includes three modules: TextMaker text editor (Fig. 4), PlanMaker spreadsheet (Fig. 5) and Presentations presentation program. TextMaker can help you prepare a variety of documents with bolded and bordered paragraphs, lists, tables, floated images, links, columnar text, and a table of contents. With PlanMaker, you can perform all basic operations in spreadsheets, including calculations with function connection, using named references, analyzing data, illustrating calculations with graphs and charts, and so on. With Presentations, you can create easy-to-design presentations with a variety of transitions, animations, audio annotations, and videos. SoftMaker FreeOffice also has the ability to export working documents to PDF format.
Rice. 4. Text editor TextMaker (SoftMaker FreeOffice)
Rice. 5. PlanMaker Spreadsheets (SoftMaker FreeOffice)
The interfaces of applications from the SoftMaker FreeOffice set are very similar to the interfaces of the corresponding applications of MS Office 2003, so there is a minimum of time to master the products. Thanks to the wide support of all popular office formats, it is possible to open and save files in DOC, XLS and PPT formats for MS Office versions 6.0-2010 (including password-protected ones), as well as OpenDocument, RTF, HTML and a number of other documents. For DOCX, XLSX, and PPTX files, only opening is implemented. The display of documents created in MS Office, as a rule, fully corresponds to the original ones, although there may be exceptions. For example, we noticed that TextMaker in some documents, when displayed, changes the borders of labels, flips text in callouts, and can resize OLE objects. In PlanMaker, we encountered an inability to work with pivot tables created in MS Excel.
Kingsoft Office Suite Free 2012 (8.1.0.3385)
Developer: Kingsoft Software
Distribution size: 39.1 MB
Work under control: Windows 2000/XP/Vista/7/8
Distribution method: freeware (http://www.kingsoftstore.com/download-office)
Price: is free
Kingsoft Office Suite Free is a free stripped-down version of the commercial office suite Kingsoft Office Pro from Chinese developers, which is widely known in China under the name WPS Office. This software product is notable for its modest dimensions, high speed and undemanding to system resources (it works even on netbooks without any problems). The solution has a higher level of compatibility with MS Office (compared to the above-considered office suites), and it looks like a Microsoft office product, and has impressive (albeit limited when compared to Kingsoft Office Pro) functionality. True, this office suite does not have a Russian-language interface, and spelling in Russian is too tough for him. Nevertheless, the “office” from Chinese developers still looks attractive as an alternative to expensive commercial products for home PCs.
Kingsoft Office Suite Free includes: Kingsoft Writer word processor (Figure 6), Kingsoft Spreadsheets (Figure 7), and Kingsoft Presentation presentation software. A text editor is used to create professional-quality documents with styles, columnar text, colorful tables, charts, and even watermarks. Kingsoft Spreadsheets include all the necessary tools for data processing, analysis and graphic presentation, and Kingsoft Presentation can be successfully used to create effective presentations based on thematic templates. Kingsoft Office Suite Free also has a built-in PDF converter that allows you to convert office files (including Word, Excel and PowerPoint documents) to PDF files; if necessary, the generated PDF documents can be password protected from changes.
Rice. 6. Kingsoft Writer word processor
Rice. 7. Kingsoft Spreadsheets
The office solution Kingsoft Office Suite Free outwardly resembles Microsoft Office 2003: the arrangement of panels, buttons and commands is almost one to one copied; functionality is almost completely duplicated. The fundamental difference is only in the support for tabs at the application level, and this is good, because with tabs, working with several documents becomes more convenient. Compatibility with Microsoft Office is almost 100% - you can open and edit MS Office documents (97/2000/2003/2007/2010) in DOC, DOCX, XLS, XLSX, PPT, PPTX formats, as well as files in DOT, RTF, XLT, CSV, HTML, PPS, etc. True, saving in the new DOCX, XLSX and PPTX formats is not supported, which means that documents will have to be saved as DOC, XLS and PPT files, but for most users this is indifferent. And in this solution, in terms of compatibility, of course, some distortions are possible when displaying documents created in MS Office, but after viewing a lot of materials (among which there were very complex structures), we managed to notice only a slightly different distribution of text within paragraphs. This sometimes results in text shifting on pages and within labels and callouts.
Office in the clouds
Thanks to the widespread use of the Internet, "cloud" technologies are getting closer to us, and an increasing number of various tasks, including working with office documents, are being solved in the "clouds". An example of this is the Google Docs and Zoho Docs services, which are real online offices with a traditional set of office software. With their help, you can create and edit documents in a text editor, work with spreadsheets and prepare presentations, however, provided you have access to the Internet (you will also need to create your account on the corresponding service).
