I am organizing a team project, and have a great use for the capabilities of some project management software, like MS Project. But, I really only need the most rudimentary features of the program, like creating a task heirarchy, plotting progress, and making a Gantt chart from it on demand. So it doens’t make much sense to pay tons of money for Project, since I only need 10% of its functionality, and will likely only use it once.
Is there a good, free, alternative out there, that will allow me to do the above? Easy Gantt chart creation for fluid and always-changing tasks is the core of what I really need.
Um, Duckster, that was a totally useless response. The fact that it was condescending made it worse. I went through the first ten hits for you trying to find something that met the OP’s needs (free) and failed. I invite you to complete your job and go through the rest until you find something useful.
Of course, “free” wasn’t all that was requested; they also asked for “good.” So after you find the free ones, be sure to evaluate them all and give your opinion on their value.
I’m sorry, but it really annoys me when people ask a reasonable question and other people give them useless info in a condescending tone.
Well, I apologize for the late reply, but I haven’t had a chance to check lately.
I was talking about Windows software…although I’ll use Linux if I have to. My problem with that is that while I have a dual-boot system, and can work with this software, I’d like to be able to use it on my other computers, or collaborate wqith the other members of my group. Sharing the file between multiple computers means that a Windows application is preferred. But I will look into the Mr. Project stuff.
I don’t care about the size of MS Project, as much as that I’dbe paying for a whole lot of features that I won’t use. It’s like paying for Photoshop when all you need is Paint.
But, I have found out that I can purchase Project through the MS “home use porgram.” As a USAF employee, I can get a copy for my home use for $20, as well as Office 2003 Standard for $20. I may do that. But it’s not the best solution because I need this stuff like yesterday, not 4-6 weeks from now.
Maybe I’ll start with the Mr. Project option to get things started, and migrate to MSProj once I can get my cheap copy.
I kinda suspected you didn’t want Linux, but thought I’d throw it out just in case. I should mention that I don’t actually like Mr. Project, but that’s because it’s not very full-featured, very stripped down. However, I believe it will do everything you need (short of running on Windows).
Project for $20 sounds like an ideal solution. In my book, it’s ethical for you to steal a copy while you’re waiting for your paid legal copy to arrive, but that’s for you to decide.