Contrary to popular opinion, Microsoft does not have a monopoly on office
applications. There is a small yet loyal following for alternatives--notably,
Corel's WordPerfect Office. While past editions may not have stacked up against
Microsoft, the 2000 Windows edition does more than stack up: It surpasses Office
in several key areas, while holding its own in others.
For those seeking alternative office applications to cut costs, your search
should start with Corel. While you may not initially save as much as a switch to
StarOffice would allow, you could save $50 a seat with Corel, and hidden upgrade
costs will be lower than with StarOffice.
One of these hidden costs is compatibility. You don't want to switch to a
competitor unless your present Office documents can be painlessly converted to
the new application. WordPerfect 9 is compatible with Word 97, and it easily
opened previous files I had stored in that format. Quattro Pro 9--a venerable
spreadsheet application--easily opened my existing Excel 97 spreadsheets, as well
as Office 98 files from my Macintosh.
A second hidden cost is in training. You don't want to have to train users on a
new application, thus eating up upgrade savings. Like WordPerfect, Quattro Pro
provides an Office-like interface that makes using it effortless for Microsoft
users.
At the same time, it adds its own unique enhancements. Similarly, Corel
Presentations 9 is a multimedia and drawing application that lets former
PowerPoint users painlessly produce slide shows and multimedia presentations.
Beyond costs, you also want to make sure you don't give up any of Office's
benefits while switching to a competitor. I found that WordPerfect Office ran
stride for stride with Microsoft Office in several key areas, including its
Internet awareness. WordPerfect 9 can automatically convert text to a hyperlink,
or publish documents in HTML, Trellix, or PDF formats. Quattro Pro 9 includes
Web-oriented functions such as its Publish to HTML Expert function, which lets
users create HTML pages that communicate and share data through an intranet site
or the World Wide Web. Presentations 9's Internet Publisher function lets users
turn presentations into Web pages, and includes step-by-step instructions on how
to publish a slide show to the Web.
In a perfect world, you also would like to get more from a new office platform
than you're now getting from Microsoft Office. Corel is prepared to deliver with
a personal information manager, a specialty Web application, and other goodies.
CorelCENTRAL 9 is an easy-to-use personal information manager. Users can plan
their daily schedules, write reminders, organize reference information, and
manage corporate contact information with this tool. More important, CorelCENTRAL
can be synchronized with your Palm Pilot.
Trellix 2 is a desktop productivity application that allows users with limited
HTML skills to organize and publish documents on the World Wide Web. Since
Trellix 1.0 was reviewed in this space last year, I won't dwell on it other than
to say that what was already a good program has only gotten better.
Other goodies in the mix include Corel Print Office, which I reviewed favorably
in these pages. You'll also find Adobe's Acrobat Reader, which lets users view,
navigate, and print PDF files. Microsoft Visual Basic for Applications lets you
build custom solutions by automating off-the-shelf applications to meet specific
needs.
The inclusion of Dragon Systems' Naturally Speaking software and a headset will
let you add speech recognition to your system if you have a compatible sound
card. (Visit Dragon's Web site for an up-to-date list.)
My sound card was not compatible, so I was unable to test it, but Molly Joss,
writing in ComputerUser last year, had positive comments about Dragon Systems'
technology.
Only a naive reviewer wouldn't see that Corel is providing a product-for-product
competitor to Microsoft Office 2000. The company has done that and more with
additional software and speech-recognition capabilities. Is the glass half empty
or half full? Depending on your personal philosophy, you may view WordPerfect
Office 2000 Professional as a suite of used-to-be-great applications or a
collection of useful and practical Internet-aware software for a business of any
size.
