Petrol prices are dropping but prices of other necessities remains high. Workers are getting retrenched and you could be wondering what's in store for you in the year to come. You tried to cut on some spending but you still need to eat, work and survive. You're wondering what else you can do. If you're interested to find out about something that is free, can be used by you or your business and there's no asterisk to indicate some hidden conditions, read on.
If you're having a problem with your toddler who has just discovered the joy of saying "NO", try giving him an option. If it is about getting him to dress, ask him to choose between the Spiderman t-shirt or the Ben 10 t-shirt. If it is about eating, give your toddler some choices too and see whether you have a more pleasant time getting them to eat their meal. As adults we also like to have options and the ability to choose.For that reason, I love this particular website that allows me to customize my laptop purchase based on my exact requirement. I spent one whole day going through the different models, reading the online reviews and selecting the specifications. Once I'm satisfied with the hardware requirement, I have to select the right software for my use.
First, would be to choose the Operating System or OS for my laptop. OS is like an engine of a computer. Without it, all you can see is the black screen and no matter how great your hardware is, without the OS, your laptop will be useless. The basic specification for the operating system given in the website is Windows Vista Home Basic which is a big NO for users who are used to many applications like me. If I choose Windows Vista Home Premium, I have to add RM120. This is still not good enough as I will also use my laptop at work. There could be domain network connectivity issues without some of the features available with the Windows Vista Business version. If I choose Windows Vista Business, I have to fork out extra RM218 but I won't have many of the entertainment features I'd like to use for my personal photos and videos. So I ended up choosing Windows Vista Ultimate and pay an additional RM525 for it.
If you still want to use Windows XP with the option to upgrade to Windows Vista, you have to pay more for it too. Windows XP with Windows Vista Business costs RM327 more while Windows XP with Windows Vista Ultimate is RM634 extra. Unfortunately, you can't choose only Windows XP. Many users choose Windows Vista Ultimate or Windows XP with Windows Vista Ultimate because they don't want to get in a rut not having certain features required when they need it. Isn't that brilliant packaging? They give you several options but you ended up choosing the one that has everything in it. People like to be prepared. Better pay extra for something that you may never use than get caught without certain features when you need it.
Some may argue why don't just use Mac or Linux. We will return to the same argument which is the ability of some applications that we are used to in Windows. No doubt some who are brave enough to switch will learn to adapt to the new Operating System but for many, why take the risk of the unknown? So after deciding on the OS, I have to choose my Office version.
I swear I will not pay a single cent for an Office version if I don't need it for my training. I almost make the wrong choice by selecting Microsoft Office 2007 Basic which costs RM522. Who would have thought PowerPoint is not in the Basic package. All the applications I need are actually available in the Microsoft Office Home & Student 2007 OEM Version which only cost RM288 extra. Thank God for that. If you wanted the Microsoft Office 2007 Small Business version it will cost you RM810 and in this case if you're thinking to get the version that has everything to prepare yourself for any eventualities, the Microsoft Office 2007 Professional OEM Version cost an astounding RM1080. My jaw almost dropped. No wonder some choose to buy the pirated version that only costs RM10.
I can't imagine how much organizations are paying for their Microsoft licenses. Even with special package or discounted price, I'm sure it will add up to a substantial amount of money. I tried checking the price of the software from Microsoft Malaysia website but gave up after a few minutes. I wanted the ability to choose, not get confused. There were so many options available with many scenarios it can be mind boggling. You can install here but not there, you can do this but not that and you can pay this way or that way. Sigh!
Too many options to choose from may not be good too. Anyway why spend all that money when you can have similar applications for free? I highly recommend the usage of OpenOffice.org for all your Office application needs. If you have tried using OpenOffice.org before and decided against it, you should give OpenOffice.org Version 3.0 a try. The layout and performance is at par with Microsoft Office applications. I actually wanted to say better but that's my biased opinion.
If you are writing a manual, a book, a report or a thesis paper and finds Microsoft Word so frustrating, refuses to let you do what you wanted to do and has a mind of its own, you should give OpenOffice.org Writer a try. After a short familiarization period, you will be amazed with its ability to customize everything you want, the way you want them. You have to trust me on this. I often have to write newsletters, training notes and manual, I will not even have to think twice on which application to use. OpenOffice.org Writer is the way to go even when I'm preparing things for my Microsoft Office training. I especially love the Navigator function which can be good for reviewing and checking.
If you are thinking your spreadsheet is so complicated there's no way a free application can do what Microsoft Excel can do, think again. Some of the wizards can be better than those available in Microsoft Excel and it might be simpler too. For example, the Subtotal function in Excel requires you to set the function in the menu again and again if you wanted to do a nested Subtotal but in OpenOffice.org Calc, you can do it in one step as the menu screen shows three tabbed screen for three groups of Subtotal. I have not found any function or menu that I'm used to in Excel that's not available in OpenOffice.org Calc. Way to go free application!
If you want to impress your audience with your presentation, why don't you give OpenOffice.org Impress a go. You might miss the many templates found in PowerPoint but Layout selection and the Master Slide in OpenOffice.org Impress is good enough for me. I can still customize the slides to my liking. Sometimes people forget the message they want to deliver is more important than the twirling diagrams and the direction their text is flying. But then again, probably some deals are closed based on the most impressive slide show than the content and context. By the way, you can also get your diagram to twirl and text to fly in whatever direction in OpenOffice.org Impress too. All my presentation worked fine with this free application so I have nothing to complaint.
Sharing documents is a breeze with the ability to save as Microsoft Office document or export it as a PDF document, a capability available even from OpenOffice.org version 1.0. There are skeptics who argue the formatting did not work properly when viewed the document saved from OpenOffice.org using the Microsoft Office application but then again, there will be some thing that will not work properly even using different Microsoft Office versions right? So I rest my case.
For organization who wants to keep their productivity up by having the shortest familiarization period possible and learn some of the tips and tricks in OpenOffice.org application that can save time and work better, click here.
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