Of course, the functionality of "cloud" office solutions is an order of magnitude lower than that of the usual stationary products (in particular, MS Office). But when working in an online office, you can freely exchange documents with other users and work with them on project materials in real time. In addition, you can edit office documents online from any computer connected to the Internet (including from a computer on which no office suite is installed at all) - this is important for users working on different computers. It should also be noted that with a relatively small total volume of documents, you will not have to pay at all for using online services.
Google Docs
Developer: Google
Google Docs is a popular set of office web services, which is rightfully considered the best online solution of its kind. It is easy to use and relatively fast (which allows you to work even with a slower connection if necessary), and also has impressive sharing capabilities and tight integration with other Google products. Russian-language support is provided at the interface level (you will need to select the Russian language in the settings), spell checking in Russian is possible, but not all errors are underlined (apparently, the built-in dictionary does not include all terms). The level of compatibility with MS Office documents leaves much to be desired. The total amount of space provided on the Google Docs service is currently limited to 5 GB, additional space is paid (25 GB - $ 2.49 per month, 100 GB - $ 4.99 per month).
Google Docs includes the Google Document text editor (Fig. 8), the Google Spreadsheets spreadsheet (Fig. 9), and the Google Presentations presentation service. There is also a toolkit for preparing various diagrams, diagrams, drawings - Google Drawing and creating forms for surveys - Google Form. The formatting capabilities of the created documents are minimal, so the service is more suitable for preparing simple materials, spreadsheets and presentations. But the functionality designed for collaboration with documents will allow organizing private access with certain rights (editing or reading) to specific documents for selected users, which will ensure the possibility of effective coordination of materials during their preparation. All materials are placed in collections (Fig. 10) and can be created from scratch or downloaded ready-made in popular file formats.
Rice. 8. Google Document Text Editor
Rice. 9. Spreadsheet Google Spreadsheets
Rice. 10. Organize Documents on Google Docs
The interface of all applications in Google Docs is very spartan and includes a minimum of tools and functions, but they are quite enough for preparing simple documents. File export and import is supported for most standard formats - including loading and editing MS Office documents in DOC, DOCX, XLS, XLSX, PPT and PPTX formats. Since last fall, Google Docs users have lost the ability to export documents to the old MS Office 1997-2003 formats (DOC, XLS, PPT), and now export is only possible to DOCX, XLSX and PPTX formats (HTML, RTF, ODT, PDF, etc.). .d. are of course supported).
Compatibility with Microsoft Office for complex documents is not yet perfect - distortions are possible in a variety of ways. For example, when opening imported DOC files, you can often see that the text on the pages is distributed differently, and the borders of the tables have disappeared, are missing or the content of the inscriptions is superimposed on other text, pictures torn between pages are also not uncommon, etc. In tables, the situation is the same - part of the formatting settings is discarded, charts often disappear, it is impossible in principle to work with pivot tables created in Excel (and the very appearance of such tables can be very different from the original one), etc.
Zoho Docs
Developer: Zoho Corp.
Zoho Docs is the largest office "in the clouds", which offers two dozen office web services (it is even possible to work online with databases and a calendar planner), however, many of the services are available only in commercial plans. The text editor and spreadsheets included in Zoho Docs are more functional than their counterparts in Google Docs, but the speed of working with documents in this online office is noticeably slower, and there are more situations when servers are unavailable. The interface of a number of office applications is Russified, the ability to check spelling (including in Russian) is implemented, but only in a text editor, and such a check is initiated manually. But compatibility with documents created in the MS Office environment is better than in Google Docs. The amount of space provided on the Zoho Docs service and the number of workspaces depends on the chosen tariff. In the case of the Free plan, 1 GB of space is allotted and only one workspace is allowed to be created. Standard ($3/month) and Premium ($5/month) commercial plans allocate 2GB and 5GB free of charge, with up to 10 and 50 workspaces, respectively; an increase in the provided space for files is allowed for an additional fee.
