Tinker Posted February 1, 2009 Share Posted February 1, 2009 My new job means I have lot`s of reasons for use of a good office program. At present I have 60 day trial for MS Office suite. I was curious if Open Office is all as good as I have seen posted in various topics. Excel, Powepoint and basic Word documents are about all I am going to be using I guess so far. Looking for any thoughts on that really. Do I pay up for MS Office, or would Open office do the same job. Anyone out there using Open Office, like to give some pro`s and con`s? Also, is there another alternative? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rocky Posted February 1, 2009 Share Posted February 1, 2009 Sorry mate I am going to keep this quite short. No Brainer. OpenOffice.org Previous applicants need not apply. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fletch Posted February 1, 2009 Share Posted February 1, 2009 For different reasons I would be interested in open office results also, preferably from somebody who has more than a passing knowledge of both programs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Giampi Posted February 1, 2009 Share Posted February 1, 2009 Openoffice with no doubt at all! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ROCO*AFZ* Posted February 1, 2009 Share Posted February 1, 2009 If your job uses MS Office ... use MS Office (especially 2007) as you'll find that the docs may require some editiing... (especially excel) I don't really use open office but I hear complaints from customers that use it. (One being a Plastic Surgeons office) Also will your new job provide it? Some will. Here is a fair user review of both for Word Processing only. http://www.oooforum.org/forum/viewtopic.phtml?p=252496 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DonMiguel Posted February 1, 2009 Share Posted February 1, 2009 I'm with these guys for all except Outlook. Open Office still has no email client and if you're looking for a full featured email program (tasks, calendars, free/busy, group sharing, ect) then Outlook is great. To top it off, as much as I don't like the new 'ribbon' in Office 07, Outlook 07 is actually quite good. And unfortunately alot of free email clients out there don't support many of the protocols the full Outlook does. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Posted February 1, 2009 Share Posted February 1, 2009 (edited) It depends on what you need at the end. Basic word: No problem at all with openoffice (OO). Even when the layout "tools" work different than in MSO. I mean when you create a new template, but when u work a bit with it you will find it's a good idea how they do it. The result is the same. Only that the document can look different in both. I talk about .doc(x) since as always MS doesn't help at all. If i was you i would never send a doc or odt file if the receiver doesn't have to edit it, a PDF is the way to go (OO has a built in convert/print to PDF tool so no problem here). Spreadsheet: They do work almost the same. Only problem with OO is the quality of the graphics, version 3.1 (next release) should improve a lot this. If you don't have to do so much with it there is no difference between both and if you really have to work with many data, ... i wouldn't even bother trying excel to do it . I work with lot of data from Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) and experimental tests and i hate excel. I ended using MATLAB to manage the data and for representations (together with TECPLOT). I have to do less work and i do it faster creating my own small script/program than dealing with stupid spreadsheet programs. Presentations: The same about spreadsheets. Work the same, graphics doesn't look the same (aliasing problem i would say) should be improved in next releases. You can install the OO portable so you can always work with already ISO standards anywhere (despites what MS pays to the ISO to make ooxml a standard) and you won't have problems not knowing how your work would look. My final suggestion is: If the work is for yourself, doesn't have to be shared (i mean to be edited by others) and you present/show all then i would go with OO, if not then go with MSO. PS: About mail clients i use thunderbird with the lightning extension (as calendar). Only problem, as always, is with hotmail addresses which MS is changing to force people to use WLmail or Outlook as they do with the Messenger programs. Thanks there are people around there who are always keen to solve those problems in a short time. Edited February 1, 2009 by Big Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KRP 56 Posted February 1, 2009 Share Posted February 1, 2009 I don't really use open office but I hear complaints from customers that use it. (One being a Plastic Surgeons office) I also don't use Open Office but some of the office women here at work were switched to Open Office and none of them like it compared to MS Office. Could be they just don't like change because they had been using MS Office for so long. Can't blame them. Just look at what change did to Ghost Recon! