Over the past six weeks I’ve discussed alternative tools to help protect users’ privacy in various circumstances. From online browsing to email, I’ve attempted to provide user-friendly, privacy-oriented alternatives to mainstream products. In the wide world of software, there is an entire ecosystem of open source products ready to fill almost any niche use case. Today, I would like to highlight a few products for a variety of devices and applications that I think are interesting and useful.

Pillar of Value:

Office Suite = Notebooks

The office suite on our computers functions like a physical notebook and pen. We write our ideas, create charts, and perform calculations in our notebooks to save and sometimes share with others. The office suite familiar to most is Microsoft Office. Regardless of whether you buy a Mac or Windows machine, buying the Microsoft Office suite of tools is almost always a necessity. If you’ve ever bought a new computer, you’ve inevitably performed the Microsoft license dance. Maybe you check if your family and friends have a spare license you can use. You might even ask a niece or nephew if they can purchase a license for you with their student discounts. In the end, you are beholden to Microsoft for your everyday digital notebook needs.