This is an overview of features of Microsoft Office and it's main competitors. The Office is a suit of word-processing software that includes Microsoft Word, Excel and Powerpoint. It is the most popular package of applications for creating text documents, spreadsheets and presentations in the world. Microsoft Office is the undesputed market leader, it has very dominant position. Some people even claim that Microsoft is in a monopoly position. In this article I will clearly demonstrate that this is not the case, there is a lot of competition in the productivity software market.
Microsoft Office has to face increasingly strong competition coming from all sides. There are traditional software rivals, such as Open Office and iWork from Apple. Open Office has become very popular in the last couple of years, because it is multiplatform, it runs on Windows, Mac and also Linux and it is also absolutely free, as it is completely open-source. In terms of features Open Office is comparable to Microsoft Office, it can definitely get the job done. There are no huge differences between Microsoft Office and Open Office in terms of number of features, but the user interface in Microsoft Office is still a bit nicer and more practical. You can read more about Office 2003 at Microsoft Office 2003 Free Download review site.
Another alternative to Microsoft Office is iWork, but this set of applications work only on Mac Os X operating system. The real rival of Microsoft Office these days is Google Docs. Google's online service is completely free, it is similar to Microsoft Office in terms of features and options for editing and it offers amazing file sharing and cooperation capabilities. It is so easy and practical to keep your documents, spreadsheets and presentations in the cloud and share them with your colleagues or friends.
It is now clear that the real threat to Microsoft Office in the future is going to be Google Docs. The only way how Microsoft can compete is by creating online versions of it's applications. That is the only way forward. However, that is the future. So far Microsoft Office is doing very well. It is still the number one in terms of word-processing software. Millions of people all around the world use Microsoft Office, it is an application that is installed on almost every computer. In terms of sales it is the second most successful software product of Microsoft right after Windows operating system. t's user interface undertook a radical transformation in 2007 version, go check out Microsoft Office 2007 Free Download for more info, reviews and free download. Microsoft Office is used by students, writers, self-employed people and by small companies. You can always use simple text applications like Text Edit on Mac or NotePad on Windows, but those are only good for taking notes. For real word-formatting you need something like Microsoft Office. You can read more about the latest version of the Office at Microsoft Office 2010 Free Download.
A the end of the day Microsoft Office is a superb solution for creating documents, spreadsheets and presentations, it is the ideal software for a small company. There are many alternatives, but Microsoft Office is still keeping it's lead in terms of innovation and it is undoubtly the industry standard. You can't go wrong when choosing Microsoft Office as your word editor of choice. The price is ok, especially if you look at the Home and Small Office version. Microsoft Office 2007 meant a radical transformation of the graphical user inteface which further improved productivity and usability. Check out Microsoft Word Free Download for more information about Microsoft Word. You can download a free version of Microsoft Office at Microsoft's website.