Alternatives to Microsoft® Office

The Microsoft products (Word, Excel etc ) that are part of the Microsoft®  Office Suite are great products. However, they are generally overkill for normal use at the small business in India. More suitable is the use of OpenOffice.org http://www.openoffice.org/ . This is a free download and is FULLY compatible with doc and xls files. Yes, you can create & edit documents and spreadsheets using this application!!. I find businesses spending unnecessarily because their in-house IT tells them it is not possible or not compatible etc. Ask in-house IT to download openoffice.org, install and show you a demo. It will take you only 5 minutes to realise that openoffice.org will meet 99% of a small Indian business's needs.

IT Advice for Small & Medium Size businesses

Because of a lack of knowledge & training in India, I find small & medium sized businesses buying software they dont need, not buying software they need and generally making several IT mistakes.  I will recommend open source or proprietary solutions. I also hope to educate Indian businesses how to reduce costs while remaining fully compliant with licensing.