Microsoft Office is probably the most widespread office suite in the world, but that doesn't mean you can't use other office packages instead.

One of them is SoftMake Office, a fairly complete office suite that includes a word processor, spreadsheet app and presentation tool, all in one single package. It's not as fully featured as the Microsoft suite, but it's compatible with its formats (DOC, XLS, PPT and more) and it's also remarkably faster - and of course, a lot cheaper.

The suite includes also Smash, a Windows Explorer add-on that improves some shell functions and enables you to access the suite's apps from Windows taskbar, and BasicMaker, a Basic source code editor. However, it doesn't include an email client or any other equivalent app to Microsoft Outlook.

SoftMaker Office gives an overall impression of a very professional package. What's more, you can install the whole suite in a USB stick so you can use it anywhere without leaving any trace on the host computer.

If you'd like to try an alternative app to the almighty Microsoft suite, SoftMaker Office is a very good option, but bear in mind that it's not that complete.