What do you think about OpenOffice.org

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kilps

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I recently left my dialup internet connection on for a whole night to try out OpenOffice. I have found it to be very much like MS Office. What I do like is the tool that lets you write PDFs. :-)

What I was wondering is what other people thought about it and wether they think it is a good replayment to MS Office.
 
I like it for the fact its FREE!!!

Also the extras like the PDF conversion tool u mentioned and also the local language packs...my uncle from the rural Limpopo can use it without asking me "why is this thing saying, i have bullets?"
 
LOL

I must say that OpenOffice is worth getting into, I got stuck in after googling for a util prog that would convert .doc to .pdf, stumbled on OpenOffice.org. I also like the fact that it uses xml as its native file format (yes M$ have also done that but who cares about M$ anymore).
 
I used it at home for about 3 months, but after battling with the interchangeability between MS office and Open Office, and because quite a lot of the commands are different, I decided that I would rather continue using MS office as I did not have time to relearn all the commands.

I think that if you are not used to MS office, its def. worthwhile as it is good.
 
I have to admit I do find my self using Office alot more (you would to if you had got 2003 with your computer) but if I was to start from scratch I would use OpenOffice
 
Office 2003 is currently better than OpenOffice however the gap between the two is closing all the time. I'm sure once OpenOffice catches up and more people start jumping ship it will force MS to lower prices to retain market share... so it's a win situation regardless of which product you choose.
 
I am just wondering - do you know what Adobe says about OpenOffcie being able to create PDFs? I mean if it was so easy M$ would have done it along time ago.
 
Not in M$' interest to do that, which is why M$ have been resisting the deafening wailing of their customers to provide it.

Adobe is fine with it, PDF is an open file format, you can download the spec from adobe.com & develop your own app that does anything .pdf.
 
For M$ Office u need Adobe PDF Maker from adobe, for it means more money to spend. While the OpenOffice uses the free tool PDFCreator.
 
If it had better "integration" ? with MS Office, sure, it would be worth using.

I get office documents from all over the show and create / convert office documents on a fairly regular basis.

There is simply no way I can switch to open office until it's 100% compatible.

That's where Open Offices problems begin and end - they will never be a serious player quite simply because MS Office set the standard a decade ago.

Sure, if your using it for personal use or are part of an organisation that doesn't require sharing documents with many different companies, it's an option.

I freakin' hate Office, but there you go - forced into using it because my clients would think I was mad if I mentioned "have you tried Open Office ?" - they would stare blankly at me and quickly change the subject.

Saying to them "Have you shoved a banana into your ear lately ?" would illicit much the same response ;)
 
M$ didnt set any standard, WordPerfect 5.1 did. M$ just did what they usually do and outmarketed the competition.

OpenOffice is the first serious contender to M$ office in a long time ( I Lost track of WP once it started changing hands almost every other year ).

Show me a home-user willing to fork out the money for M$ Office. Most home users run pirates - thats a fact - its too damn expensive. WordPerfect corp used to include a free home license for any user that had a valid licence for their office machine.
 
Well - that's proved my point - most home users pirate office = industry standard.

microsoft didn't just outmarket the competition, they created something better. Sure, it's still riddled with bugs and flaws, but that's microsoft for you !

fact is, the majority of the world pirates m$ stuff - the figures you hear about the piracy of thier OS and Office are the tip of the iceburg. I'd estimate a good 60% of all microsoft stuff is pirated.

I've lost count of the number of times I've seen people just hand over a copy of office on a CD for someones mother/brother/sister/father to load onto thier PC - I know of only 4 people out of 50 who actually own a copy of software that didn't come with thier PC purchase.

Believe me, microsoft actually score from this scenario - it makes thier software the defacto standard - they get the majority of thier bucks from huge corporate license schemes and OEM sales !
 
I consult to one of South Africa's larger NGO's and in an effort to standardise (and legalise) the 36+ outlying offices, I tested Open Office. I was very impressed but at the end of the day compatibility issues were the downfall. M$ came to the rescue with enough MS Office licenses to make it legal. (Thanks Bill :) )
And NO I will not disclose my contact :D

Cheers
Chris
 
MS Office is too expensive for the home user. I don't think it would hurt MS too much to offer a home version of Office at a substantially reduced price. At the very least they could include a rebate voucher (for home users only) in retail versions of XP... but yeah I don't think it'll happen until Office gets more competition.
 
I don't know how legal it is, but several retailers are in selling the student version of MS Office to home users for <R1000. A friend of mine got it with a notebook last week.
I won't disclose his name, or the well known dealer chain, in case I drop them in the Telkom.
 
In my experience, every darned rebate voucher (not just M$, but usually every US-homed-multinational) is always "US & Canada only"- I wish US companies would shrug off that arrogant opinion that nothing exists outside the USA.
 
Here is a reference to M$ site in temrs of the Student version:
http://www.microsoft.com/products/i...f4bdb504-c05e-4aa6-8fd4-e4e4cccd1174&type=ovr
"New multi-PC-household benefit
Install Office Student and Teacher Edition 2003 on up to three PCs in your home without having to buy extra licenses."

Also on a nother link at M$:
http://www.microsoft.com/uk/education/how-to-buy/types-licence/student-and-teacher/
"Parents and guardians
Parents and guardians who have a child who is a qualifying student and wish to buy software for their child's educational use. "

(I am a bit sleepy and did not bother getting the South African version of the quotes.)

It sells for +_R799 - ref.:
http://www.digitalplanet.co.za/dp/products/details.asp?StockID=47451

Seems very real and legal.
 
M$ had a product on the market called 'Works' a while ago, which actually bundled versions of Word and Excel, together with some other ostensibly useful tools, and was cheaper than Office and targeted at the home user. Reports I got from 2 sites using this stuff was that there was limited compatibility between Works and Office documents, and they had to standardise on .rtf format to share/transfer documents. So much for M$ and standards... If anyone's interested in giving Openoffice a bash, support the local site at http://www.openoffice.org.za
 
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