Anyone use OpenOffice?

[stevehawk]

I was going to purchase a copy of MS Office for the wife's new laptop, but a friend suggested looking at OpenOffice instead. Anyone here use this? And, if so, is it a viable alternative to MS Office?

I've checked the web site (OpenOffice.org) and it seems too good to be true -- and you know what they say about things that seem too good to be true. It's free (versus $139 for MS Office) and you can supposedly share files between OpenOffice and MS Office.

I will prob download a copy and try it out anyway, but if anyone here uses it, please let me know your thoughts.

Thanks,
S.

 

[haguc]

I have used it on a computer at home for a while. I don't do a lot of work on office files, but everything I have tried to do has worked out just fine. And.. for the price, if you try it and decide you don't like it, then you can just go out and pony up the dough to get the M$ product. I would definitely recommend trying it.

 

[Renefatdude]

I use OO and Linux (Ubuntu) for years now and it works fine for me!

Rene

 

[Wolfie]

It's actually pretty decent. That said, having used both, I still prefer office. For my money (not literally since I get it free through my employer), Office is the performer. It loads far faster on my machines, has a smaller memory footprint, is more comprehensive and well...I'm use to the functions as they are whereas in OOO, I found I often had to poke around to do the same task.

For most people, it's just fine.

 

[PhatCat]

Mac or PC laptop?

I run NeoOffice on my MacBook Pro. Works great. No issues.

My desktop PC still runs Office XP. Fine.

For the money, try open office. Or NeoOffice if it's a Mac. I know of no issues (e.g. security threats or compatibility) that would steer you away from trying it first and then if you don't like it, pony up for MS Office.

Bill

 

[JHolmes763]

It's all I've used for quite some time and I've never had any issues. Work is strictly MS Office and I've always been able to go back and forth. I use it on Windows and Linux.

It's got differences from Office with some features, so if your looking for something _exactly_ the same, this isn't it. The functionality is the same, some of the buttons or options might be in a different place, though.

For everything that you get, paying full price for MS Office is just silly.

-John

 

[Yeahthatsme]

I've been using it the last 2 years in school, and haven't had a single problem with formatting or file types, I love it.

 

[dlow]

Openoffice is a solid office suite. It's slower, supports less features, and is less reliable with large/complex files, but for everyday use it's better than MS office for the price you pay (free). Pretty much every Linux system uses it so it's got a really active developer community with lots of support. It's the 2nd best office suite in my opinion.

Obviously, Microsoft office is the best, but most will never use the extra features that it comes with. Microsoft works is useless crap.

Also, in a pinch, I'm a big fan of the Google apps. Their calendar, spreadsheet and word predecessor apps are great for lightweight stuff. link

 

[Wurm]

Open Office works great for writing letters doing spread sheets and other basic office chores.

Try it Steve, if it isn't enough you can always buy MS Office.

 

[LouieD]

I have used OpenOffice for several years. Works great. I have never had a problem. Use it on Ubuntu and Vista.

 

[Satchmo]

We downloaded it for my mother in law. She has had no issues with doc sharing and is very happy with it, and the free price tag. If you are a casual user I would think OO would be the easy choice, Steve-O!

 

[StatHaldol]

I use Open Office. It's great for just the basic letter writing, spreadsheet, etc. I use a free online service at www.Zoho.com more than OO. I can keep all my documents online which is convenient for me.

 

[JHolmes763]

Why do some of you throw in the "basic" clause when talking about OpenOffice? Is there really something "advanced" that you've come across that OO doesn't support? Or is it just that your work is basic and that's all you really know? (No disrespect intended - I only do basic work in most of my applications.)

-John

 

[dlow]

Why do some of you throw in the "basic" clause when talking about OpenOffice? Is there really something "advanced" that you've come across that OO doesn't support? Or is it just that your work is basic and that's all you really know? (No disrespect intended - I only do basic work in most of my applications.)

