For those who keep track of the competition in lower-priced alternatives to the major Office suites (MS and WordPerfect), both Ashampoo and SoftMaker have issued a new Office 2016 at the same time. This is hardly surprising, given that the suites are identical or nearly so. I think Ashampoo is a reseller for SoftMaker, and the SoftMaker suite may have a few more features. What matters is that they are inexpensive and advertised as compatible with MS Office. The advertising is a bit vague on this, but I have an earlier version, and I have it on a keychain flash drive, where it occupies 310 MB. There is a downloadable free trial available at both sites.
If you already have one or the other you qualify for an upgrade price, and if you are on a mailing list you may get a better price in the mail. If you have an Ashampoo product, check it for updates and you’ll see an ad for the suite at a lower price. For that matter, FreeOffice qualifies you for the upgrade price at SoftMaker.
The SoftMaker page promotes Thunderbird and enhancements to it that they have introduced, and this might explain the thread in the Lounge about the enhancement to Thunderbird – it’s all happening at once. There is a link to SoftMaker’s monthly free font on their page, for those who like freebies or need an excuse to visit.
