A comparison of Office applications

information management package. Sharing appointments, diaries, etc. all easily donePhoto EditorBasic picture file handling, cropping and conversion. Narrow range of filters and effectsEasily most comprehensive suite Every package integrates with every other. Many of new features in 2003 will be of little use for educationAbility OfficeAbility WriteStyles, text boxes tables headers and footers templates and macros Can import from MS WordAbility Spreadsheet Maths, financial and trig functions and Macros but no import or pivot table or pivot chartAbility database Can open and create MS Access tables and queries but not forms or reports. Native forms and reports are OKAbility Draw Mixed bitmap and vector package that Ability PhotoPaint Bitmap Image editor with array of filters. Both open and converts a variety of file formatsCheapest product (that isn’t actually free) but also has very few desirable features compared with others described hereCorel Word Perfect Office 2002Word PerfectGood formatting features including wrapping and tables. Spelling and grammar checks VBA recorderQuattro Pro Fully featured including all trig and business functions. Good range of charts, formatting, programming, etc.ParadoxCorel Presentations 10 Good range of backgrounds and styles but no help on getting a consistent styleCorel CentralAppears as several unconnected packages non of which are easy to configure or useHas not undergone any development for 3 years so out of contention now. Interfaces on most packages less easy to use than rivalsLotus Smartsuite Millennium 9.8Lotus Word ProFully featured word processor but less easy to use. Handles basic MS Word documentsLotus 1-2-3Used to be the definitive spread sheet. Less easy to use and not quite as well featured as Excel nowLotus ApproachNo relationships, difficult to use, confusing and non standardLotus FreelanceGood animations and transitions and will import older versions of PowerPoint but backgrounds datedFast SiteAims to produce web sites from Smart Suite docs Awkward to use and  not developed for four yearsHas not undergone any real development for 3 years so out of contention nowSun Star Office 6WriterGood formatting features including wrapping and tables. Handles MS Word documentsCalcFully featured including conditional formatting. Charts, programming etc.Handles Excel filesImpressGood range of backgrounds and styles. Handles PowerPoint filesDrawCombined bitmap and vector drawing package offering large range of featuresSame price as Ability but offers far better range of features for Word Processing Drawing and SpreadsheetsOpen OfficeSame features as Star OfficeSame features as Star OfficeSame features as Star OfficeSame features as Star Office but can be downloaded for freeSingle application packagesFile Make ProRelational Database although these by scripting and not shown in graphical way as in MS AccessMediator 7Fully featured presentation package with a steep learning curveMacromedia Flash Dreamweaver and FireWorks Fully featured web management and creation tools with steep learning curveSite licences for all of these available for considerable discount in the education environment T Blunn – Prospect College Reading – Source PCPro June 2003