Title: Why Apache OpenOffice: IT business
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![Why Apache OpenOffice: IT business](/why/images/why_oem.png) # {.rfloatimg}

Build your business around Apache OpenOffice. If you're in the IT business, OpenOffice can mean good business for you. The **flexible word processor**, **powerful spreadsheet**, **dynamic graphics**, **database access** and more meet all the requirements for an office software package.

Use OpenOffice to add value for your clients, free of license costs and onerous licensing conditions.

  - **Unbeatable value add**

    Although it's the big name software companies that capture the headlines, shipping the box is only a small part of the equation. For the majority of users, it's other people who provide the value add: the people running training courses, writing user guides, providing support, integrating systems, providing niche-market add-ons... For all of these businesses, Apache OpenOffice provides an unbeatable value proposition. No longer do you have to spend a large chunk of your client's budget on software licenses. With OpenOffice, you can offer office software of the highest quality at no cost.

  - **Open for adoption**

    For developers and systems integrators, Apache OpenOffice is as open as its name implies. Starting at the file level, it is the first software package in the world to fully support ISO/IEC 26300 OpenDocument file format (ODF). As more companies adopt the standard, exchanging data between office software will become as easy as saving and opening a file - a system integrator's dream. For developers, Apache OpenOffice offers a range of options, from extensions - in a variety of programming languages - through to use of the full OpenOffice component based architecture.

  - **Open for business**

    Apache OpenOffice prides itself on its compatibility with other office software, both in the way it works and in the files it uses. So offering OpenOffice doesn't close off options for your clients - in fact, it opens up new opportunities for them. Amazingly, OpenOffice comes without any license fees, or any worrying small print. You can pre-install it on computers, ship it on CDs, include it in books, put it on the cover of magazines... and, you don't need to say *We recommend Apache OpenOffice* on all your advertising.