Computer Current
August 10, 1999
Bargain Office Suites
By Jeff Bertolucci

Bargain Office Suites
Two low-cost packages offer the core features of Microsoft

Checked out the new Office 2000 yet? It costs a fortune, anywhere from $449 to $999, depending on which version you buy. But you get a lot for your money: Web conferencing, intranet-enabled databases, megabytes of clip art, and a host of other whiz bang features that you'll probably never use. Competing suites from Corel and Lotus cost a bit less, but they still offer far more functionality than you may need. What if you're on a very tight budget and can spend, say, only about $50 per PC?

After the CompUSA salesperson laughs you out the door, go home and download the surprisingly complete and affordable Ability Office 98 and 602Pro PC Suite office suites. The $69.95 Ability includes a word processor, a spreadsheet, a database, and a drawing program; the $49.95 602Pro PC Suite has a word processor, spreadsheet, image editor, and file manager/viewer. (Neither has a presentation module.) Both are ideal for small businesses that might otherwise consider a "lite" integrated suite such as the $54.95 Microsoft Works 4.5.

One big caveat: If you're currently using Microsoft Office, Corel Word Perfect Office, or Lotus Smart Suite, don't upgrade to Ability Office 98 or 602Pro PC Suite. These bargain suites support far fewer file formats and they're fickle about opening files (such as Excel) that they supposedly support. But if you rarely exchange files with other users, Ability Office 98 and 602Pro PC Suite are worth a look

Free Test Drive

Both companies have a try-before-you-buy policy. Simply download the suites (setup files range from about 8MB to 13MB) and install away. Ability Office 98 has a 30-day trial period, while 602Pro PC Suite's test period is just 15 days. Each suite is fully functional during the test run.

Both suites installed without a hitch. The left half of the 602Pro desktop displays an Explorer-like tree of your folders and files; the right half shows thumbnails of text and graphics files in the selected folder. Unfortunately, 602Pro's desktop couldn't display thumbnails of Word 97 or 2000 documents, which is surprising since 602Pro's word processor can read these files.

Ability lacks a similar tool, but it does come with a moveable toolbar that provides one-click access to Ability programs and files. You can add other applications to the toolbar, but doing so is bound to confuse Windows novices.

Both suites sport near-Microsoft Office integration and support OLE--even in situ editing. For example, insert a worksheet in Ability Write or 602Text, click to edit it, and a toolbar of basic spreadsheet tools (formula bar, name box, etc.) appears. Not bad.

Write Stuff

602Pro PC Suite has the better word processor. 602Text closely mimics the MS Word interface--so closely, in fact, that I often forgot I wasn't using Word. The toolbars display icons for common tasks, such as creating tables, bulleting lists, inserting pictures, and running the spell checker. For a longtime Word user such as myself, 602Text was easy to learn.

You can import and export Word 6, 95, 97, and 2000 documents. 602Text can even read Word's revision marks and save files back in Word format without disabling Word features. However, when I added 602Text revision marks to a Word 2000 document and tried to save it, the program crashed. Worse, when I saved documents in HTML and viewed them in Netscape Navigator 4.08, the graphics and text were reversed, and a table was strewn all over the page.

Ability Write also sports a Word-like interface, but it lacks some familiar features, such as a tool for inserting tables. (I couldn't figure out how to create a table--even after browsing the Help section.) It includes a spell checker and thesaurus, but you'll have to download these components separately.

Both Ability Write and 602Text worked just fine as long as I stuck to their default file formats. But their support for other formats was downright flaky. Ability Write was the worst; it supposedly can import and export HTML and a passel of Word and WordPerfect formats, but every time I tried, the program balked.

Spreadsheets and More

The 602Tab spreadsheet can't match Excel's exhaustive list of features, but it's a solid basic spreadsheet. It mimics Excel's look and feel; supports dozens of mathematical, statistical, and financial functions; and has an easy charting tool. Simply highlight the appropriate cells, click the Chart icon, and follow the wizard's instructions to create a variety of column, bar, pie, and other charts. The program easily opened Excel 95 and 97, 1-2-3, Quattro Pro, and dBASE files. Open and save an Excel 2000 worksheet in XLS format, then reopen it in Excel, and original cell borders and titles are all retained. However, 602Tab can't read Excel Pivot Tables.

The Ability Spreadsheet, however, couldn't open the same Excel file without jumbling borders and shading or just plain crashing. Stick with its native format, and it's fine, offering all the basic functions and a decent chart wizard. Both spreadsheets can read Excel formulas but not macros.

Ability Office 98 includes a database (602Pro PC Suite doesn't) with fairly robust relational talents and plenty of wizards to help beginners. A single database can contain multiple tables, reports, queries, and relations. Unlike its Ability brethren, the database can open and save in various formats, including Access, dBASE, FoxPro, and Excel.

Both suites include simple graphics tools. Ability Draw is a bare-bones package that lets you draw lines, shapes, and text boxes--enough to create letter head and logos. It can read JPG, PCX, and BMP files, but if you try to save in anything except Draw's native format, it'll crash. 602Photo is a decent image editor with a modest collection of tools and special effects, including embossing and diffusing and a fisheye lens. But there's only one undo level and you can open only one file at a time. It can open BMP, GIF, JPG, PCD, TIF, and Photoshop files.

Which suite is best? I'd pick 602Pro PC Suite. It doesn't have a database, but it's otherwise more complete and far more compatible with other file formats. In this Microsoft world, that's something you can't ignore.