Software Substitutes pt I
Do you have to buy expensive software to get stuff done on your Mac? Certainly, but before you splash out a few hundred euros / dollars on a program, you might want to ask yourself a couple of questions:
- Do you really need the program?
- Can something else do the same job?
So for the first Software Substitutes, we’ll take on the might of Microsoft Office. Having just released their new version last month (Microsoft Office 2011), many peopel will want to rush out and buy it. It is after all one of the best selling software the world over. But there are alternatives if you don’t want to (or don’t need to) spend money.
Open Office will do the job of Word, Excel, and PowerPoint quite well. Now, I wouldn’t suggest that it’s got all the features of Microsoft Office (which might actually be a good thing), but it will handle simple documents without a problem. But, if you don’t own Microsoft Office, it’s almost a compulsory to have in your Applications folder.
If all you need is a Word Processor for documents, then try Bean. It’s fast, simple and handles just about any format of document.
