Joyful Momma's Top Picks

For a large part of last year, whenever our homeschooling co-op sent out an Excel file, I couldn't open it. I may have lots of cool web design and graphics programs on my computer, but I don't have Microsoft Office (and didn't really see the need, apart from an inability to open Excel Docs). A few months ago, a friend of mine told me about a free, open source set of programs that does what Microsoft Office does, but for free.

Open Office is a free, open source set of programs. It includes OpenOffice Write, which is comparable to Word, OpenOfficeBase and OpenOfficeCalc, which can open and create databases and spreadsheets, and OpenOfficeImpress, which makes Power-Point style multimedia presentations. There is also OpenOfficeMath which are used for mathematical operations and OpenOfficeDraw for creating Vector drawings.

This free software suite is pretty easy to use, and has many different uses within your family. I know my own children like making Slideshows and multimedia presentations with Impress, and drawing with Draw.

Labels: freebies, software