Projity has recently announced the release of Version 1.0 of OpenProj, their free Microsoft Project replacement. OpenProj is a highly compentent little project management tool, and I for one use it now for scheduling all my projects. It has fantastic capabilities and is very stable.

It’s strongest feature is the way it presents information. Any number of views are available at the click of an icon, and I find the Tracking Gantt, the Network View, and the WBS chart genuinely useful.

OpenProj makes it easier to manage project resources and costs, too. A number of charts and histograms are available (although, I can’t say that I’ve used them much; I may one day get around to giving them a proper test drive!).

InfoWorld’s Test Center was impressed by the application in a recent review:

“Overall, OpenProj performs all the essential tasks you’d do with a desktop project management application. That, and cross-platform availability, would justify Projity charging even a portion of Microsoft Project’s $999 price tag. But with OpenProj’s free access, it’s just one more compelling case for going open source on the desktop.”

Have you used OpenProj? How does it compare to MS Project for you?