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6 reasons OpenOffice is great for business

6 reasons OpenOffice is great for business
Softonic Editorial Team

Softonic Editorial Team

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OpenOffice helps you get the job done. It’s a complete set of productivity tools designed to give you all you need in one handy package.

From spreadsheets to presentations, composition to graphic design – OpenOffice does it all. Better yet, it’s absolutely free, and is a compelling alternative to Microsoft Office for businesses, large and small.

Here are 6 reasons why OpenOffice is great for business.

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1. You can install it on all your computers for free

OpenOffice uses Apache’s 2.0 license. That means you can download as many copies as you like, on as many machines, or share and distribute the software however you want. Whether you’re running a small office of 15 staff, or an international conglomerate, you can install it on all of your business computers free of charge.

2. All upgrades are free

The same goes for upgrades. When a new version is released, just ask your staff to download and install it. You can specify which version to use, what tools, plugins, and languages to install, making it a highly flexible tool for businesses wanting to cut back on expensive software licenses.

3. You own the software

Microsoft is pushing Office 365 – a subscription-based service – for its business customers. You never own the software, and you have to pay a monthly or annual fee to use it. I don’t know about you, but never owning the software doesn’t seem fair. With OpenOffice, you can own the software for nothing. Forever.

3. It works with other vendors’ file types

And because OpenOffice supports other vendors’ file types, you don’t need to do any tricky conversion to work with non-native documents. (Minor warning: for heavily formatted .docx files, you might find some discrepancies when importing them into OpenOffice.)

4. You can add your own improvements and features

Perhaps the most useful aspect for businesses is that you (or your IT department) can shape OpenOffice into whatever you want it to be. It’s open-source software, meaning you can change it, add new features, or improve on existing ones. You don’t even have to do it yourself – post on the forums and perhaps a kind techie will implement said features for you (or at least explain how to do it).

5. It supports more languages

Hundreds of volunteers from all over the world are involved in developing OpenOffice. That means it’s available in over 40 languages – more than double that of Microsoft Office. And that’s just the interface. There are over 70 custom dictionaries, too, so you can check spelling and grammar of your native tongue. Perfect for your offices at home and abroad.

6. For older (or less powerful) machines, it performs better than Microsoft Office

OpenOffice can run on just 256MB of RAM and 650MB available disk space. Microsoft Office, for example, needs 1GB RAM and 3GB available disk space. OpenOffice also runs on older operating systems, such as Windows XP and Windows 2003, and more niche systems like Linux and Ubuntu. Combined, this makes OpenOffice the perfect choice for older computers running less flashy operating systems. It won’t hog your processor, either.

OpenOffice makes working on computers fun again. You can access all your productivity tools in one place, and enhance anything you like through its open-source codebase. No subscriptions, no fees, just free software for life. You can’t say fairer than that.

Softonic Editorial Team

Softonic Editorial Team

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