Office Productivity Suites

In computing an office productivity suite, sometimes called an office software suite or just productivity suite, is a software package that collects several functions typically assigned to individual software processes into a single multi-function, multi-purpose, package intended to be used by the typical clerical worker, knowledge worker, or general business person. The components are generally distributed together, have a consistent user interface (ie: "look and feel") and usually can interact with each other, sharing files and information, sometimes in ways that the main computer operating system would not normally allow.

Office productivity suites typically include software for word processing, spreadsheets, databases, presentations, graphics manipulation and other functions. In a nutshell an office productivity suite gives you all the basic general business software you need in one comprehensive package. When you share data with others (ie: send them letters, documents, spreadsheets, presentation files or graphics) you need to understand that not everyone will have the same software you do and not all software can open files produced with the software you are using. Just because you use one word processor doesn't mean that everyone uses the same one or that the word processor your friend or business associate is using can open (read) the file you send them. You need to be sensitive to this issue.

There are several different office productivity suite packages available. Below are brief descriptions with links to the websites where these can be downloaded or where more information can be obtained.

OpenOffice.org (http://www.openoffice.org/) This free and open productivity suite should be your number one choice. OpenOffice.org is the leading cross-platform, open-source, office productivity suite for word processing, spreadsheets, presentations, graphics, databases and more. It is available in many languages and works on many common computer operating systems including PCs, Macs, and LINUX machines. It stores all your data in an international open standard format and can also read and write files from almost all other common office software packages. It supports the ISO standard OpenDocument Format (ODF) for data interchange as its default file format, as well as Microsoft Office '97