Free, useful alternatives to overpriced software

Buying software can really pinch a small startup or entrepreneur. Hitesh Raj Bhagat & Karan Bajaj test out some free alternatives to paid software that can save money without sacrificing functionality.

Office Suites

Apache OpenOffice (www.openoffice.org)
Available for Windows, Mac OS X and Linux, OpenOffice is one of the most widely used alternatives to Microsoft Office. You can use it for word processing, spreadsheets, presentations & database management on any number of computers. There is no license of any kind involved in the installation.

ThinkFree Office (www.thinkfree.com)
This office suite works completely within a web browser — you don't need to download & install any software. The free account gives you 1GB of online storage per user to save documents. It keeps backing up files as you work, so even if the browser crashes, or is accidentally closed, the document is not lost.

Kingsoft Office Free (http://goo.gl/WKYSc)
Available only for Windows, this complete office suite is a surprisingly small download (37MB). It includes a word processor, spreadsheet and presentation creator with a built-in PDF converter. It also has built in email functionality and a tabbed interface that makes it easy to work with multiple documents.

Operating System

www.ubuntu.com
Ubuntu has some unquestionable advantages, even over other free versions of Linux. for starters, it has modest hardware requirements and therefore, runs quite well on older PCs. Second, you can simply download and write the OS to a Live CD - which enables you to run Ubuntu from your CD drive. This way, you can try out Ubuntu without making any changes to your system for as long as you want. Thirdly, it's compatible with most popular software that you already use and some great free software (like OpenOffice) is bundled with it. Finally, Ubuntu has a vibrant user community and very helpful forums where you can head to for any issues.
Money Management

Gnu Cash (www.gnucash.org; Windows, OS X & Linux) is a really great free program that helps you manage your finances. It has a checkbook-style interface and supports multiple currencies, scheduled transactions, multiple accounts and can even generate customised reports of spending with detailed graphs.

Free Cloud Backup
There are multiple services that offer free cloud storage — Microsoft's Skydrive, Dropbox, Google Drive & Box.net. Without spending a single Rupee, you can get up to 50GB of free space. Some even offer advanced functionality like collaboration, selective file sharing, in-browser editing & mobile apps to access files on the go.