Zoho Docs' core services include the Zoho Writer text editor (Figure 11), the Zoho Sheet spreadsheet (Figure 12), the Zoho Show presentation solution, and the Zoho Notebook and Zoho Calendar. Document formatting capabilities in Zoho Writer and Zoho Sheet are quite impressive (which cannot be said about the presentation editor). However, it is still more convenient to create spectacularly designed complex documents in stationary software products, and not with the connection of online office services. The latter are more interesting to use for quick exchange of materials and when working together on a project - for example, in Zoho Docs, you can directly open access (read or edit) to a series of documents at once to several users working together on a specific project. It is even more convenient to create your own thematic workspace (workspace) for each project and open access to this area for a group of colleagues - as a result, all users of the group will have access to newly added documents automatically (that is, without any effort on your part). Documents and other materials are placed in the Zoho Docs environment by folders and workspaces (Fig. 13), the organization plan also provides the ability to assign tags to files, which may be useful for their quick search in the future.
Rice. 11. Zoho Writer text editor
Rice. 12. Zoho Sheet Spreadsheet
Rice. 13. Document Management in Zoho Docs Environment
The interface of Zoho Docs office applications is made in the style of MS Office 2007. The range of supported file formats is very wide: you can even download ZIP archives with their subsequent unpacking using Zoho Docs and import documents stored on the Google Docs service (however, it can also be in a distorted format). during import form). For documents in MS Office, support for DOC, DOCX, XLS, XLSX, PPT, PPS, PPTS, PPSX formats is implemented - both import and export.
When importing MS Office documents, some of the formatting is lost, but the results are often better than when performing a similar operation in Google Docs. True, the appearance of imported documents may be far from the original. In complex documents created in Word, for example, paragraph indents, table of contents, figures, all callouts and notes may disappear, although basic text formatting often remains unchanged. In turn, in spreadsheets, font types and sizes often change, long text in cells breaks at the border (in Excel it is visible if the next cell is empty), charts and images disappear, etc.
Let's summarize the above. Today you can find a worthy alternative to Microsoft's office product. First of all, these are traditional desktop solutions in the MS Office style, which are well compatible with the formats of Microsoft office products and allow you to prepare materials that are very complex in design. In fact, you can prepare almost any document created in Word, Excel or PowerPoint in the considered alternative stationary applications (it is possible, however, that with less convenience). In addition, you can use the services of online offices - they have sufficient functionality for preparing simple documents, spreadsheets and presentations and are very convenient when you need to work together.
If you do not need the full power of MS Office products on your home computer, then you can save money by limiting yourself to a free desktop office in the form of one of the software products we reviewed. As for online office services, in our opinion, it is more reasonable to use them for exchanging documents and quickly agreeing on them in real time. If the materials used in the course of joint work do not differ in complex design and there are no problems with the Internet, then this way of editing and commenting on documents in the process of working on a project can be very convenient and efficient. Another thing is when finalizing large, complexly structured and effectively designed documents that were previously created in the MS Office environment. Here you may be disappointed, because in practice, compatibility with Microsoft office formats in office services is far from perfect, and editing large documents is slow.
Microsoft recently released new version office software package - "Office 365 Home Extended". Users will now have to make a choice between Office 365 and Office 2013.
Before delving into the topic, let's dwell on the features of the new "cloud" Office 365. You can install office applications on 5 PCs under Windows control 7, Windows 8 and Mac OS X. By the way, if you have Microsoft Office 2010 installed on your computer, you still need to purchase a full license.
Differences between Microsoft Office 2013 and Office 365
Microsoft Office 2013 as in previous versions, is a suite of essential office programs including Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and OneNote. One license will allow you to install the office suite on only one Windows computer.
Microsoft Office 365 is a collection of the same programs, but here you have the option to install Office on up to five devices. You don't need to enter keys to install, as everything is tied to your Microsoft account. Also, with Office 365, you get an additional 20 GB of SkyDrive storage.
Another benefit of Office 365 is that you can use the full version of Microsoft Office on any Windows PC. This is useful in situations where you are working on someone else's computer. To use Microsoft Office, you must sign in to account Microsoft and in a few minutes you will receive the full version at desired computer. Office programs are "cloud" and are not installed on a computer permanently, but as a web application.
The license for Microsoft Office 2013 is paid once and is valid all the time, that is, you can use it for the entire life of your computer. In the case of Office 365, you do not get a perpetual license and are required to pay for each year or each month of use (purchasing an annual or monthly subscription).
Verdict
An annual subscription to Office 365 costs 2499 rubles, while for Office 2013 you will have to pay 3499 rubles. (one-time license fee).
Thus, the choice between the two versions of office should be easy. If you have several computers at home and need access to the full suite of programs on each of them, buy Office 365. By the way, new system Office 365 is free to try for a month. Office 2013 may be the more cost-effective option in the long run, but remember that it only installs on one computer.
