Running a business? Save some money!

If you deal with business expenses you know that technology is a big piece of your budget. Not just the hardware, but the software as well. Between purchasing the right number of licesnses and buying updates, you’re always spending. This is one of those times when the open-source community can come to your rescue!

If you use Microsoft Office, you should take a look at OpenOffice.org. Although I think it’s silly that they use “.org” in the actual name, this FREE software package comes with the equivalent to just about every component you’re used to in Microsoft’s office suite. You can install it on the same machine you’re already running Office on, so you can try it out and compare the two. To make transition and use even easier, OpenOffice.org lets you save as and open files in .doc and other Office formats.

I can’t guarantee that there’ll be no annoyances in the process of making a transition – we all have habits that are hard to change, and when there’s precious little time we don’t want to have to spend it dealing with unnecessary new things. But, saving money is a great motivator. If that’s enough of a reason for you, definitely give a thought to ditching Microsoft’s Office. (And the interface is similar enough that you should have no problem finding where most things are at. Anything you can’t find, you’re likely able to find quickly through Google or YouTube .)

(Note: to make an even cleaner break, ditch Microsoft’s Outlook for the much easier to use Thunderbird, from the makers of Firefox.)