Has anyone checked on the price of Microsoft Office these days? Let me just tell you it’s high, very high! Granted, Microsoft Office is a great product and has become the standard worldwide for office programs but, the price is somewhat elevated for my taste.

Behold, Open Office! A cheap (FREE!) alternative for office applications and boasts a word processer, spreadsheet, presentation manager, and drawing program (basically everything MS Office has).

With a little tinkering you can use Open Office just like Microsoft’s version, with the same file extensions and program options. Open Office is also compatible with all Word, Excel, Access and Power Point files, which means you can bring files home from work and edit them without worrying about being unable to open them again with one of Microsoft’s programs.

If you’re into free, like me, then you should really check out this multi-platform office productivity suite.