Whitt - Pro Freeware and Open Source Solutions for Business

Pro Freeware and Open Source Solutions for Business — read online for free the complete book (whole text) full work

Below is the text of the book, divided by pages. System saving the place of the last page read, allows you to conveniently read the book "Pro Freeware and Open Source Solutions for Business" online for free, without having to search again every time where you left off. Put a bookmark, and you can go to the page where you finished reading at any time.

Light

Font size:

↓

↑

Georgia Tahoma Arial Verdana

Reset

Interval:

↓

↑

Bookmark:

Make

1234567...45

Phillip Whitt 2015

Phillip Whitt Pro Freeware and Open Source Solutions for Business 10.1007/978-1-4842-1130-4_1

1. Office Productivity, Note Taking, Accounting, and PDF Creation

Phillip Whitt 1

(1)

Winkfield Place, Columbus, USA

Everyone in the civilized world has heard of software programs like Microsoft Word, QuickBooks, etc. Although the alternative software titles well look at shortly have been around for years and are no secret, Id venture to guess that there are many business owners who have never heard of them (or at least not all of them).

This chapter looks at free software alternatives to commercial programs commonly used in office environments. This software is used for creating letters and documents, creating PDF files, and handling business accounting.

Heres a quick look at the software titles covered in this chapter:

• AbiWord : A basic word processing application
• LibreOffice : A full-featured office productivity suite for creating documents, spreadsheets, etc.
• Zim : An open source note-taking application for single users
• Google Keep : Googles free note-taking application you can share and sync across devices
• GNUCash : A powerful open source accounting program
• Manager : An easy-to-use, free accounting program with upgrade options
• PDF reDirect : A handy PDF creation tool with upgrade options

All of the programs discussed in this chapter work in the Windows environment, and most work in Mac OS and Linux as well. The first two programs well look at are alternatives to Microsoft Word and Office.

AbiWord: Simplicity in Word Processing

For those who run a small, solo business or just need a basic, easy-to-use word processing application instead of a full-blown office suite, AbiWord might just fill the bill.

Here are a few facts about AbiWord at a glance:

• Alternative to : Microsoft Word
• Website : www.abiword.org
• License : GPL
• Current Version : 3.0.1
• Operating Systems : Windows, Mac OS, Linux
• Potential Savings : $109.99 per license

According to the AbiWord website, AbiWord is able to read and write all industry standard document types, such as OpenOffice.org documents, Microsoft Word documents, WordPerfect documents, Rich Text Format documents, HTML web pages, and many more. My own experience is that it usually opens simple Word documents without issue, but it does have some limitations.

It was able to open the Word document I created a few years ago, a simple newsletter with a photographic image (Figure ). However, it may alter the appearance of more complex documents, such as those that utilize a template heavy in graphical elements. This program is a good choice for those who print mostly documents created in-house, and cases in which exchanging Word documents with others on a regular basis isnt a requirement.

Figure 1-1.

A simple Word document opened by AbiWord

Feature Highlights

Although AbiWord is a fairly straightforward and basic program, it has most of the features you would expect to find in a word processing application. Here are AbiWords features, as described in the Users Manual:

• A familiar interface
• Outstanding file import and export, with support for MS Word, WordPerfect, and more
• Unlimited undo and redo capacity
• Solid (X)HTML export, with CSS styles support
• Images
• Spelling support, with optional underlining
• Bullets and Lists
• Styles
• Table of Contents generation and customization through the Stylist
• Complete, intuitive revisions-tracking support
• Nested tables support, nearly unmatched in the field
• Mail merge
• Bidirectional text support
• Command-line and server use modes for document processing capabilities

AbiWord has a collection of templates for business letters (Figure ), fax cover sheets, company directories, and more.

Figure 1-2.

A business letter template in AbiWord

The programs functions are accessed via the menu and toolbars clustered above the workspace (Figure ).

Figure 1-3.

AbiWords easy-to-use title, menu, and toolbars

Some people hold on to computers for many years (I fall into that camp) and use them until they just literally wear out. One advantage that AbiWord offers is that it is a small installation and is easy on your computers resources. If you are using an older PC that could be considered way behind the times, AbiWord is ideal in that it wont bog your system down (I have it installed on an old Toshiba laptop I bought in 2004 running Windows XP Home edition, and it works fine). AbiWord is the default word processor bundled with some Linux distributions, such as Zorin Lite, which is designed as a lightweight operating system for older PCs.

AbiWord Support

AbiWords Users Manual can be accessed from the main website (Figure ), and should provide you with all you need to know about how to use this program. There are also some good tutorials on YouTube for added instruction.

Figure 1-4.

The users manual for AbiWord can be found on the main website

As mentioned, this program will probably suit your needs if you need to create documents such as business letters, newsletters, fax cover sheets, directories, etc. and dont need to create complex documents or collaborate with those who use Microsoft Word a great deal. Its weak when it comes to exporting MS Word and HTML documents, so that should be taken into consideration.

LibreOffice: The Powerful Free Office Suite

Large organizations have embraced this open source software package over the past several years for good reason: it suits their needs and saves them a lot of money.

Here are a few facts about LibreOffice at a glance:

• Alternative to : Microsoft Office Home and Business 2013
• Website : www.libreoffice.org
• License : MPL V2 (Mozilla Public License)
• Current Version : 5.0
• Operating Systems : Windows, Mac OS, Linux
• Potential Savings : $219.99 per license

LibreOffice is the open source powerhouse office suite made available by the Document Foundation, which is a self-regulating body. Its comprised of former leading members who were involved in the development of an open source office suite called OpenOffice ( www.openoffice.org ). Some of the developers of OpenOffice (because of disagreements over licensing issues) went their own way and created LibreOffice from the source code. The two office suites are very similar and have only minor differences. I chose to focus on LibreOffice for a couple of reasons: the first is because it comes bundled with many Linux distributions, and secondly because its updated more regularly than OpenOffice.

Next page

1234567...45

Light

Font size:

↓

↑

Georgia Tahoma Arial Verdana

Reset

Interval:

↓

↑

Bookmark:

Make

Similar books «Pro Freeware and Open Source Solutions for Business»

Look at similar books to Pro Freeware and Open Source Solutions for Business. We have selected literature similar in name and meaning in the hope of providing readers with more options to find new, interesting, not yet read works.

Robert Wilson

Open Source Library Systems: A Guide

Subrata Banik

System Firmware: An Essential Guide to Open Source and Embedded Solutions

Mike Hendrickson

Economic Impact of Open Source on Small Business: A Case Study

Simon Phipps

Open Source Strategies for the Enterprise

Sachin Rathee

Getting Started with Open Source Technologies: Applying Open Source Technologies with Projects and Real Use Cases

Danese Cooper

The Benefits of Open Source and the Risks of Open Core

Phillip Whitt

Practical Glimpse: Learn to Edit and Create Digital Photos and Art with This Powerful Open Source Image Editor

Moody

Rebel code: linux and the open source revolution

Whitt

Successful instrumentation and control systems design

Chris DiBona

Open Sources: Voices from the Open Source Revolution

Nicole Engard

Practical Open Source Software for Libraries

Margaret Earley Whitt

Understanding Flannery OConnor

Discussion, reviews of the book Pro Freeware and Open Source Solutions for Business and just readers' own opinions. Leave your comments, write what you think about the work, its meaning or the main characters. Specify what exactly you liked and what you didn't like, and why you think so.