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In the early days of the personal computing popularity wave, the only software available was what came on the Microsoft disk or what was available at retail, usually published by Microsoft or Microsoft sponsored partners. This limitation meant that Microsoft generally had the market monopolized and Windows and Windows related products ruled the day as store shelves were filled with ubiquitous blue boxes. As time marched on and networking improved, broadband and other high-speed alternatives entered the picture.

It suddenly became possible to download large files over the Internet for free that had been designed and built by users across the Internet in an open source model. Suddenly the wealth of software that you could compare Microsoft Office and other Microsoft-based software with was plentiful and easy to find. Taking the place of the expensive and sometimes difficult to operate Microsoft software was a wealth of free alternatives, some more and some less effective than the original.

You can compare Microsoft office with Sun Office, Open Office and other office type related software programs. Microsoft office comparisons are inevitable, as so many software companies have made software that do the job of other types of software that had preceded them and could be compared to Microsoft office. This is a common factor in any type of business as the most successful method of conducting business is to emulate someone who has been successful previously.

The difference being that many of the offerings on the Internet that follow the open source model are free, as everyone in the community has contributed to their development and distribution over the web. This community has enabled the World Wide Web to become a launching pad for many different concepts and ideas in the free and open exchange of learning and sharing of knowledge. The attempt to compare Microsoft Office with some of the free software that is available on the web is somewhat unfair, as price will always enter into the picture.

In the event that the user feels that after they compare Microsoft office with some of the free alternatives they still prefer the Windows-based alternative, that there are still options that are available to customize the word processing and Microsoft Office comparable tasks that take place in any office software.

Some of the functions of Microsoft Office are very simple and easy to replicate but many would argue that the ubiquity and widespread presence of the Microsoft software is a hard to beat factor in the world of software competition. Since every piece of software available is compatible with Microsoft Windows and Windows-based environments, it leads to the production of more and more Microsoft products in the monopolization of the market to a greater degree overall. Despite this fact, free alternatives have proliferated on the Internet and many users choose to use the free alternatives, as there are many to choose from that you can compare Microsoft office and other office environment related software to that treat documents as well as other file types in a similar fashion to the program that the user would compare Microsoft office with.