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PowerPoint (presentation graphics), Access (database), Outlook (e-mail and calendaring), as well as
several other applications. While Microsoft does own the market share of this market, there are other
noteworthy alternatives. OpenOffice, open source software available from Open Office.org for free (at
the time of publication), supports Open Document Format standards for data interchange with its own
default file format as well as Microsoft Office formats. Organizations are evaluating using OpenOffice
rather than upgrading to newer versions of Microsoft‟s suite. Another trend is toward online office
suites that function as Web applications—as software as a service, which is discussed in Chapter 20.
There is no software on the user‟s machine, nor is there any data. The most widely used online suite
currently is Google Docs, which includes a word processor, a spreadsheet program, and a presentation
editor. Users of such products need to keep in mind that their data is stored on the vendor‟s servers
and they should be mindful of the issues that this creates.
Word Processing Software
Word processing software is by far the most used productivity software. Users can create, edit, and
produce their own documents. Many users find that they compose online as well as finalize online—
no more laboring over lined paper with handwriting that can‟t be read or additions/corrections that
can‟t be deciphered. Users can control formatting for paragraphs, page layout, and headings, to name
just a few features. Word processing software also provides spell-checking and grammar checking,
tracking of changes, support for comment insertion, and creation of a table of contents and an index.
The resulting document can be viewed on the screen in page layout or outline form, one page or two
pages at a time, and with or without footnotes.
Today‟s word processing software includes many of the features of desktop publishing software,
and it is so simple to use that any novice equipped with simple instructions can master the software.
Not only can documents include text, but they can also contain spreadsheet tables, drawings, and
pictures; be specially formatted; and be in black and white or color. Most word processing
applications come with clip art, which consists of drawings, cartoons, symbols, or caricatures that can
be incorporated into a document for emphasis. Word processing software has become the great
business equalizer, making it difficult to decipher a small company or single practitioner from a large
Fortune 500 company with a dedicated media department.
Spreadsheet Software
The original spreadsheet application was developed at the very beginning of the PC revolution and
was called VisiCalc. It was later replaced by Lotus 1-2-3, which was the standard until the tremendous
success of Microsoft Excel.
A spreadsheet is composed of a series of columns and rows (in Microsoft Excel 2008, 1,600
columns and one million rows). The intersection of a row and column is referred to as a cell. Columns
have alphabetic letters, while rows have numbers. Cell reference (also called the cell address) B23
indicates the cell in column B and row 23. Formulas that use one of the many functions provided by