The Microsoft Office software package has long gained popularity among users of all levels who use office documents in their work. It is not surprising, because each program included in the standard set not only has unique capabilities unique to it. Applications of this type are compatible with each other and with other alternative software products.
What is MS Office?
It is known from history that initially the Microsoft Office suite was developed taking into account the then trends for working with text documents, tabular data, presentations, databases and e-mail. Later, it began to include some additional utilities.
Microsoft Office itself is a collection of applications for processing documents of almost any type. Many users who use the standard features of an application included in the list of Microsoft Office programs often underestimate its capabilities. The fact is that almost every program is capable of working not only with standard, so to speak, template documents. Quite simply, in any document and in any program, you can insert graphics and sound.
The only thing I want to note is that the list of Microsoft Office programs is not included in the list of free software and is quite expensive. However, this does not stop our users. To activate this software package, you can use, for example, Mini KMS-Activator, which works with almost all versions of the Office.
In some cases, you can use unofficial releases of the installation distribution for the “OS” such as “Windows XP Zver DVD”, in which Microsoft Office is already “hacked” or activated.
When using an unofficial package, sometimes difficulties may arise due to the lack of a complete set of features in each of the programs. It is clear that such a software product is suitable for the average user. But for people or businesses that are serious about business, the best option would be to purchase an official release.
List of standard Microsoft Office programs
So, let's try to consider the standard set of any office suite offered by Microsoft.
Typically, a list of Microsoft Office programs includes several standard applications. They are found in any package and can satisfy the needs of the user in any situation.
Microsoft Office 2007: Applications and Programs
A natural situation is when Microsoft Office 2007 programs include different applications that were not included in earlier versions of the package. In addition, it is worth paying attention to the fact that not only the functionality of the applications included in the list of Microsoft Office programs is changing (or supplemented). The graphical shell of each software product is also affected by the update. However, the standard set itself remains unchanged.
So, for example, it includes several basic applications. These are MS Word, MS Excel, MS Power Point, MS Access and MS Outlook. These are, so to speak, the basic office programs of Microsoft Office. They are the most necessary.
Microsoft Office 2010 and above
New releases of Microsoft Office may include additional utilities. However, very often users do not pay attention to them . For example, programs like MS Publisher, MS InfoPath Designer, MS SharePoint Workspace and MS NoteOne look very interesting. These utilities are capable of much and can compete with many professional software products that are present in the modern market of IT-technologies.
As already clear, these applications have become available since the version of Microsoft Office 2010. If MS Publisher was present in some releases before, then other programs appeared only starting in 2010.
Now a few words about the main components included in the list of Microsoft Office programs.
MS Word
Work with text and graphics is perhaps the most common and in demand. For this, the Microsoft Office Word application was created. The program has great capabilities not only in terms of word processing. Many do not even realize that here you can even write mathematical formulas of any complexity, insert graphic objects in the form of single files or slide shows, supplement all this with audio accompaniment or even create web pages using the program as a quick and effective tool based on templates.
MS Excel
Working with tabular data is complicated. But MS Excel deals with this quite simply. Initially, the application was created in order to perform mathematical, algebraic and geometric calculations. Over time, the functions of the program have expanded greatly. So, for example, it became possible to build graphs or create charts or histograms even in a three-dimensional version. Not to mention all the features of the application, it is worth noting that this is one of the most powerful tools in its field of application.
Ms power point
Microsoft Office PowerPoint was designed specifically for creating presentations that use graphics and sound. It is clear that such processes are resource-intensive, but the application itself has many templates and standard solutions in order not to overload the system. If you look, in the presentation you can insert absolutely everything. Want a photo? You are welcome! Want a sound? To your health! Want a link to an Internet resource? No problems! In general, you can even create interactive tutorials.
MS Access
This application is simply not familiar to many ordinary users, because they almost never work with databases (databases). But for knowledgeable people, this application is just a find, because it not only allows you to create or edit such data, but also has close integration with numerous development tools and supports many language applets, including the same Visual Basic, Java, work with SQL databases and etc. Well, there are enough funds for data processing here.
MS Publisher
This application is a universal tool for quick publication. First of all, it is focused not even on verifying the text part, but on creating, say, our own, so to speak, branding, conducting marketing research customized to the personal needs of the company or businessman. Naturally, this is far from all that this program is capable of, although it relates to entry-level applications.
MS Outlook
Finally, Outlook. This is a program designed to work with e-mail. Compared to the standard Outlook Express utility, this application looks much more preferable because it has more functions and features. Unfortunately, Outlook Express is installed on the system by default client (when installing the Windows OS itself). And not many come to mind to change it. But in vain! MS Outlook has much more features. But here it’s worth it yourself to evaluate what this program is capable of. After the initial test, I think many people will simply forget about Outlook Express, considering it almost a children's toy.
Analog programs without payment
All this is good. But, as mentioned above, the Microsoft Office suite is paid. What do free programs offer us?
Here it is worth paying attention to alternative software development. The office suite of Lotus (in particular, Lotus Symphony) was once very popular. Now it is almost never found, however, has not lost its relevance.
You can use completely free software products such as Google Docs, Zoho Office, Libre Office, SoftMaker Free Office, Kingsoft Office, etc. The main difference from the Microsoft product is that all these packages are not only free, but also still have open source. So any developer can optimize them for their own needs.
True, it is worth noting here that all these "Offices" are clearly lagging behind what was created by Microsoft. Despite the declared free and open source code, they have not received a strong distribution in the world. The only competitor is Google. Moreover, the office programs of this IT giant are mainly used only on mobile devices, and then on the Android platform. However, each user is free to choose what to use in work and what will be most convenient for him.
On the other hand, if you look, an ordinary user can use free programs - alternatives to the Microsoft Office suite. However, as practice shows, few people succeed in "surpassing" Microsoft. Even the first competitor, Google, can not cope with this. It is clear, after all, that not one person is involved in the development of office applications of any type, but the brightest minds of our time. So it turns out that Microsoft Office stands head and shoulders (if not two) above its competitors.
In conclusion, it is worth noting that any user who does not even thoroughly know all the features of the Microsoft Office software product can simply “dig into” the menu of any of the above programs and find something new for himself. In extreme cases, you can use the built-in help system or read about the main features and functions on the Internet. Fortunately this is not a problem now.