I have to start with a quick apology: Because of last week’s crazy winter weather and the kids being out of school for most of the week, I didn’t get a chance to post a Weekly Spotlight. Between the shoveling and the “impromptu” winter break at home, the blog took a backseat! But we are back on track.
Lately, I’ve had a lot of clients ask me the same question: “Do I really have to pay $70 (or more) every single year just to write a letter or use a spreadsheet?”
My answer is almost always: No.
For this week’s Free & Open Source Software spotlight, we are looking at the heavy hitter of productivity: LibreOffice.
Microsoft Office (now Microsoft 365) has moved almost entirely to a subscription model. If you stop paying, you lose access to your tools. For many families and small businesses, paying a “monthly tax” just to open a document feels unnecessary—because it is.
LibreOffice is a professional-grade, open-source office suite that is a direct replacement for Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. It’s been around for years, it’s incredibly stable, and—most importantly—it’s completely free.
The only real “catch” is that it doesn’t have the fancy AI-collaboration features that the $100/year Microsoft version has. But for 95% of the people I talk to in South Bend and Mishawaka, they just want a reliable program that lets them get their work done without a bill.
You can download LibreOffice for free at LibreOffice.org. It works on Windows, Mac, and Linux.
If you’re tired of the yearly subscriptions, give this a try. It’s one of the easiest ways to save money on your “tech budget” immediately.
Check out our full list of recommended alternatives here: Totten Computers FOSS Guide
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