Head to Head: Office 2010 vs Open Office 3.1

It's a tie. Although Microsoft’s baby comes out fighting here and nearly edges it.

With its attractive, innovative design and richly supported feature set, the proprietary product represents the pinnacle of corporate functionality and while it remains the choice of so many current businesses it will continue to be adopted across the corporate world and the revenue it generates will fund further innovation and depth of support. It simply can’t be beaten for functionality and popularity, a feature that is so often the deciding factor in business. As we mentioned though, potential adopters would do well to sit and assess the realistic need for upgrade before making the jump.

It’s owing to this fact that Open Office manages to get a look-in. For basic usability and value the suite represents a sensible choice for small business users who don’t want to sacrifice capability because of cost. The only investment you’ll need to roll this out across your entire office will be time and a little effort and we feel that this coupled with the stable, useful nature of Open Office entitles it to a joint place on the podium.