It's compact, fast, attractive, and, from what I've seen so far, totally file-compatible. Thus, I'm shopping for replacements, and Kingsoft Office Suite 2012 has emerged as one of my top picks for taking over Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. On my Core i7 system, Office 2010 takes forever to load.
#Microsoft publisher free alternative pro
It doesn't support Visual Basic or macros, however, so if you're a power user, you might want to consider the $69.95 Pro version, which adds those features ( among others).Īlso, you don't have to take my word for it find out why CNET staffers rated Kingsoft Office 2012 4.5 stars out of 5.Īnother reason I'm jazzed about this suite is that I'm increasingly dissatisfied with Microsoft Office-and not just the ridiculous price tag. The free version is extremely capable, offering robust counterparts to Word, Excel, and PowerPoint-and file compatibility with all three. Maybe I'm over-rationalizing, but the fact is that I like the look of Kingsoft Office Suite 2012, and I like the price even more. What's more, the developers may have borrowed heavily from Microsoft's user interface, but so did the developers of OpenOffice and similar suites they just borrowed from an older Microsoft UI. (By the way, Kingsoft is actually based in Hong Kong.) My apologies for the error.) A few commenters last week accused it of being a "Chinese rip-off," but last time I checked, software created in China wasn't inherently bad. (Update: Only the Pro version gives you the option of an Office 2010-style interface. Kingsoft Office looks a lot like Office 2010, and consequently I feel right at home in it. The famed freebies mostly resemble Office 2003-if not an even earlier version. They're all OK-good enough, certainly, for most users-but I'll admit I've become spoiled by Microsoft's Ribbon interface, which made its debut in Office 2007 and carried over to Office 2010.