Open Source office applications

As we discussed on the show last night, Open Source applications are a great way to reduce costs while maintaining office functionality. Small and large businesses alike can benefit from the work done by the development team for OpenOffice, alternatively if you are more comfortable with a larger companies product that is still much cheaper than Microsoft's, consider StarOffice by Sun Microsystems. The differences between the two products are minor, especially for the average office user. While support is included in StarOffice's price, Sun Microsystems also provides support for OpenOffice. Check out the FAQ (frequently asked questions) for OpenOffice, to determine if it is right for you. You can also see a comparison document done by the Open Source Development and Documentation Project.