Sun Microsystems offers a free alternative for struggling online college students to Microsoft Word, Access, Excel, and Powerpoint through a free and open productivity suite, OpenOffice.org. All of the source code is available under the GNU Lesser General Public License (LGPL), and you may use OpenOffice.org binaries for commercial use. In short, OpenOffice.org offers a free version of Microsoft Word for those of us who can’t afford or do not wish to buy Microsoft Office.

If you want to try Open Office before installing it, Google Docs is a good way to experiment. It is free and you can create and download documents in OpenOffice. You may also save your online college documents to Google Docs for storage and later retrieval. You may make documents private or share them with your online college buddies. Sign in to Google Docs using your Gmail account or create a new one.

You may want to check out Google’s hundreds of other apps that can only supplement your online college career. Most, if not all, are free. http://www.google.com/intl/en/options/#utm_medium=et&utm_source=catch_all

Free Google Applications include:

• Gmail – fast, searchable email. You can create as many free accounts as you’d like, and with Google’s massive storage, you almost never have to erase any messages. Great for online college students as an extra email address.
• Google Earth – View earth from any address.
• Blogger – create your own blog for free. A great way for online college students to grab some computer experience and expertise and share their experience with the world.
• Picasa – edit and share your photos
• Google Maps – free directions from almost anywhere to almost anywhere. Great for occasional trips to your college campus if you forget how to get there.
• Google Chrome – a fast, stable browser that you’ll love to use

Make sure to peruse all of Google’s free apps for use in your online college and university material. You may also download and install the Google Toolbar.

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