When you think of office software, Microsoft Office is likely to come to mind first. This is not surprising, since many computers come preinstalled with Windows and MS Office. But in most cases, this is a trial version and in order to continue using the “office” you need to fork out for an Office 365 subscription. Illegal ways to get full version MS Office will not be considered in this article.
Few people can do without a text editor, spreadsheet and presentation applications. Fortunately, there is now an excellent selection of free software for the office. We found best free Microsoft Office alternatives, the quality of which is not worse than the “original”.
1. WPS Office
Well designed, powerful and flexible WPS Office - best free office software. WPS Office is not a very well-known office suite, but after reviewing its capabilities and functionality, we can say that it is best alternative MS office.
In terms of appearance, WPS Office is second to none. If you have used any recent Microsoft version Office, you will immediately feel at home.
WPS Office includes three main applications for word processing, presentations, and spreadsheets. The package also offers several additional useful utilities, for example to work with . Not only can you create PDF documents, but also convert PDF to Word and vice versa.
The developers have placed great emphasis on compatibility with MS Office. Each application can also save files to own formats. This free office suite supported on Windows, Linux and even Android.
2.LibreOffice
Complex free office suite with the support cloud services data storage. If you have used Apache OpenOffice, which is described below, you will immediately notice the identity of its retro design. In many ways, this is the same OpenOffice with some differences. LibreOffice uses the same source code but wins in development speed and frequency of updates. Due to active development, you may come across new useful features, as well as encounter unpleasant bugs.
This office suite is pre-installed on some distributions and contains much more more programs than its competitors: Writer, Calc, Impress, Draw, Math and Base.
Those who actively use cloud storage services will appreciate the support Google Drive and the function " Deleted Files". There are also many extensions to add new features to the package.
3. Apache OpenOffice
Like LibreOffice, this package does not stop at 3 applications, but offers as many as 6, including a program for drawing, presentations, creating formulas, working with a database, calculating and editing text. Impressively, it covers almost all the needs of an office worker.
The open source office suite Apache OpenOffice receives frequent updates and outperforms MS Office. Free license allows you to use it for personal or business purposes. The interface looks a little dated and is far behind other packages, reminiscent of programs from the 90s.
4. SoftMaker FreeOffice
Gorgeous alternative to Microsoft office with the ability to create e-books
Although SoftMaker FreeOffice is available absolutely free of charge, you need to go through the activation process to complete the installation and unlock all the features of the software.
You will immediately find that SoftMaker FreeOffice includes three familiar office programs - PlanMaker - a spreadsheet, TextMaker - a text editor, and Presentations - a tool for working with slideshows and presentations.
You can save documents not only in the usual formats, but also as PDF or ePub books. Free office suite available for Windows, Linux and Android devices. There is also a portable version that works with USB flash drives. Recommended.
5. SSuite Office Premium HD+
A free cross-platform package with a well-chosen set of tools. Although this package has been optimized for displays high definition, its design looks a bit unattractive. But if you can overlook the imperfect appearance, you have a quality office suite.
If you have to work with different operating systems, this package works without problems and looks the same on , Linux and Windows.
The developer of this free alternative to MS Office recognized that most people are interested in word processors and email. spreadsheets, and removed the presentation tool you never use. To fill the gap, a host of other useful tools were brought in, including an image editor, a video conferencing application, a calendar and personal manager, a web browser, and even an envelope printing utility. All tools are quite simple and reliable.
6. Google Docs
Our review would be incomplete if we skipped Google Docs. Google Docs is an online version of office applications. This service allows you to edit text directly in the browser, create tables or slide shows.
The files that the user creates are stored in the Google cloud service. You can download them at any time and continue working on any device, wherever you are. Supports file collaboration, review of changes and export in all popular formats. This is the best online service for office work.
Outcome
In this review, we reviewed the main MS Office Alternatives. As you can see, you have a fairly large selection among free office suites. Pay attention to the application interface. It is important that getting used to the new design does not take you long. Choose programs that are as compatible as possible with common formats. Good luck.
It is difficult to imagine a working computer without such a set of programs as Microsoft Office. It includes everything you need to work with documents, spreadsheets, presentations, mail and many other files and services. But Microsoft Office for Windows is not free program, which is bundled with the operating system, it must be purchased separately for an additional fee, which is quite significant. Not all owners of a PC with an operating system decide to buy Office for a computer in order to use Word, Excel, PowerPoint and other applications. Windows system. And, if you still need an office suite, the right decision would be to search for analogues of these applications. In this article, we will consider which free office for Windows to download so that it has functionality as close as possible to a product from Microsoft.
