Think OpenOffice.org is the only open-source alternative to Microsoft's Office apps? Think again. If Microsoft Word is the main Office app you use, check out AbiWord, a cross-platform word processor that's been regularly updated by its developers for several years. The latest version includes such advanced functions as an equation editor, style sheets, outlining and grammar checking (which I assume is as useless as Microsoft's version. And, of course, AbiWord can read and write Microsoft Word documents fairly reliably (as with other Word-compatible apps, you may lose some advanced formatting in the conversion process. If you need a substitute for Word that has a small footprint, advanced features and dedicated developers, which works reliably on Windows, Mac and Unix systems, AbiWord is well worth a look.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
8-31-2005 @ 9:16AM
Austin said...
it's a good little app for times when you need something with a small footprint and a fast setup.
some things it doesn't do so well:
1. can't copy & paste linked words for some reason, it doesn't retain the link
2. while it has tables, you can't do anything really crafty with them like you can in Word
otherwise it would do the job for most people who just need a word processor that simple and efficient
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8-31-2005 @ 9:22AM
Mike J said...
I haven't used any office software at home for a couple of years, but I used to use Suite 602 to communicate with MS Office users:
http://www.software602.com/products/pcs/
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