Having just downloaded this, I cannot understand why more people do not use it? Its free, and seems very capable? It works well with standard office products as far as I can see? Am I missing something?
Open Office
| brewmaster wrote: |
| Am I missing something? |
Yes. Advertising.
The only thing I don't like is that I've got a bunch of MS Access databases with lots of VBA code that I can't convert, so I'm stuck keeping MS on my comp to use them.
yes, open office is new on the scene compared to MSOffice, and has no advertising budget that I know of. but i've been using it for a few months and it needs a few key improvements before it should try to go public/popular. most importantly, _speed_. it takes 4x as long to launch compared to MSOffice. other then that, it is just little interface quirks that annoy me. overall i find it very usable and have started recommending it to my friends.
I think that's the hardest part for me. The speed to get things done in Open Office is still an issue. But I don't use MS Office either...in fact, mostly I just use wordpad. ^_^;
i think open office is a very versatile, useful and flexible software compared to other office. although the speed is an issue but with the new open office 2.0 it has gone to a lot of improvements..sooner or later, it will gain popularity. 
Open Office is just great!
I use Linux. So no MS Office for me anyway.
Well, it's free and it's better than KEdit lol
I use Linux. So no MS Office for me anyway.
Well, it's free and it's better than KEdit lol
I think that the open source programs will be better than old commercial codes. The thing is that at an open source every person can contribute and make it better so... I use open office to 
I'm using OpenOffice too (on linux), and it's a wonderful program. I'm using it everyday. It's not as widespread as msoffice, but more and more ppl and institutions (the police in some countries, schools, universities etc.) are using it as well.
| Quote: |
| Am I missing something |
what you're not missing is hundreds of dollars spent on faulty programs developed by a company who could give a $hit about it's customers...
in my opinion Microsoft Office sucks, Open Office is better
ive started using openoffice a bit frequently these days. and as everyone has pointed out, the startup speed has to be improved tremendously if it has to become popular. but it is very capable and far better than using a illegal version of ms office
| dac_nip wrote: |
| i think open office is a very versatile, useful and flexible software compared to other office. although the speed is an issue but with the new open office 2.0 it has gone to a lot of improvements..sooner or later, it will gain popularity. |
Hi dac_nip,
Did you try the 2.0 version ? I'm still using the 1.1.1 version, it's so slow to boot that I feel sometimes like if my PC has crashed.
Anyway, I use the program (the word processor and the spreadsheet, occasionally view some PP slides) for a professional purpose. Sometimes it's impossible to work on native MS documents, but up to now, no job has been able to force me to buy a MS product but their OS .
I've been thinking about trying OpenOffice.org for a while now, but since I've already...erm...acquired MS Office XP I haven't really needed to. Soon I'll be getting a new laptop on which I'll be dual booting with Linux so I'll have to give OOo a try.
As for advertising, it's an open source project with no commercial intentions so advertising isn't exactly going to be a top priority.
As for advertising, it's an open source project with no commercial intentions so advertising isn't exactly going to be a top priority.
well as it maybe free alot of people dont know about im guessing
If it works for you, use it!
Doesn't really matter what everyone else is doing
The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man.
George Bernard Shaw,
Doesn't really matter what everyone else is doing
The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man.
George Bernard Shaw,
I have been using openoffice 2.0, just upgraded from 1.3. It is a tremendous improvement. The design is different the icons look modern and so does the interface. Starts up faster and of course it is still free and getting better.
Cons: OpenOffice 1.xx does not support files created with version 2.xx.
I recommend this program 100%, because, it does the job, does not cost a penny, is reliable and there is a great effort to make it better every Day.
Cons: OpenOffice 1.xx does not support files created with version 2.xx.
I recommend this program 100%, because, it does the job, does not cost a penny, is reliable and there is a great effort to make it better every Day.
i think they should make a build in dictonary downloader for the spell check. right now you have to download them 1 at a time or use a script (can be downloaded from there site)
| Quote: |
| Cons: OpenOffice 1.xx does not support files created with version 2.xx. |
OOo 1.5 is supposed to deal with the newest file format. But at least for older versions, it doesn't cost anything to upgrade to the latest version
I love open office. Near all the same functionality as MS and its free.
Even has powerpoint!
Even has powerpoint!
yah;
i've been using it for a few months now, and the only lacking area i think it has to work on is speed. and, usability seemed to be a little bit better in the older version, but i'm sure they have that about worked out by now.
i've been using it for a few months now, and the only lacking area i think it has to work on is speed. and, usability seemed to be a little bit better in the older version, but i'm sure they have that about worked out by now.
I have Microsoft Office, Microsoft Works and Open Office 2.0. I generally use Microsoft Office for all my school homework and stuff like that. I use works for my pictures portfolio and the awesome calender. Open Office is used when I want to create PDF files for my website. That's about the only reason I use Open Office.
The problem with Open Office is compatibility issues. I don't mean the installation. But the extension. Although you can create a files and save it as a .doc, why would an average computer user even bother to do that? He would straight away use MS Word.
The problem with Open Office is compatibility issues. I don't mean the installation. But the extension. Although you can create a files and save it as a .doc, why would an average computer user even bother to do that? He would straight away use MS Word.
| Quote: |
| Although you can create a files and save it as a .doc, why would an average computer user even bother to do that? He would straight away use MS Word. |
Not every body can afford to buy MS office Suit, so if you are one of those lucky guys, why bother with Open Office? you could as well get a Acrobat pro and make PDFs from any aplication you have.
The reason is that if no MS Office, it is still possible to make compatible documents for computers with MS office. So compatiblity is not an issue.
As a product in its own right I think OO is excellent but where it falls down is in reading and writing MS format files. Any Word file with things like tables, embbedded graphics or endnotes is likely to look different in OO and OO documents saved as Word files often do not look the same when loaded into Word.
Having said that the basic content is usually readable so if exact matching of files is not important for you than go for OO would be my advice.
Having said that the basic content is usually readable so if exact matching of files is not important for you than go for OO would be my advice.
Open Office is really good, IMO. I'm on a Mac, and since Pages doesn't cut it for reading and writing MS files, you're stuck with Office unless you use NeoOffice, the port of Open Office. I can't afford Office, so I downloaded NeoOffice, and now I can seemlessy switch from computer to computer in our house, every other one of which has MS Office installed.....
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