Kingsoft Spreadsheets 2009
An Alternative to Microsoft Office
Microsoft Office continues to dominate the software market, but they are not the only option available for your home based business. Kingsoft, one of the premier software companies in China, has created the Kingsoft Office productivity suite that includes Kingsoft Spreadsheets as well as Kingsoft Writer and Kingsoft Presentation. If you’re on a tight budget and eager to break free of Microsoft dependency, this is a great choice for your computing needs.
Kingsoft Spreadsheets 2009: A General Overview
As a writer, I confess my usage of spreadsheets is limited to basic accounting for my freelancing business. For simple needs such as this, Kingsoft Spreadsheets appears to be a great alternative to the more expensive Microsoft Excel.
The basic interface of Kingsoft Spreadsheets 2009 is virtually identical to Microsoft Excel, although the menu appears to be missing a few of Excel’s more advanced computing functions. However, the software is able to easily open files created in Excel and will save your Kingsoft Spreadsheets in the correct Microsoft Office compatible format.
Notable features of Kingsoft Spreadsheets include:
- An integrated Google toolbar lets you conduct online research at the same time you’re working on your spreadsheet.
- “Export to PDF” lets you easily share your documents with others.
- To send your spreadsheet to a colleague as an email attachment, simply choose the “Send E-Mail” option from the “File” menu. A new window will open with your spreadsheet automatically attached to the blank message.
If you frequently use templates in your work, Kingsoft Spreadsheets makes it easy to create invoices, balance sheets, a sales analysis, an accounting of business start up costs, a daily schedule, or a telephone contact list.
As with Kingsoft Writer, be aware that that the spell-check feature in Kingsoft Spreadsheets is mediocre at best. It fails to recognize many common typos and will occasionally tag correctly spelled words as errors.
Try it Out
If you think Kingsoft Spreadsheets may be an appropriate solution for your home based business needs, take advantage of the company’s 100 day free trial by visiting the Kingsoft Web site. This should give you plenty of time to evaluate the features of Kingsoft Spreadsheets as well as Kingsoft Writer and Kingsoft Presentation.
When your trial period expires, you can buy one license for the program for $69.95. Call or email the company directly if you require licenses for multiple computers.
Is free software a better match for your entrepreneurial endeavors? Keep in mind that Kingsoft is working on plans to implement a free release of Kingsoft Office 2007 in upcoming months.
This post is part of the series: Kingsoft Office: The Home Business Solution
This series will explore how Kingsoft Office can assist the home based entrepreneur by providing basic office productivity features at a fraction of the cost of Microsoft Office.
