Office suites for Windows 8

If there is a group of programs par excellence for computers, those are the office suites. It is essential to have programs such as Word, Excel or Power Point to be able to work with text files, spreadsheets or presentations. It does not matter if we are students, workers or use Windows 8 as occasional users, who has not had to perform any of these tasks?

And of course, there are several options to do it. Although Office is massively popular and has eclipsed other alternatives, we have a variety to choose from. Office, Libre Office, Open Office, Kingsoft Office or IBM Lotus Symphony… Which one is for you?

Microsoft Office, the standard

He is the best, without a doubt. It has been with us for so many years that it hardly needs an introduction. Office 2013 is the improved version of what we already know; adapted to the design of Windows 8 and with an interface that is easy to understand and clear, very clear. It has gained in fluidity, in the way of making transitions and dozens of new features that are illustrated in the video above.

However, the biggest difference is called Office 365, a way to have everything connected in the cloud to be accessed from any device, share files and edit them collaboratively. In addition, it can now be rented to use it only when needed on up to 5 devices for 10 euros per month and with some free extras. You can check other options and prices on the official website. You will also find an in-depth analysis on Xataka Windows (here and here).

Libre Office and Open Office, the free alternative

Although Libre Office was born from Open Office as a result of some internal problems, it could be said that they share philosophies: free software, open source and they are also freeIn addition, they have a good series of programs within the suite that would be the equivalent to what we can find in Microsoft Office, although with a less attractive design and fewer functions (such as 365 and its cloud, among other issues of design and templates, mainly). Despite this, they do offer the most common features with complex tools capable of competing at a high level.

Although in essence they are very similar, there are hundreds of thousands of lines of code difference between Libre Office and Open Office. They are not big changes but if we have to choose, due to how light it is for the system and the improvements in compatibility with Microsoft Office that it includes, I would recommend Libre Office.It costs nothing to try! You can find a good comparison in Current PC.

Kingsoft Office and Calligra, to walk around the house

These are the lesser-known options, but really worth a mention if you're looking for something a little less overwhelming A simple suite for the simpler activities. Kingsoft Office is based on this idea but without losing an aesthetic that is very reminiscent of Microsoft Office (even too much) and also has a quite successful and functional mobile version. In fact, following this, the 2013 update received a major facelift.

Calligra have their origins in the KDE developer team for Linux distributions. Although a little rougher, it has some very interesting options such as Author, perfect for those who are dedicated to writing, without complications.In short, another free alternative that is worth taking a look at if the rest doesn't convince us.

In Welcome to Windows 8 | Back to school with Windows 8 and Windows Phone: the best apps