Microsoft Office Alternatives

Microsoft Office is a paid Application for the Mac. Are there alternatives and if so how do they compare? As starting point the Saga website about alternatives is taken

Introduction

Nr	Name	Platforms	Price	Type	Apps
1	FreeOffice	Windows	Free	Light	TextMarker (Word), PlanMaker (Excel), Presentation (PowerPoint).
2	Apache OpenOffice	Win/Mac	Free	Complete	Writer (Word), Calc (Excel), Impress (Powerpoint), Draw (Graphics) and Math.
3	LibreOffice	Win/Mac	Free	Complete	Write (Word), Calc (Excel), Impress, Draw (Graphics), Base (Access) and Math (Formula editing).
4	WPS	Win/iOS/Android	Free	Tiny
5	Google Docs	win/Mac	Free	Basic
6	iWork (Apple)	Mac	Free	Alternative	Pages (Word), Numbers (Excel), Keynote (PowerPoint).

Short description

Free Office

A good alternative to Microsoft Office for light use, it’s a basic suite of programs including a word processor, spreadsheet and a presentation program.
FreeOffice TextMaker includes spellchecking, design tools and a comprehensive range of editing tools. FreeOffice PlanMaker is similar to Excel, and includes advanced calculation and tools. FreeOffice Presentations includes animation tools and a series of templates to get you started.
FreeOffice can open and save Microsoft Office file formats.

Apache Open Office

OpenOffice includes programs for word processing, presentations, spreadsheets and graphics, so can be used as an everyday Microsoft Office replacement.
It can open and save Microsoft Office formats, and can be used for business, student and home use.
Its word processor Writer can create anything from quick letters to a full-blown novel, while its spreadsheet tool Calc includes intuitive graphics and charting tools.

Libre Office

LibreOffice is a powerful collection of word processing, spreadsheet, drawing, presentation and mathematics tools.
It’s great for professional work – and its interface makes it simple to create professional-looking documents such as brochures, letters and presentations.
It is fully compatible with Microsoft Office files, and you can download special extensions and templates to extend its features even further.

Differences between OpenOffice and LibreOffice

We’d recommend LibreOffice if we had to choose one of the two. It’s seen the most enthusiastic development and has the most potential in the long run

WPS

Fancy editing and creating documents on your iPad or Android tablet? WPS Office is a mobile alternative to Microsoft Office, and it’s free. It includes word processing, presentation and spreadsheet tools, and allows you to o
pen, edit, create and save both Microsoft Office and Google Doc compatible documents.
It’s a tiny app size, so doesn’t take up much storage, and includes PDF tools to boot.

Google Docs

Not a full-fledged alternative to Microsoft Office, this free collection of writing, presentation and spreadsheet tools can be accessed from a web browser from any computer, provided you’ve a free Google account.
The tools are basic, but it supports the ability to save in Microsoft Office formats. You’ll need to be connected to the internet to use Google Docs, however.

iWorks

Not to be left out, Apple includes a series of powerful Microsoft Office alternative tools with every new Mac.
They include word processing (Pages), spreadsheet (Numbers) and presentation (Keynote) applications.
All can open and save Microsoft Office documents, include a great range of tools for even professional use, and you can open and edit documents on your Mac, iPad and iPhone .

Differences Apple - Microsoft

iPad

Which is better: Microsoft Word or Apple Pages for iPad?

• How easy to use are these apps on the iPhone?
• Every time we look at Microsoft Word and Apple's Pages the situation changes.
• Both Microsoft and Apple are determined to create your word processor of choice, and both keep the targets moving constantly.

Verdict

We like Microsoft Word for iPad. Microsoft has done a superb job though, and Word for iPad is a very good recreation of the desktop app.

Desktop

When we look at Pages versus Word, it really is the age old competition between Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak of Apple and Bill Gates and Paul Allen of Microsoft.
The original version of Word was actually developed by Simonyi and Brodie, who worked first on Xerox Bravo, which was the very first what you see is what you get' (WYSIWYG) software for word processing.