Web Services Versus Microsoft Office
Companies offer free online alternatives to Microsoft productivity apps.
Illustration: Tavis CoburnYou don't need Word, Excel, or PowerPoint to create and work on Microsoft Office files. If your PC has a browser and a high-speed Internet connection, you can use any of several new Web services offering free word processors and spreadsheets, and presentation templates. Some services even let you save individual files in Office's .doc, .xls, or .ppt file format. ThinkFree Online provides 30MB of free storage space and gives you the ability to create PDFs. Writely and Writeboard are free Ajax-based word processors that permit you to upload Word documents and other text files. Num Sum allows you to paste Excel data to its Web-based worksheet for all the world to see.
Dennis O'Reilly
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