Posted: December 2nd, 2013
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The Best Microsoft Office Alternative You’ve Never Heard Of
Overview
The article “The Best Microsoft Office Alternative You’ve Never Heard Of” discusses about the three main software applications that most people use in computers: spreadsheets, word-processing and presentations. The article also concentrates on the cost of acquiring and utilizing these software applications from Microsoft, one of the leading software vendors and developers in the world. For middle-income people or companies, it may be difficult or impossible and unadvisable to spend a huge sum of money in software solutions from Microsoft. The article then points out the various options and alternatives for such cases.
The Open Office and LibreOffice products were mentioned as being excellent Microsoft substitutes. However, both companies have been adversely affected by uncertainty in the future operations, poor compatibility and other administrative problems. The article finally highlighted Kingsoft Office Suite 2012 as a possible replacement for Microsoft office. The article outlined the basic elements in the Kingsoft Office Suite 2012, the structural characteristics and the comparison between the services offered by the Kingsoft Office Suite 2012 company and Microsoft in as far as spreadsheets, word-processing and presentations were concerned.
Opinion
The Kingsoft sought to come up with a software suite that answered most of the problems that most users experienced with Microsoft products. The Kingsoft software suite has almost similar products to Microsoft namely Writer, Spreadsheets, and Presentation. These applications work almost in the same way as Microsoft’s, however, Kingsoft included a compatibility with Microsoft products in a move that increases their reputation as a stable company. Kingsoft has also included new aspects such as the ability to tab documents that make navigation easier. Microsoft is lacking this crucial feature. The Kingsoft Company also has products that cover different income brackets from Free, Standard, and Professional editions that are all comparatively cheaper than Microsoft 2007 or 2010.
The Kingsoft Office Suite also has themes and views that are quite similar to Microsoft 2010. Kingsoft products also come with an added advantage in that they offer comprehensive customer care, assistance and diagnostics support that cannot be matched by Microsoft. In summary, nearly all of the proposed features and enhancements on the Kingsoft Office Suite mirror most of the Microsoft features and to an extent; can be considered a cheaper duplication of Microsoft Office Suite. Kingsoft has also introduced improved functionality and convenient interfaces.
Microsoft has been adversely mentioned as placing steep prices on their software products such as Windows and Microsoft Office that makes them unaffordable for most organizations and individual that may only require the basic services of Excel, Word and PowerPoint. Conversely, Kingsoft have discovered this and have exploited the opportunity to take up most of Microsoft’s discontented customers. The Tab feature in all of Kingsoft products stands out as a prominent aspect. Combined with the affordable prices, Kingsoft has displayed the ability of a growing company in threatening more established companies.
Conclusion
Different software application companies such as Microsoft, Oracle and Apple have typically placed high prices on there products. This is surprising in an environment where other companies offer almost similar products at lower prices or even as freeware on websites. By giving away software free, these companies encourage customers to try out, review their products, and give feedback. Exploiting customer feedback can be useful in maintaining a large customer base, attracting new customers and improving the quality of goods and services. The assumption that Microsoft is so ubiquitous that it does not require any marketing is therefore wrong.
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