It’s no secret that Microsoft dominates the productivity suite market. Free alternatives exist that many people are still unaware of. In these recessionary times, the appeal of “free” software is stronger than ever. Today I am going to focus on my two favorites – OpenOffice.org and Google Docs. Both products can read and write the native Microsoft Office formats, making migration easier than ever.

OpenOffice.org remains the most popular open source answer to Microsoft’s ubiquitous Office suite. OpenOffice.org is the leading open-source office software suite for word processing, spreadsheets, presentations, graphics, databases and more. Many of the components are designed to mirror those available in Microsoft Office. It supports the OpenDocument standard for data interchange as its default file format, as well as Microsoft Office ‘97-2003 formats – among many others and can be downloaded and used completely free of charge for any purpose.

OpenOffice.org is based on StarOffice, an office suite developed by StarDivision acquired by Sun Microsystems in August 1999. The source code of the suite was released in July 2000 with the aim of reducing the dominant market share of Microsoft Office by providing a free, open and high-quality alternative to users. OpenOffice.org is a free software, available under the GNU Lesser General Public License (LGPL). The project and software are informally referred to as OpenOffice, but this term is a trademark held by another party requiring the project to adopt OpenOffice.org as its formal name.

Google Docs handles the nuts and bolts of daily office work, such as composing and editing text documents, crunching numbers in a spreadsheet, and creating slide show presentations. It can read and write the native Microsoft Office formats so you can share files with co-workers and friends. This free online service conveniently lets you do your work anywhere and collaborate with other users. Google Docs requires no software installation or additional hardware, resulting in tremendous time and cost savings for businesses.

Google Docs is compatible with all of the most popular file formats, including DOC, XLS, ODT, ODS, RTF, CSV, PPT, etc. The familiar desktop feel makes editing a breeze. Multiple people can view and make changes at the same time. There’s an on-screen chat window for spreadsheets, and document revisions show you exactly who changed what, and when. Viewing a presentation together is a breeze, as anyone joined in a presentation can automatically follow along with the presenter.