To my personal knowledge there are only two apps similiar to Visio that works on Linux: Kivio and Dia. Kivio is not really free since the free version doesn't include any diagram library and you have to pay to get them. Dia (http://www.lysator.liu.se/~alla/dia/) is from my point of view the best alternative to Visio (dia it works also on Windows and Mac). Even better than the non-free Kivio version. It includes lot of diagram libraries (Engeniering, time, flow, ER, UML, Cisco, ....), and has a lot of extra tools: http://www.lysator.liu.se/~alla/dia/links.html. Dia can import WITH LOT OF TROUBLE certain diagrams with the help of EMF decoder :http://www.redferni.uklinux.net/emf/ A formal import tool is not under development but under study: http://www.lysator.liu.se/~alla/dia/faq.html#VisioFiles Dia itself to some extend have a certain compatibility with M$ Office/OpenOffice since it can export to WMF (Windows Meta File), PNG, JPEG, PDF, .... that you can then embbed in you M$/Open Office. Dia current version is 0.92.2 but it is an every day usable app since version 0.86 (more than two years right now), so don't get wrong with a <1.0 version number.