Suite Smell of Success!!
by Gary Woods

For years, if you wanted to communicate with somebody using Email and attachments you were pretty much limited to one of Microsoft's products. These products usually came in what was called the Office Suite. There were many versions of these Suites with various programs that allowed you to send and receive email, create a spread sheet, write a letter and deliver a presentation. There is definitely something to be said for uniformity in the work place, but I always like to think back to the days when there were a lot more options out there.

Well these days we have a lot more options and they're mostly on the Internet and mostly free. One option I looked at recently was something called Ajax13 www.ajax13.com. This Suite of programs includes a Word Processor that's compatible with Microsoft Word Documents, a spread sheet which is Excel-compatible, a presentation program that can accept PowerPoints and a drawing program that provides a familiar environment for diagramming, creating flow charts, free hand drawing and more.

Ajax13 even has something it calls ajaxTunes which is a mini music player loaded with Internet radios stations so you can cruise to the tunes while you create your documents or presentations.

The only thing you really need to get this suite going for yourself is to download a free copy of Mozilla's Firefox http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/ version 1.5 or newer. Because even though Ajax13 is compatible with all those Microsoft products it won't run on anything but Firefox.

So if you're ready for the Suite Smell of Success check out Ajax13.

If you have any suggestions or questions for me please drop me a note at garyandlaury@santabarbaraproperties.com or see my column on the Internet at http://www.santabarbaraproperties.com or call me at (805) 729-0910