Open Office instead of Microsoft Office

[G R 'Scott' Cundiff]

I looked at Open Office a few years ago and wasn't all that impressed. I admit it wasn't a major test - I just opened a few of the Word documents I use on a regular basis and found the formatting messed up and moved on.

At that time I was using my trusty Office 97. Over time I bought a new computer and it came with Word but not the other Office Suite software, so I ended up with Word 2003 and everything else still 97.

The one thing I needed was more functionality in Power Point. The old program doesn't have the features I need. I decided to check out Open Office again.

So far, so good. I loaded the same old Word docs into Writer and they opened right up. I would never know they aren't in Word. The ppt files I opened in Impress really, ah, "impressed" me. They opened with all the correct formatting, and then I was able embed some video -- the one feature that started me to looking at Open Office again in the first place.

Then, I tried some spreadsheet files -- no big math or anything -- Calc opened them right up. Again, without looking, I couldn't tell what program they were in.

So, I intend to use Impress all the time and will probably try the other Open Office applications too. One thing is sure, the price is just right: free.

[Bob Wright]

Open Office is a good alternative to MS Office and much cheaper! I used it for converting MS Office files with Linux, and I was glad when they ported it over to Windows. Watch out for Windows Vista; I seriously doubt if you will be able to run Open Office on Vista. They will not allow any product that does not meet their approval (or that cuts into their profits). Thanks for the evaluation.

[G R 'Scott' Cundiff]

Open Office is a good alternative to MS Office and much cheaper! I used it for converting MS Office files with Linux, and I was glad when they ported it over to Windows. Watch out for Windows Vista; I seriously doubt if you will be able to run Open Office on Vista. They will not allow any product that does not meet their approval (or that cuts into their profits). Thanks for the evaluation.

When Office came installed on computers there was simply no reason, in my opinion to look elsewhere. However, if I have to buy such an expensive package. I am more than willing to look around and see what is out there.

Thanks for the warning about Vista. I am certainly in no hurry on that one!

By the way, for those who might be interested it is www.openoffice.org

[Doug Kitchen]

Open Office is a good alternative to MS Office and much cheaper! I used it for converting MS Office files with Linux, and I was glad when they ported it over to Windows. Watch out for Windows Vista; I seriously doubt if you will be able to run Open Office on Vista. They will not allow any product that does not meet their approval (or that cuts into their profits). Thanks for the evaluation.

Early openoffice didn't have a database program. The last version I tried had a pretty good db (not quite as good as MS-Access). I have seen conversion issues (like fonts and ole objects) in PPT and Word that didn't quite work in Openoffice. But openoffice is free and most people wouldn't notice a significant difference. OO also works on the new Mac OSX (although a little clunky).

I think churches might find something like OO more financially desirable than MS-office if they have more than one computer.

Scott, thanks for bringing it to my attention again - I need to check the latest version on my mac at home.


Doug

[Brad Mercer]

Early openoffice didn't have a database program. The last version I tried had a pretty good db (not quite as good as MS-Access).

I'd be happy to use a non-MS product any chance I get if it doesn't require any sacrifice on my part. I'm always eager to give anyone a chance to prove they can do a better job than Microsoft. I tried Open Office back about a year ago. At the time, I was using MS Access in my own business. I made one effort to open my database with the new Open Office program and it didn't work. So, like Scott, I moved on.

Brad

[Hans Deventer]

Scot, I have been using Open Office for quite a while now. I'm happy with it though I have to admit that I am not a heavy user. Like Brad, I try to avoid Microsoft products if I can, but I'm still running Windows XP.
With my new 250 Gb hard disk, I do intend to create a partition for Linux and try Ubuntu.

[Hans Deventer]

I made one effort to open my database with the new Open Office program and it didn't work. So, like Scott, I moved on.

It's worth it to keep trying every now and then. The software is being improved all the time. Right now, version 2.1 just came out.

[Gina Stevenson]

It's worth it to keep trying every now and then. The software is being improved all the time. Right now, version 2.1 just came out.

Hmmm ... since you guys are so highly endorsing it, perhaps I could try this 2.l, since I just checked after reading these notes, and find the one I tried when I lost my Office 97 in a computer crash (& couldn't find the CD anywhere for a reload!) was 2.0. 'Wonder---tho' I've got Office back now (thanks to a loaner)---if there's been some improvement in the area of OO crashes.

You see, when working with other than a few pages---trying to edit that 400+pg book---Open Office would keep crashing/closing down on me! Perhaps it does wonderfully with, say, 100 or less pages, but couldn't quite handle this size of document. Thank goodness, I got MS Office 97 back for that, since that didn't crash on me like OO kept doing! ;)

Since the book's done, I could pull it up on OO again, just to see if it handles things any differently than it was a couple of months or so ago. ('Probably would have to do some play-around typing in it, and try for an edited "save" to see if it crashes, or saves it.) Interesting ................

Again, thanks for the tip that it's been updated just since I tried it.

[Hans Deventer]

You see, when working with other than a few pages---trying to edit that 400+pg book---Open Office would keep crashing/closing down on me!

Gina, I'm not kidding you, but I quit MS Office XP because Word kept crashing on me. I haven't had any crashes since I'm working with Open Office.
I guess experiences differ. I have been working with the Manual translation, which is about 220 pages, as my largest document.

[Gina Stevenson]

Gina, I'm not kidding you, but I quit MS Office XP because Word kept crashing on me. I haven't had any crashes since I'm working with Open Office.
I guess experiences differ. I have been working with the Manual translation, which is about 220 pages, as my largest document.

That is weird! Quirky-quirks! ;)

Hans, are you still using that Linux, rather than Windows? Perhaps that's the difference? To you, MS Word/Office would not be wanting to recognize Linux OS? With my computer having Windows XP, perhaps Windows did not want to recognize Open Office, its not being MS?

This is strange, tho', that we switch from opposite programs to what the other had crash on them, and find it doesn't crash. Weird, weird, weird!

Well, I've said before, "computer are like men!" [running as fast as I can :basic05]---and men think they can't understand women? hee-hee ;)

[David Cash]

I'm not familiar with Open Office. I did the department store thing for my current computer. It came with Microsoft Works and a 60 day trial of Office. I've been too stingy to spend the money for Office. I would like to have Word again, though. Works word processor is ok, but Word has some features that I really miss, especially as I try to relate it to FrontPage. I could do some things with it on my old computer that my superior Pentium 4 machine won't do because of the limited software.

David Cash

David Cash

[Hans Deventer]

Hans, are you still using that Linux, rather than Windows?

No, I am using the Windows version.

[Doug Kitchen]

I'm not familiar with Open Office. I did the department store thing for my current computer. It came with Microsoft Works and a 60 day trial of Office. I've been too stingy to spend the money for Office. I would like to have Word again, though. Works word processor is ok, but Word has some features that I really miss, especially as I try to relate it to FrontPage. I could do some things with it on my old computer that my superior Pentium 4 machine won't do because of the limited software.

David Cash

David Cash

David,

You might like the OO word processing software. I think for primarily text documents you won't notice any difference. (Gina's and Hans' different experiences may reflect the content of their files, the amount of memory or even how big their temporary file area is getting). OO is based more on java and java can sometimes be a little flaky on windows.

I think if you copy and paste large images you might run into some differences. OO will have almost all the features of ms-word (and a couple of extras like converting documents to pdf format). OO will save files to true ms-word format.

If you are a heavy user of ppt you might experience significantly more differences. Excel seemed to me to be nearly identical to OO spreadsheet.

Doug