Hi there, just wondering if anyone has much experience with Open Office? I've always been used to using MS Office, and just wondered how different it is to that to get used to, how awkward it is to transfer files back and forth from OO to MSO etc? Considering saving myself a few quid when i get my new build done.... Cheers!
IIRC most of the Openoffice development team has shifted over to libreoffice, same product, different name It is really a great program imo, just about all of the features anyone would regularly use in Microsoft Office, and saving in .doc and .docx (and corresponding powerpoint and excel formats) is dead easy, just set it in settings.
I found that OpenOffice starts up for more than a century. Mind - It's not the latest and greatest version, and I am using it on a mac...
If you just need to write a few letters, do some light spreadsheet work etc it is absolutely great. Once you start trying to do more advanced stuff you start to notice more poorly/partially implemented features. It's not bad, but it can be very frustrating. That said if you take the time to get used to it I'm sure it is all fine.
I like it and I've used it for the odd document and spreadsheet here and there but nothing particularly complex so I can't really compare it to the latest and greatest MS Office. When I last used MS Office I found that the formatting didn't necessarily carry properly from Openoffice to Word documents -- it was about 80% there but borders and tables could be slightly messed up and so on.
for word processing, who needs Office suit, LaTex is the way forward. for spreadsheet, use calc for powerpoint, use Latex and full screen PDF.
The issue of startup on Openoffice is real, on a fast computer nothing to worry about but on slower older computers it does take a bit too long. Bearing in mind that it is free it is pretty good, some of the options are different compared to MS Office, for instance I am not very keen on advanced page formatting options and the formulae in excel use a semi-colon instead of comma I think, the smart auto formatting is also even worse and more annoying than microsofts which to be fair is also rubbish. Document formats are less of an issue, it will open everything MS puts out although I have had issues on occasion of it not porting the format properly. Its PDF creator is actually excellent. Why not try it a bit first see how like it, did I mention, its free!
Do you realize that Word/OpenOffice Writer are word processing applications and not DTP. If you want perfect formatting, then you are using a wrong tool.
Thanks to everyone for the input. I'll probably suck it and see, sounds like it should cover most of the stuff I'm likely to want to do on it!
I use nothing else. LibreOffice (the development of OpenOffice) is free, cross-platform, and pretty good for most stuff.
I used libreoffice until I got Microsoft office and I couldn't name any features that weren't on libreoffice that are on microsofts version, just looks nicer and more responsive IMO.
Startup time is slow because it's written in Java. If your Java runtime is already running, it won't take as long. The only snag with moving from MSO to OO or LO I've found is the lack of compatibility with Word macros. (I don't use them myself, but others at work do)
You miss the point -- I was explaining that your document may not be loaded by Word as you've saved it in Openoffice (In word format), and vice versa.
No, i didn't miss the point. The point is exactly what you describe - Word or any similar word processing format has no guarantee that even different Word versions will display the same Word document in same way. That is why are they called word processing and not desktop publishing applications. Just try it - open a complex Word file in Office XP, 2003, 2007 and 2010 - you will see 4 different outputs .
So basically you're saying that Word should only ever be used as a plain text editor? And doing any formatting what-so-ever should be done within a DTP page layout app? If so, then you're wrong. The line between desktop publishing and word processing is blurry at the best of times. To say you can't do accurate page layout in a decent word processor is incorrect. And do you really think that someone who cares about their page layout is worried that a file from a version eight years ago will need a bit of tweaking to bring it up to spec? For personal wp duties, Open Office is fine. If you're sharing basic stuff it's also fine. If you want complete interoperability within minimum grief then make sure all parties are using the same software, preferably on the same platform and ideally with everyone using the latest version. If you're using something old, something open source or something non mainstream then be prepared for discrepancies. So open office / Libre is fine, but I wouldn't dream of using it professionally as I need guaranteed document exchange.
No, i don't say that. I say that if you expect same content to show up exactly the same in two different applications (let it be Word 2007 vs 2010 or Word 2010 vs OpenOffice), then you are using the wrong application. Please read back to the start of this debate, and you will find this : You will get the same result with two different MS Office version as well. You can do accurate page layout, but not for general distribution. It will be accurate on your computer, but in most cases won't be on other computers unless they are using the same software as you.
IMO openoffice is the best for anyone who frequently makes computers. The workflow is much better than the new Word as well.