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tinker Posted February 1, 2009 Author Share Posted February 1, 2009 Cheers for the replies all, some interesting posts. If your job uses MS Office ... use MS Office (especially 2007) as you'll find that the docs may require some editiing... (especially excel) Also will your new job provide it? Some will. Will need to check this out tomorrow. It is provided at work. But I do not think that entitles me to utilize it at home. And yes, I will need to be able to edit existing docs. In fact, that is the main reason for me at present, to update and continue all of the method statements and risk assessments...Though it would not be an issue for me to just produce my own versions. Thnx again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Posted February 1, 2009 Share Posted February 1, 2009 Will need to check this out tomorrow. It is provided at work. But I do not think that entitles me to utilize it at home. And yes, I will need to be able to edit existing docs. In fact, that is the main reason for me at present, to update and continue all of the method statements and risk assessments...Though it would not be an issue for me to just produce my own versions. Thnx again. Then MS is the way for you. ROCO, probably they learned with MSO that's the point. I don't think OO is bad being free, don't you think Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WhiteKnight77 Posted February 1, 2009 Share Posted February 1, 2009 I use OO personally and a big plus is being able to create .pdf's for free, from any of the OO apps. Albums was created from Calc, OO's spreadsheet program. It also includes a program called Math which you use to create forumlas of your own for Calc. I see no difference in Word or Writer, Excel or Calc or Powerpoint or Impress. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
firefly2442 Posted February 2, 2009 Share Posted February 2, 2009 I use OO exclusively. I haven't had any issues with it but there may still be some lingering issues in terms of compatibility with the new 2007 formats. Personally, I can't stand the new interface for Office 2007 so I avoid it completely. If this is for work, are you thinking about having everyone switch to OO/Office2007 or is it just for your computer? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cpl Ledanek Posted February 2, 2009 Share Posted February 2, 2009 Retails are for suckers!!! sorry, had to say it OO all the way...just need to find more templates community Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
twcrash Posted February 2, 2009 Share Posted February 2, 2009 I have used OO for a few years now. Despite that post in OO forums I found the following. OO is under 150 megs Requires no future upgrade costs (because OO is free and yes MS updates every year and you are pretty much required to update) I don't know a single person who will tell me that OO is slower in opening than office. I find it opens at least twice as fast. You have a community that is willing to help you learn anything or help you thru a problem. I don't know I prefer not paying for it or updates Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DonMiguel Posted February 2, 2009 Share Posted February 2, 2009 Only thing Outlook is really just that its more of a true PIM than alot of software out there. Plus if this is for business, alot of 3rd party plug-ins are developed with Outlook only in mind (Due to Exchange being so popular, though I don't know why, Kerio Mail is my preferred choice). But if you aren't needing a PIM than Thunderbird is as good a choice as anything (course so is GMail ). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Giampi Posted February 2, 2009 Share Posted February 2, 2009 Much more complete of Thunderbird (that is anyway by e-mail client) is Evolution but this it's only for Gnome. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
firefly2442 Posted February 2, 2009 Share Posted February 2, 2009 Yeah, Evolution is amazing.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rocky Posted February 2, 2009 Share Posted February 2, 2009 I don't know a single person who will tell me that OO is slower in opening than office. There's an offshoot project of OO that boasts a speed increase. http://go-oo.org/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
twcrash Posted February 2, 2009 Share Posted February 2, 2009 I don't know a single person who will tell me that OO is slower in opening than office. There's an offshoot project of OO that boasts a speed increase. http://go-oo.org/ Well if office is slower I sure don't see it. Then again I run a little bit more than a PII bare minimums lol. Imma check that site out (am there now) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Posted February 3, 2009 Share Posted February 3, 2009 (edited) Yeah, Evolution is amazing.... Still using thunderbird since i migrated from windows cause i just needed to copy my folder from windows to have all setup. Anyways i never gave a try to evolution, i guess it's easier on thunderbird with hotmail, ... Back to topic: Another good point about Openoffice is that you can edit PDF files. Edited February 3, 2009 by Big Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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