SoftMaker Office 2006 (+ Edits)
This is a free office suite which will run on Windows 95 and newer Microsoft operating systems. It consists of:
TextMaker for Windows - The Microsoft Word-compatible word processor that’s so easy to use that you’ll wonder why you bothered with Microsoft Word or OpenOffice.org for so long.
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PlanMaker for Windows - The Microsoft Excel-compatible spreadsheet that opens all your Excel workbooks directly and gives you many time-saving features.
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There is no presentation (PowerPoint-like) component. Nonetheless, we are really liking this suite for its versatility and simplicity. It is more capable than AbiWord and much lighter and quicker to open than OpenOffice.org or Lotus Symphony.
It also has another neat feature - after installation, a start menu link is created which allows the suite to be copied to a USB flash drive as a portable application. You CAN take it with you!
Details and a download link can be found here. The suite is fully-functional, non-crippled, and not time-limited.
After installation, click on Extras, Preferences…
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…and then click on the File tab at the top of the Preferences window. The second drop-down menu (as shown below) allows the default file format to be set to your choice of Microsoft Office-compatible formats. You’ll need to do this in both TextMaker and PlanMaker.
TextMaker documents will then be saved with a .doc extension, and PlanMaker spreadsheets will be saved with a .xls extension automatically by default so they can be shared with Microsoft Office users.
Edit 11/14/2008:
Lifehacker has discovered this suite! Outstanding! Maybe it will start getting the recognition it deserves!
Edit 01/08/2009:
The German company ashampoo GmbH & Co. KG SELLS this same suite for $49.99! As we’ve asked before, why pay for what you can legitimately get for free?
Edit 04/21/2009:
Here’s a review, courtesy of Software In Review.