open office vs MS office

[preacherman]

We got a new family computer last week and while upgrading all of our software I decided to try open office v3 instead of Microsoft office. I have got to say I have now used it a few days and I am totally smitten with open office. It's free (but you may contribute by giving a donation) and can be found at

http://www.openoffice.org/

It is very similar to MS office 2003 but has better features. Anyone else using it?

 

[bluemog]

I bought a Samsung NC10 for work to take notes on at meetings. I didn't want to spring for the high cost of MS Office since all I would be using the computer was to take notes on. So I decided to start using OpenOffice instead. So far OpenOffice has been good to use and I have been able to configure it pretty much the same way that I use MS Word (dummied down with all of the automation turned off). If I was braver I would have ordered to netbook with Linux- that way I could have been Gates-free!

 

[gary in ohio]

I have been using open office for many years. Its done nothing but get better. Many Linux users use it. Our company is even piloting a project to use OO as our corporate standard. The only thing MS office has over OO is Visio, there is no good visio like programs, similar but not to the same standard OO is.

By saving all your docs in MS format you have open/MS office interoperability. There are just a few oddball things that are not compatible between the two and most folks using it for home and even business will never encounter the issues. .

 

[IH8RDS]

I use them both. At work Microsoft Office and at home OO. When I switched to Linux I really didnt have a choice. They play nice together.

 

[Superu]

Love OO

I run Open Office on our MACs and love it. Startup is a bit slow on the MAC Mini but it flies once it's running. No issue with startup speed on my iMac G5.

Open Source rocks! :wings:

 

[Carlyle]

Welcome to the free world!

 

[eugene]

Switched over about 5 years ago when we started planning on having kids. There was no way I would even think about trying to buy MSOffice licenses for 4 people.

 

[Jonathan Hanson]

I'd put up with a lot to get rid of any and all Microsoft programs on my Powerbook. However, after using Neo Office for editing for some time, I reluctantly went back to Word for Mac. It just wasn't there yet, and slowed down simple operations drastically. I hope they'll continue to work on it.

I'm about to try Apple's own I-Work and its word program, Pages. Roseann loves it.

 

[Robthebrit]

I have used it for years too and its now a lot better than it was. I use it on a Windows PC that has MS office! I would love to not use any MS apps other than windows itself, OO is a big step in that direction. I love OO because its simple, loads fast and doesn't use 200mb of memory just sitting there with an empty doc. 99% of people don't need 99% of the features that MS office has. The final straw for me for MS Office 2007, its no different to earlier versions other than its more expensive and the interface which I think was designed by fisher-price. Think about it, how can you add to the core features of an app that has been around for 25 years with a new version every other year.

From what I have been reading its going to get a whole lot better because the new MS Office file formats are supposed to be open and properly documented (I think this is something to do with the EU lawsuits). This should fix most of the remaining weird formatting issues with OO.

I am also a huge fan google docs, its awesome if multiple people are editing the document at the same time. Some people, in particular corps, have a problem with the docs being on google servers. For my personal docs I think its probably safer as google is more secure than my network and I can get to my docs from anywhere. My biggest concern is what happens if google goes down when I need my docs.

Rob

 

[Outdoorsben]

There is really no reason to use any store bought apps. You can find a better open source program for 90% of programs.

 

[gary in ohio]

There is really no reason to use any store bought apps. You can find a better open source program for 90% of programs.

While the apps are open source you should consider donating to the programs foundation that are out there. There are a lot of man hours in some of the open source programs. Helping offset some cost is worthwhile.

 

[TeamReader]

I have used MS Office, NeoOffice and iWork on my macs, I have not upgraded MS office for years now and do not miss it, NeoOffice was OK but it never settles down, updates every time I start the program and you are never sure the update will be stable.

Apple iWork is now the standard that we use. I have it on 5 Macs and it is providing everything we need from 4th grade reports to corporate presentations made in Keynote and saved in PowerPoint. The spreadsheet is not a powerful as Excel but handles just about everything we need.

The price is fair, 5 license for iWork and iLife update for $204.00 at MacMall, you can download a test version for Apple.

 

[preacherman]

While the apps are open source you should consider donating to the programs foundation that are out there. There are a lot of man hours in some of the open source programs. Helping offset some cost is worthwhile.

great point!!!:wings:

 

[mrstang01]

Has anybody found an Open Source replacement for Access and Visio? If I could get them, I could get rid of MS for 99% of what I do.

Michael

 

[craig]

There are many many open source database programs available from enterprise grade (postgresql) all the way down to file based like Access (sqlite).

What do you use Visio for? I've found OS UML diagramming tools that are better than Visio, but if you are using it for something other than UML I'm not sure there is anything quite as good just yet.

C