Ms Office Alternative

I have noticed some folks here recommending Open Office as another choice. For the past 6 months I have be using Kingsoft Writer, part of the KIngsoft Office Package (free) published by Zhuhai Kingsoft Office-software Co., Ltd.

I find it much easier to use and more intuitive than Open Office. I am only using the Writer which will handle a broad variety of formats including all the variations of MS .doc. The product is easily "Googled" and readily available.

Bill

 

Thanks from me too, I like Open Office except for the minor problem that it cannot directly handle documents created in Microsofts Works Word, you have to mess about converting the file type, and even then doesn't open them in the original format.
So I will see how well Kingsoft writer handles them when I have a little time to look into it.

A small edit to offer caution,
The download, when installation starts offers the Kingsoft Antivirus. If you already have a reliable antivirus be sure to remove the tick. I know nothing about this antivirus software, so if you decide to try it it is your responsibility only.

Nev.

 

I am back with an update on the Kingsoft Office Suite.
In general I am very impressed and agree with Bill, it is a little easier to work with than the Open Office.
If you go onto the Kingsoft website and have a look at what they offer you will find there is quite a lot there-

http://www.kingsoftstore.com/

They do produce paid for software as well as the free stuff, so if looking for more than the free software offers and willing to pay, the Professional is worth a look at, however for now I will stick with the free versions offered.
The full Office Suite free combines the free writer, the free presentation which is a similar thing to MS Power Point for both creating and viewing slide shows, the free spread sheet, and also included in the download is an as yet untested free antivirus.
The Kingsoft writer is of course similar to any basic word processor and has the usual things that you expect, and possibly stuff you may never use of course.
It does have the ability to open directly a Microsoft Works Word document, but as I found, it also includes a lot of useless code as well as the text, so one document in Works word, opens up as several pages and the original text format is not there either. A bit of a downer for me as my original computers all had Works Word on them with a lot of documents created in that format.
A work round was to install Kingsoft on the old XP laptop, open both Works Word and Kingsoft Writer once installed. Then open a document in Works Word, use the edit to select all, then copy.
Go to the Kingsoft writer and select paste to copy the document into Kingsoft, and then save it as a Kingsoft document.

Though I haven't created any Power Point shows or presentations, I do have several PPS files that have been passed on to me, so I was quite pleased to find that Kingsoft Presentation opened them in a similar manner to the way Open Office does, and you just need to click the Slide show tab and then "Play" However I did find that some text didn't display properly on one file I tried, though all photo's and music came out correctly.

The spread sheet function is not something I have ever had use for, so cannot comment at all other than the blank spread sheet document looks like the same thing as any other Office software.

In general though I find the Kingsoft Office Suite free, a good and viable alternative to the Microsoft Office.

Nev.

 

Another alternative to MS Office that deserves looking into is Libre Office, which too is free. :nod: