SoftMaker Office 2008

SoftMaker Office 2008 is a capable productivity suite that includes a word processor, spreadsheet and presentation tool.

The suite is generally compatible with files in the older Microsoft Office formats, like DOC, XLS or PPT, and can open a good range of others. So TextMaker, the word processor, can handle OpenDocument text (ODT) and OpenOffice.org text (SXW), as well as more regular formats like RTF, HTML and WRI. It doesn't support the more up-to-date Office Open XML formats like DOCX and PPTX, though (you'll need the commercial SoftMaker Office 2010 for that), and so may not be suitable for anyone who needs to regularly import documents from a modern Microsoft Office installation.

If you're just looking for a stand-alone office suite, though, SoftMaker Office 2008 may provide everything you'll need. The word processor is packed with formatting options, table functions, desktop publishing-type features, spell-checking and more. The spreadsheet supports more than 330 arithmetic functions and can present your data through a range of attractive charts. The presentations tool can combine images, videos and sounds into a stylish multimedia presentation, and all the applications can export their documents to PDF and other formats.

Please note, you'll need to register with SoftMaker to obtain the serial number requested by the installation program.

It's not compatible with the latest Microsoft Office files, but SoftMaker Office 2008 otherwise remains a powerful productivity suite, packed with useful features