Trying open-source alternatives for everyday jobs

Pulenaz: can the household sheet make the move?

Pulenaz starts with a grocery budget she already understands: item names, estimated costs and a total. She opens a copy in LibreOffice Calc, changes two prices and checks the total against the same changes in Excel. Both copies show the same sum. She saves the Calc copy, opens it again and finds that the numbers and formula are still there. She leaves the total visible while she changes the prices, then pauses on the reopened sheet so you can check it with her.

The part that slows her down is not the arithmetic but finding familiar commands in a different layout. She also saves a copy in Excel format for someone else to open. The figures remain readable in her check, but a heading wraps differently, so she widens that column before sending it. That little repair is part of the comparison: a file opening is not quite the same as a page looking exactly the way she intended.

For her own grocery list she keeps Calc, because it does the small job she repeats and she can reopen the file. When a more elaborate shared sheet needs to look just right, she goes back to the original program for that sheet. The result is a choice for two different tasks, rather than a promise that every spreadsheet will transfer perfectly.

iJustine: the same photograph in two editors

iJustine takes one picture and makes the same modest changes in Photoshop and GIMP: crop out a distracting strip at the edge, brighten the image and export a JPEG to view separately. She keeps the original untouched and compares the two exports at the same size. Both are usable; the GIMP version takes longer because she has to find the export command and check which file she is viewing. She hesitates over the two similar file names before opening each export, then puts the cropped pictures beside each other for a closer look.

She keeps GIMP for a quick personal crop when she has time to work through the different layout. For an existing layered project she returns to Photoshop, where she already knows how that project is arranged. The hesitation is about her familiar workflow, not proof that the free editor cannot make a similar picture. Watching her repeat the same edit makes that distinction easier to see.

Where to start

LibreOffice describes Calc as a spreadsheet application that can calculate and work with Excel files; its parent suite is open source. GIMP describes itself as a free, open-source image editor. Their own sites are useful places to find the tools and documentation.

References: LibreOffice · The Document Foundation · GIMP

For a trial of your own, choose one small job you actually do and keep the original file. Compare the result after reopening or exporting, not just the first screen. A budget that adds correctly or a photo that is ready to share gives you a clearer answer than counting how many buttons each app has. Start with Pulenaz if you want a patient look at a household file making the round trip; choose iJustine for the visual comparison and the small moment of finding the right export.

Sources and attribution

1. LibreOffice

   LibreOffice Calc FeaturesPublication date not listed · Recorded Oct 30, 2026

2. The Document Foundation

   LibreOfficePublication date not listed · Recorded Oct 30, 2026

3. GIMP

   GNU Image Manipulation ProgramPublication date not listed · Recorded Oct 30, 2026