-John

Basic might be a bit of a reach. OpenOffice can certainly do most of the more advanced stuff. However, the minor issues start to show up as you try to do more advanced things and especially if you try to combine things. For example, as you use formulas in the spreadsheets app, you'll notice that there are a lot less forumlas in open office and some of the forumlas have a different syntax than excel. Also, the graphing support is no where near what you get with ms office. Finally, ms office pretty much wipes the floor when it comes to using pivot tables, which is often the kicker for most enterprise users. With that said, I think that the biggest drawback for advanced usage is portability. If you create a spreadsheet with a lot of formulas, embedded html, macros, graphs and other such things you'll almost certainly have an issue sharing it with excel users. Sometimes there's only minor issues such as formatting problems. Other times they can be major such as miscalculations for formulas.

 

[JHolmes763]

Basic might be a bit of a reach. OpenOffice can certainly do most of the more advanced stuff. However, the minor issues start to show up as you try to do more advanced things and especially if you try to combine things. For example, as you use formulas in the spreadsheets app, you'll notice that there are a lot less forumlas in open office and some of the forumlas have a different syntax than excel. Also, the graphing support is no where near what you get with ms office. Finally, ms office pretty much wipes the floor when it comes to using pivot tables, which is often the kicker for most enterprise users. With that said, I think that the biggest drawback for advanced usage is portability. If you create a spreadsheet with a lot of formulas, embedded html, macros, graphs and other such things you'll almost certainly have an issue sharing it with excel users. Sometimes there's only minor issues such as formatting problems. Other times they can be major such as miscalculations for formulas.

Good post. I can buy all of that. Hopefully anyone considering OO vs. MS Office will look into those and see if they're really going to be missing anything with those advanced features. I certainly don't, but that's my usage.

You know how it is, though. You say X is good for basic stuff and people will be turned off of it because they don't want to miss out on anything (even though all they do is "basic" stuff). :laugh:

 

[dlow]

Good post. I can buy all of that. Hopefully anyone considering OO vs. MS Office will look into those and see if they're really going to be missing anything with those advanced features. I certainly don't, but that's my usage.

You know how it is, though. You say X is good for basic stuff and people will be turned off of it because they don't want to miss out on anything (even though all they do is "basic" stuff). :laugh:

Agreed.

To be honest, I always recommend that people who don't use more of the "advanced" features of office products move to cloud based applications such as zoho or google apps. The convenience of always having your docs available online at any given time can't be beat. It's a real time saver for someone who has multiple computers like a laptop and desktop. Some of these products even support "offline" modes now (I know Google supports it through their "gears" browser plugin). I'm a big fan of the cloud stuff personally. I've lived through hard drive crashes before and lost lots of important items such as documents and photos. With cloud services this is pretty much a non-issue. That said, I know some people are a bit reluctant and I respect that.

 

[stevehawk]

Thanks to everyone for the replies. It's good to know there is a free alternative to MS Office out there.

After much consideration, and a couple of very generous offers to send me legal versions, I will stick with MS Officefor now. I am a heavy Excel user and, even though this is the wife's new puter, it would be nice to have in case I need to use it.

On the other hand, I think I will download OO anyway and give it a test drive.

Thanks again, all. :thumbs:

Steve

 

[Satchmo]

The few times I helped used OO on with my mother-in-law is did seem slower. If you are working on Word, Excel, PP most of the day I would spend the $125 for sake of productivity..... It have never "stumped" OO with the spreadsheets, etc. I put together.

Basic might be a bit of a reach. OpenOffice can certainly do most of the more advanced stuff. However, the minor issues start to show up as you try to do more advanced things and especially if you try to combine things. For example, as you use formulas in the spreadsheets app, you'll notice that there are a lot less forumlas in open office and some of the forumlas have a different syntax than excel. Also, the graphing support is no where near what you get with ms office. Finally, ms office pretty much wipes the floor when it comes to using pivot tables, which is often the kicker for most enterprise users. With that said, I think that the biggest drawback for advanced usage is portability. If you create a spreadsheet with a lot of formulas, embedded html, macros, graphs and other such things you'll almost certainly have an issue sharing it with excel users. Sometimes there's only minor issues such as formatting problems. Other times they can be major such as miscalculations for formulas.

Good post. I can buy all of that. Hopefully anyone considering OO vs. MS Office will look into those and see if they're really going to be missing anything with those advanced features. I certainly don't, but that's my usage.

You know how it is, though. You say X is good for basic stuff and people will be turned off of it because they don't want to miss out on anything (even though all they do is "basic" stuff). :laugh: