<p>Looking to put Microsoft Office behind you? Here are our picks for the five best, free alternatives that will leave you wondering why you waited so long to make the switch.</p><p>Microsoft Office was once the go-to source and industry standard for office productivity applications. As the office suite landscape continues to change and evolve, we're seeing more and more open source software springing up that lack little in the way of features and provide free alternatives to the productivity king that dominated the market for years on end.</p><p>Whether you're at home or on the road with your mobile device, word processing, spreadsheets, presentation software, and more are now all accessible anywhere you have an Internet connection. It's been a long time coming, but the reign of Microsoft Office is drawing to a close.</p><p>If you're looking for a way to do your basic office tasks without paying a cent, we've rounded up five of our top picks for some of the best free Microsoft Office alternatives. These resources will make it easy to continue hammering out those word docs, spreadsheets, and presentations while keeping your wallet at bay.Google Docs</p><p><a href="http://www.digitaltrends.com/computing/best-microsoft-office-alternatives/">Keep reading...</a></p><p>Read also:</p><p><a href="http://news.idg.no/cw/art.cfm?id=D5CD5AB6-B223-B9A6-7FB3773A22683958">Review: Office Web Apps v. Google Docs</a> (IDG News Service)</p><p><a href="http://www.fiercecio.com/techwatch/story/support-old-office-formats-ending-soon-google-docs-users/2013-01-21">Support for old Office formats ending soon for Google Docs users</a> (FierceCIO)</p><p>Explore: <a href="http://news.google.com/news/more?ncl=d595-XcVlBUhZLMYz8vPbwXT8e_UM&ned=us">4 additional articles.</a></p>