I did, however, find four categories of software -- office apps, e-mail and personal information managers, Internet tools, and multimedia programs -- in which strong alternatives to Microsoft products exist. I'll discuss two or three of the most solid alternatives in each category and share a little of my experience kicking the Microsoft habit.
Office Applications
Microsoft Office, a suite of business tools including Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and more, became the leading package in the 1990s when it started being bundled with new PCs. It didn't take long for Office to push aside once-dominant standalone applications such as WordPerfect and Lotus 1-2-3.
Although Microsoft Office's domination continues, there are solid alternatives. One of the best is OpenOffice.org, which is open source and, as a result, is available not only for Windows but also for Mac OS X, Sun Solaris, and Linux. And it's absolutely free.
OpenOffice includes a word processor, spreadsheet, presentation program, and drawing program. Even more impressively, it includes a database program, an application not included in the more basic versions of Microsoft Office. OpenOffice is a highly professional, powerful office suite. And while earlier versions were not perfectly format-compatible with Microsoft Office, those problems seem to have disappeared with the release of version 2.0.
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A second option is Corel's WordPerfect Office. Back in the day -- the DOS day, that is -- WordPerfect held a Microsoft-like market share with its word processor. Corel offers a variety of WordPerfect Office versions, starting with a home version for about $80 that includes a word processor and spreadsheet as well as multimedia tools for managing digital images and video. Various versions of the suite offer different mixes of applications. WordPerfect Office also is increasingly being bundled with new PCs.
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