Subscriber Allan Marillier writes "Gizmo take a look at GNUMeric [1] as a free alternative to MS-Excel, and DIA [2] for a free alternative to Visio. DIA is not yet as advanced as Visio, but it is still good for a freebie. GNUmeric flawlessly opened some of my large Excel spreadsheets with all kinds of formulas, charts, custom conditional formatting etc." Nice suggestions there Allan. Both these programs form part of the Linux Gnome Office Suite, though the versions I tested ran on Windows. DIA is not quite there yet, but it’s highly usable for simple charting. Indeed, I preferred it to the online charting service Gliffy [3]. Its limitations noted, DIA is a "must-have" for students who can’t afford Visio. GNUmeric is a very different animal to DIA. This one really impressed me; it’s probably the best freeware spreadsheet program (or web app) I’ve tried. Indeed, for most users it’s a totally usable substitute for Excel. To test its limits I gave it to a friend who works as an actuary. His comments: " … flawless, it correctly ran all my standard macros and even handled a complex 1100 line derivative macro that chokes on early version of Excel." He did note that he won’t be abandoning Excel anytime soon.
[1]
http://www.gnome.org/projects/gnumeric/ Freeware, Win2K-Vista, 16.2MB
[2]
http://live.gnome.org/Dia Freeware, Win2K-Vista, 12.2MB
[3]
http://www.gliffy.com/
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