This problem happens on computers all the time. You may not be able to understand the information people send you, just because of the *tools* they use to send the information and the *formats* they use. The tools are expensive, and the formats are opaque.

Tools and Formats

Companies, government agencies, and other organizations usually encourage their employees to write everything in Microsoft Word. Even schools teach their kids to use Microsoft Word for essays. So people are always being given Microsoft Word files and asked make their own. Another Microsoft product, PowerPoint, is the most popular tool for slide show presentations, which are also widely shared.

What if you try to look at the Word or PowerPoint file with a plain text editor? It looks like garbage. A typical excerpt:

pHYs??^An?u>??IDATx^??^G�??

This is what we mean by an opaque format. Some experts have figured it out, but it's not something you're meant to understand without the tool.

Microsoft has the most popular tools; they're part of a collection called the Microsoft Office suite. But other companies also produce tools (to edit pictures, for instance) that are expensive and opaque. We call these *proprietary* tools, meaning that they're the property of one company.

All kinds of problems arise from proprietary tools:

* Some people can't afford to buy the tools. Many people get access through the company or school, but they might not be able to use the tools on their home computers.

* Many people, especially in underdeveloped countries, use unauthorized copies of the tools. (In other words, they didn't pay Microsoft or another authorized vendor.) They can be arrested or sued, just because they want to be able to read the documents other people send them.

* Different people buy the tools at different times and therefore have different versions with slightly different formats. So Word running on one computer might not open a document created by Word on another computer.

* Someone trying to read a document that's several years old might be unable to read it because he no longer has the tool that created it--in fact, no modern computer might be able to run that tool.

* The tools might not offer all the formatting and editing features you want.

The Free Office Suite

For all these reasons, individuals, companies, and governments are switching to non-proprietary alternatives to Microsoft Office. A free, full-featured office suite ensures that anyone, anywhere can read and write documents, spreadsheets, and presentations. The most popular such suite is OpenOffice.org. It is:

* Easy to acquire and install

* Regularly improved and easily deployed

* Available in many languages

* Beneficial to communication and collaborative exchange of information

OpenOffice.org costs no money. With a decent Internet connection, it takes only a little time to download and install. It runs on all the major operating systems: Windows, GNU/Linux, and Mac OS X.

Some people still can't access modern communications because of a lack of electricity, computer systems, or Internet access. But OpenOffice.org removes the major software barrier.

It does an excellent (though not perfect) job of working with Microsoft Office formats, so you can send and receive documents in the formats demanded by organizations that haven't yet made the switch. But it also offers its own, superior format (ODF, discussed in http://www.hackerteen.com/odf.php). Unlike Microsoft Office formats, ODF is completely documented and implemented by other tools besides OpenOffice.org. So you're not locked in to any single tool.

Thus, OpenOffice.org makes it easier than ever for people to create and share information, to enjoy the latest educational tools, and to carry on trade both within and across borders.