Scratch

If you're on Mac, Mail is an excellent email client, better than Outlook imo, but it comes free with Mac OSX.

If you're on Windows, I highly recommend Thunderbird as an email client, which is better than Outlook.

Publisher is for making brochures and stuff, but Gimp can do a great job at that, as well as dedicated publishing apps such as Scribus.

All the programs I've mentioned above are completely free, and mostly open source.

Thunderbird is good for mail on both platforms.

Scribus is a good replacement for Publisher, but it's pretty difficult. Be prepared to learn, because you'll need to. Be open minded, as many things seem counter-intuitive as they're intended for print.

Outlook and Publisher are not free... They are still better than Thunderbird, OSX Mail or anything else, in my opinion.

LeDerpy123 wrote:

Outlook and Publisher are not free... They are still better than Thunderbird, OSX Mail or anything else, in my opinion.

Personally I've never seen the need for a desktop email client (although I see the use on mobile devices for instant notifications and such) but I don't see the cost of outlook coming even remotely close to justifiable when there is Thunderbird. I don't think that Open-Source software projects are currently ready to eliminate these paid options, but think, is it really important for you to use Outlook at a cost when the same things can be done in Thunderbird (or in a browser) for free? As for publisher, I've never really liked it, but if you were going to pay for either program, I'd say publisher is more important to have the actual version than mail, which can be handled well by open-source.

Gmail is awesome for mail, is online and needs no download.

mythbusteranimator wrote:

Office is about...say....$500

Actually, it's it's only a little over $200. Older versions might be even cheaper, especially if it can be bought under a student discount.

16Skittles wrote:

LeDerpy123 wrote:

Outlook and Publisher are not free... They are still better than Thunderbird, OSX Mail or anything else, in my opinion.

Personally I've never seen the need for a desktop email client (although I see the use on mobile devices for instant notifications and such) but I don't see the cost of outlook coming even remotely close to justifiable when there is Thunderbird. I don't think that Open-Source software projects are currently ready to eliminate these paid options, but think, is it really important for you to use Outlook at a cost when the same things can be done in Thunderbird (or in a browser) for free? As for publisher, I've never really liked it, but if you were going to pay for either program, I'd say publisher is more important to have the actual version than mail, which can be handled well by open-source.

AbiWord is supposed to be a lighter version of Libreoffice/Openoffice as well if that interests you, floats your boat, tickles your fancy, etc.

Also I've never found desktop email clients useful either, until recently when I've acquired numerous different email accounts for one purpose or another, and it's probably the only way to stay on top of all of that.

@veggie: I think you'd be surprised how much Mail and Thunderbird have in common, they have an almost identical UI and both have very good ease of use. Of course on a PC the choice is made for you.

veggieman001 wrote:

jji7skyline wrote:

@veggie: I think you'd be surprised how much Mail and Thunderbird have in common, they have an almost identical UI and both have very good ease of use. Of course on a PC the choice is made for you.

If they have an identical UI and one's open source while one isn't, why wouldn't you choose the open source one?

Also, one is platform dependent. Thunderbird works on OS X, Windows, and Linux.

veggieman001 wrote:

16Skittles wrote:

veggieman001 wrote:

If they have an identical UI and one's open source while one isn't, why wouldn't you choose the open source one?

Also, one is platform dependent. Thunderbird works on OS X, Windows, and Linux.

Indeed. If you ever had to switch, then you wouldn't have to get used to a different interface, too.
And OP didn't specify OS, so it's more safe to assume Windows.

Especially with a signature that states "Everybody loves Windows, right?" with a .gif of a windows logo nyan?

veggieman001 wrote:

16Skittles wrote:

veggieman001 wrote:

Indeed. If you ever had to switch, then you wouldn't have to get used to a different interface, too.
And OP didn't specify OS, so it's more safe to assume Windows.

Especially with a signature that states "Everybody loves Windows, right?" with a .gif of a windows logo nyan?

Indeed 

Indeed what?

veggieman001 wrote:

16Skittles wrote:

veggieman001 wrote:

Indeed. If you ever had to switch, then you wouldn't have to get used to a different interface, too.
And OP didn't specify OS, so it's more safe to assume Windows.

Especially with a signature that states "Everybody loves Windows, right?" with a .gif of a windows logo nyan?

Indeed 

Hm...
look at the username 

jji7skyline wrote:

kayybee wrote:

veggieman001 wrote:

Indeed 

Hm...
look at the username 

He must be a hackint0sher 

Can you stop fooling around?