Table of contents:Free office suite - LibreOffice
Perhaps the most famous free office suite for Windows is LibreOffice. It can be downloaded from the developer's site. It is compatible with any version operating system from Microsoft, while translated into dozens of languages, including Russian. Free use programs are completely legal, and not only private, but also corporate, as a result of which many entrepreneurs install LibreOffice on the computers of their employees in the office.
Program LibreOffice is a set of applications that allow you to work with various data: text documents (all popular formats), spreadsheets, presentations, drawings, databases, formulas.
LibreOffice applications are considered one of the best office alternatives from Microsoft. With the exception of highly specific functions and macros, LibreOffice has everything you need (and more) for working with documents. Programs in the office suite are actively supported by developers, constantly updated and getting new functionality.
Free Office - OpenOffice
Another set of free office applications that can be compared to LibreOffice. This software package is more suitable for users whose computers are not particularly powerful. This set of office applications is much less demanding on PC performance, but it cannot be said that it lacks any functionality found in LibreOffice.
Notice: ApplicationsOpenOffice are being developed by the same developers in parallel. But it develops faster
OpenOffice, like LibreOffice, is able to work not only with documents and spreadsheets, but also with specific data, such as formulas and pictures. It has no compatibility issues with files saved in the original Microsoft Office, meaning it can be used to work with docx, xlsx, pptx and other formats.
WPS Office is Microsoft's new counterpart to Office
Another office suite that you should definitely consider when talking about Microsoft's office counterparts. Unlike the options discussed above, the WPS Office suite is relatively new on the market. It is also distributed free of charge, but at the same time it supports significantly more formats than OpenOffice or LibreOffice. Accordingly, if you often have to work with documents of "unusual" formats saved in various versions offices, this application will become the best analogue of Microsoft Office.
In the package of documentsWPSOffice includes analoguesMicrosoftword,Microsoftexcel,MicrosoftPowerPoint and other applications. Even the interface of this program is very similar to the original office from Microsoft.
But the WPS Office application also has a clear minus, which must be mentioned. The program is distributed free of charge trial version. If you want to experience its full functionality, you will need to purchase the full package, which costs less than Microsoft Office, but is also quite substantial.
In trial version Microsoft programs Office does not have the ability to save created documents in many formats (only basic ones are supported), macros cannot be used, and when printing files in PDF format, they indicate the watermark of the application.
Of the interesting features of the office application "Documents" of the WPS Office suite, it is worth noting the presence of tabs for documents. That is, you do not need to open the program several times, and within one window you can switch between open documents.
Polaris Office
This office suite was created, rather, for foreign users, since the Russian language is not supported in it. However, the program itself is interesting and the developer is "eminent", so it is possible that over time the application will receive localization, and then it will be much more comfortable to use it.
The office programs included in the Polaris Office suite are very similar in appearance to the original Microsoft Office. At the same time, these applications provide full compatibility with all formats fromword,Excel andPowerPoint. Another interesting feature of Polaris Office is the ability to use developer cloud services, due to which it is possible to synchronize versions of documents on a computer and mobile devices(iOS and Android), where app versions are also present.
Available from Polaris Office and paid version, and therefore, some restrictions are imposed on the free one. Of the most significant - there is no way to search the document, there is no export to PDF functionality and the "pen" is not supported.
Online analogue of the office - Google Docs
If your computer has Internet and does not need a powerful document editor, and the office suite is required only for viewing and minor adjustments in documents, you can use the online solution from Google. In fact, Google Docs is a complete analog of Microsoft Office in terms of viewing files. But it lacks the "powerful" tools of Microsoft's office suite, such as macros.
SoftMaker FreeOffice
Another set of programs that is positioned as a replacement for a paid office from Microsoft. This set cannot boast big set functions, however, all the options necessary for most users are available in it.
Please Note: Editing Program text documents fromSoftMaker very much resembles an applicationWordPad, which is included in the default set of programs for the operating systemWindows.
To use SoftMaker FreeOffice, you need to register your account in it, after which you can use all the functionality for free. It is worth noting that the program has some advantages in comparison with other analogues. For example, it allows you to export documents to PDF format, as well as some other Microsoft formats, with the exception of docx, xlsx, pptx.
Onlyoffice as a replacement for Microsoft Office
The last of the analogues discussed in the article, but far from the last in importance, is Onlyoffice. The application is interesting in that it is included in a single ecosystem with mobile versions programs, and it also offers enterprise solutions for document collaboration.
Important: A set of office programs Onlyoffice is documents, spreadsheets and presentations. This set of applications does not work with formulas and images.
