It seems like the new hot topic is bootstrapping. Bootstrapping is starting up a business with minimum cash. Well this can be difficult if you have to buy a computer and all the Microsoft products to get your current. I know many people have heard that there are other products out there that are free but some folks are still hesitant to use them. They fear compatibility issues, or think it will be difficult to learn a new tool. This post will give you a few quick office type tools you can use for free that work just a good if not better than Microsoft Office and are completely compatible with someone who uses MS Office applications. Hey you can even smile politely when someone tells you how great your work is know that you didn’t pay those incredibly high licensing fees for Microsoft.
Google – Google has just evolved tremendously over the last five years so that now you can have an integrated email, calendar, task management list, document producer, spread sheet application, presentation builder and web based form builder. This set of applications is easy to use and pretty much completely integrated. Additionally you can store your documents on Google’s cloud (Google’s servers) and access them from anywhere in the world. On top of that you can actually share your Google docs with select individuals so they can edit from remote locations as well. This function can be very powerful if you work with virtual assistant or even remote employees. I personally believe Google is fairly safe and do use their services which can be found at http://docs.google.com and http://mail.google.com. If you are not comfortable storing your documents on line then you’ll want to go with another free option.
Open Office is the leading provider of alternative office software. Their programs are excellent and they offer document, presentation, graphics, database, and spread sheet applications. This program allows the user work locally on their computer and store documents just like MS Office. Additionally Open Office allows users to store documents as PDF’s without any additional work.
So now you can go out and buy your $300 netbook and not spend another dime to be in business.
