Microsoft Office Alternatives

Going back to school? Saving for a new ferret? Some other life activity that requires you to save a couple bucks? With more alternatives, there's now free versions of traditional document applications available. They offer great alternatives to Microsoft Office. All your favourite Bill Gates-designed things such as Microsoft Word, Powerpoint, Excel and many other are all offered by other companies, for free.

Our personal recommendations are:

• Open Office: this program downloads straight to your computer which means it can be used when you're offline. It also allows you to save it as a Microsoft document in case you need to submit your files in said format.
• Google Docs: another great alternative. Google Docs is very easy and straight-forward to use. They offer everything from spreadsheets to presentations (their wording for "powerpoint"). The file sharing feature is great too. You can watch other people work on it. Also, there's never an issue of forgetting your USB stick at home since everything's stored online. 

There's also:

• Glide
• Think Free
• Zoho

All products have positive reviews. 

And the best thing about all these applications? 100% free!