Open Office
The Free Alternative to MS Office
Many, if not all, of us use some form of Microsoft Office. If a free alternative was available, would you use it?
Open Office offers much of the same functionality of MS Office. It costs nothing. Interested? Please read on...
Open your browser (Internet Explorer, Firefox, Opera, Safari, etc.)
Navigate to www.openoffice.org Click
Click "get openoffice.org" Click
Select "Download OpenOffice.org" Click
Select your operating system. Windows is circled. Click
Select "continue to download" on the next screen. Click
When the "File Download" dialogue box appears, select "Save." Click
Choose a location where the file will be saved. I recommend saving to the Desktop. I have selected my HW3 folder. Click
Select 'Save." Click
Find your downloaded file and double-click it. Click
When the "Open File - Security Warning" dialogue box appears, select "Run." Click
Select "Next." Click
Note where the files will be unpacked. My files are going to my Desktop. Select "Unpack." Click
The files will be unpacked. Click
Select "Next" when the Installation Wizard window opens. Click
Select "I accept the terms in the license agreement." Click
Select "Next." Click
Fill in User Name, Organization, and leave the next section as Anyone. Select "Next." Click
Select "Complete." Click
On the next screen, you can decide if Open Office will be the default application for opening MS Office files. If you have MS Office installed, I would leave these boxes unchecked. If you do not have MS Office, check them. This will allow Open Office to open Word documents, Excel spreadsheets, and PowerPoint presentations for you. I have left them unchecked. Select "Next." Click
Select "Install." Click
The Open Office files will be copied to your computer. Click Click
When the Installation Wizard is complete, select "Finish." Click
Goto Start, All Programs, OpenOffice.org 2.2, OpenOffice.org Writer. Click
A blank document will open. Click
Base = MS Access; Calc = MS Excel; Draw = a drawing interface; Impress = MS PowerPoint; Math = I have no idea; Writer = MS Word.