Free Office Software Online and Offline

I read a lot of Internet technology newsletters and have been seeing the debate go back an forth on whether online office applications are going to replace word processor, spreadsheet, database, and presentation software that runs on local computers. My opinion has always been, and still is, that online applications are cool and can be useful but are unlikely to replace stand alone software for most people any time soon.

A Very Cool Idea

It seems one of my favorite newsletter authors, Peter Deegan of the Office Watch newsletter beat me to the conclusion that it's not about online applications replacing local software -- it's about the online office application complementing the traditional software. Peter as a nice little article showing you how you can use Google Docs and Spreadsheets with Microsoft Office.

Not Free Enough

That is a great idea, but, it's not quite "free enough" for may tastes. Sure Google Docs and Spreadsheets is free, but Microsoft Office is far from free -- it's downright expensive. It turns out that OpenOffice.org works just as well with the online Google applications as Microsoft Office does, and OppenOffice.org is totally free.

Putting it all Together

I'm not going to rewrite Peter's tips, but if you read the Office Watch article and just substitute OpenOffice.org applications wherever the Microsoft products are mentioned, you have some hints on making two great free productivity application suites that work great together.

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