Gnumeric: Spreadsheet Free

Gnumeric is part of the GNOME project that offers a complete graphical desktop environment as free software for the major operating systems. The main goal of the GNOME project is to develop a clear and user friendly desktop which easily new applications can be added.

Gnumeric is the Gnome environment, the spreadsheet component. The program is used to manipulate and analyze numeric data. The program, according to the authors as well as fully compatible with Microsoft Excel worksheets and additionally offers numerous additional features including statistical processing.

The main window contains several toolbars and menu structure where all major spreadsheet functions are included. The program is available in 46 languages, including Dutch.

Much care is given to the user: the layout is similar to other spreadsheet programs and use is intuitive. There a lot of attention was paid to the openness of the program: not only the source code is free, but the program reads and writes fluently files with various formats, including closed formats. Gnumeric has above a collection import and export filters. So you can open existing spreadsheets with ease and edit or share with others, even if they have not installed Gnumeric.

Gnumeric is also easily expandable by using plug-ins. A plug-in is a (small) piece of binary code that can be linked to Gnumeric and whose functionality for the user is available. The added functionality is integrated into the menu structure and for yourself does not change the use.