The newest version of this free office suite was released June 10. As shown in the screenshot below, it will now open/import Microsoft Office 2007 files and templates:
Here are links to our previous posts on using and configuring this very capable free office suite:
Amy Vernon wrote about Lotus Symphony 1.3 over at HotHardware. She notes that according to an IBM press release there are several large companies that are using this free alternative to Microsoft Office…
Apologies for our lack of blog updates of late, but we’ve been busy. Individuals and small businesses are repairing and upgrading PCs rather than replacing them. Given the state of the economy, this isn’t suprising. We’d like to think that our increased activity is a sign of our quality of service. Our customers seem to think so.
We’d like to thank all of our regular and new customers for their support. Thanks also to all who have contacted us, even if we haven’t yet done business.
If you’re having a computer issue, don’t hesitate to contact us - we’ll work you into our schedule quickly and do what it takes to get your PC up and running smoothly again!
Avira Antivir, Avast, or AVG… are (all) very worthy contenders that can hold their own or surpass any heavyweight for-pay antivirus; however Anitvir and Avast are definitely in the first tier, while AVG is a close second tier.
We concur with this analysis, and are currently recommending Avira Antivir for home users.
And, as always, if you need help or advice with antivirus or any other computer-related issues, contact us! We’d be happy to be of assistance!
In this article you will find a range of free editors that can be used by graphic designers, photographers, animators, artists and even kids. Some have basic functionality for the amateur or learner, others are very powerful and suitable for the professional.
There are selections for Windows, Mac, and Linux operating systems. We are big fans of IrfanView, and agree with this article’s statement that it is “simple for beginners and powerful for professionals”. There are many other winners here, too.
OpenOffice.org Novell Edition for Windows contains enhancements and bug fixes, especially for interoperability with Microsoft Office and other word processing programs, that are not available in the standard edition. These enhancements include:
Microsoft Excel*: Compatibility: Improved Excel compatibility for certain built-in functions (e.g., CELL, INFO, INDIRECT), hyperlinks and filters, improved ergonomics, and support for “R1C1″ style addresses. Improved performance on certain text functions such as SEARCH. Natural sorting option in cell range sorting.
Excel VBA Macro Interoperability: OpenOffice.org Novell Edition eases the migration of many macros from Microsoft Excel. Although not all macros can be successfully migrated, this interoperability offers more than the standard edition, which does not support migration of macros.
Data Pilots: Data Pilots are interoperable with Microsoft Office PivotTables*. OpenOffice.org Novell Edition substantially improves the Data Pilot feature, making it possible to edit pilots after creation.
Enhanced Fonts: Licensed fonts from Agfa* Monotype* which are metrically identical and visually compatible with some of the key Microsoft fonts. This allows OpenOffice.org Novell Edition to match fonts when opening documents originally composed in Microsoft Office, and very closely match pagination and page formatting.
EMF+Support: The ability to render EMF+ formatted graphics
SVG Support:The ability to import scalable vector graphics.
Import File Formats: Microsoft Works, WordPerfect* text and graphics, T602 files, OfficeOpen XML, and more.
Groupwise® Integration: OpenOffice.org Novell Edition includes improved integration with ODMA (Open Document Management Architecture) services, for example for GroupWise. If you have the GroupWise client installed on the machine, OpenOffice.org Novell Edition will offer to open documents from GroupWise, or save documents in GroupWise.
Free registration with Novell is required to download OpenOffice.org Novell Edition. For those who regularly share files with MS Office users, this might be the way to go.
Even though OpenOffice.org… can’t do everything (Microsoft) Office can, it can do a lot, and it has some of its own tricks that even (Microsoft) Office can’t manage.
With this guide, we will be providing you with a list of useful applications that we feel stand above all others in what they attempt to do, and when all is said and done, your PC will be ready for nearly any everyday task you throw at it.
We frequently get requests for help with using different software and applications. For example, users changing to Microsoft Office 2007 from earlier versions sometimes find it difficult to locate familiar features and commands.
There are several good, free sources of just-in-time training guides and “cheat sheets” for popular software applications on the web. Here are our picks:
The University of Southern California’s Marshall School of Business maintains a great, publically-accessable Computing Documentation Library full of handouts and ”cheat sheets” for many software programs.
CustomGuide is a software training company based in Minneapolis, MN. They offer several FREE Quick References for popular programs and operating systems.
