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With a lot of software (and other services) adopting the "subscription model" verses a one-time payment, you may start to see the yearly costs adding up to use your favorite software.

One such piece of software is Microsoft Office. It is seen as almost essential to anyone using a PC, and it is preferred over Pages/Numbers/KeyNote/etc. by many who use a Mac.

If you are a person that uses it everyday, it is probably worth it to pay for the subscription fee. But, if you are a casual user, you might want to consider a free, Open-Source, alternative.

What is ""Open-Source"" Software?

Open-Source Software is software that is made (in most cases) by a community of developers and published for free for people to use. Depending on the developer(s) they might have an option to give a donation for ongoing development, or an ""upgrade"" to Pro features for a fee, but this is not required to use the software.

Is it Legal?

Yes, using Open-Source software is perfectly legal (see any terms and conditions that different Open-Source Software provides for specific details concerning use). It is software designed by developers and given to the community to use.

Is there an Open-Source Alternative to Microsoft Office?

For those looking for an Open-Source Alternative to Microsoft Office, we recommend Apache's Open Office. Not only does it have components to create Documents, Spreadsheets, Slide Presentations, and more, but it can also import Office Documents and save it's documents as Office Documents.

It does work ""slightly"" different than Microsoft Office - but that is to be expected since it is a different software. However, the learning curve is pretty easy, and some people even prefer it over Microsoft Office.

if you are interested in giving it a try, you can download it here: https://www.openoffice.org/