Print
Welcome to Monday! In honor of the start of the work week, we're going to take a look at some of the top open-source and freeware office applications. We're not just talking about suites, though. Like our previous three features, we're going to run through programs that cover a wide range of activities you might encounter during a typical, nine-to-five day. Hey, maybe you'll even be able to convince your friendly IT person of choice to install these finds across a batch of computers! You'll be a hero! You'll save your company millions in licensing fees! Promotions will be thrown at your cubicle like butter on bread!
Open-source and freeware applications are just that exciting. But don't take our word for it. Check out the full list of applications below!
Yes, we know. Everybody's heard of Open Office by now. But did you know that there's a new version of this wonderful, open-source office suite on the horizon? We've linked you to Release Candidate 3 of the application. Install it at your own risk, of course. But when you do decide to pull to the trigger on Open Office, get ready for a batch of upgrades and additional features that make this batch of apps just one step closer to their Microsoft Office counterparts. Create documents, spreadsheets, presentations--Open Office is the batch of applications you'll want to have if you want to get any serious work done on your PC.
No, this isn't just some new annoying Web 2.0 application. If anything, Toggl is designed to keep you from wasting time at work. The service works like this: sign up for a free account and you can download a little widget that runs in your taskbar. You use this widget to interact with Toggle by adding projects, descriptions of what you're working on, and turning a little timer on and off. The timer keeps track of just how long you're spending on what you're doing, and even deletes time you spend away from your computer off your total "billable" hours.
So why do we like this app? Well, you can track and see if you're running ahead of (or behind) schedule on any number of projects you want. Or, for that matter, you can use the app's reporting functionality to show your boss just how hard a worker you are, 70+ hour weeks and all.
Scheduling projects is a drag. It's not always a task that can be done by adding appointments to your calendar tool of choice. Deadlines, back-and-forth, and all sorts of miscellaneous factors can play a big part of the schedule you're keeping. And that's why we're including GanttProject into the mix. It's an open-source variant of the popular Microsoft Project, but it's completely compatible with this retail application. You can import and export your projects to formats that are compatible with Microsoft Project, although we recommend a more drastic approach. Use this, and only this, for all your scheduling needs. Your office life just got a lot more organized.
Comments are closed on this article
rowcall
October 07, 2008 at 6:36am
This eclectic collection of software from the open source community is a treasured resource that Windows users can't miss. What's not to like about quality, creativity, and free?
