I was trying to hold off so I wouldn't get known as "that open source guy", then I realized I don't really care, since I am that open source guy. On October 20, 2005, exactly 7 days after their 5th birthday, OpenOffice.org released version 2.0 of their Open Source Office Suite. My personal favorite feature is the default filetype: OpenDocument format. (just google OpenDocument and you'll find all sorts of details) It is basicaly a freely available XML based file type that is maintained by OASIS (Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards). It is kind of like Microsoft's MSXML, only it's here, now, and is supported by more than one software vendor. What this means to the average user, and the major corporation looking to switch office suites, is that you no longer have to worry about backwards compatability. Because this format is so open, and is being developed in the global community, devlopers will be able to easily write software to read, convert, and write to open document formats. So, if you want to get a jump on things and start using a file format that is free for everyone, head over to openoffice.org now for this free download. (oh, and openoffice 2.0 draw is a great replacement for visio users that don't take advantage of some of the crazy/buggy features)
I ignore both Open Office and MS Office. I only need a word Processor, and for that, the freely available Atlantis word processor beats them both.
I've been using openoffice for a while. I honestly prefer the interface of MSOffice just a little bit, but that's just having used it for so long (and the chart wizard button doesn't seem to work in the version I had been using). I'm glad that there's a free alternative that has almost identical features and a very similar UI and finally a unified document format. Hopefully this gives a good jumpstart to a more open-source software initiative. I still remember the horrors of my fourth grade project for somethingorother where I had about three floppies fail between my house and school and when I finally got one that didn't break, I had saved in Word 97 and the school only had Word 95 or something like that. Oh the pain. Standards pwn.
I was using the OO2 beta a few weeks back and it was buggy as hell. Hopefully this has cleared a few things up.
OMG you can hardly tell this appart from the MS offerings, they are almost identical, even the toolbars and menu's are the same. Why have I never tried this before?
Finally went and actually installed OOo2, seems fine from my five seconds worth of testing. The "insert chart" button still doesn't work right though (or at least not as how Excel does it, I have to actually go into menus and insert->chart); could be a setting my end though. Maybe it's about time to write another nasty email to the school's IT dept with a convert or die equivalent. Might not be too wise though, considering I need access to their webserver and don't have it yet.
OpenOffice has finally matured enough for it to be used in a corporate environment so I’ve been thinking of deploying it site wide at work. Further testing is required however, I’m still not convinced of it long term stability, and that is the key ... stability... neither I or my staff (sat on the help desk) want to deal with many calls regarding OpenOffice crashing every ten minuets all because they clicked on the clipart button or something equally retarded.
Yes, you are. And I think you're getting a little contagious. Then sign me up. I can't tell you how frustrating, embarrassing and unprofessional it is to be meeting with the client in their office and have Visio croak and die every time I hit "Save". We had to start the flowchart over multiple times, and there was nothing I could do about it. I had seen the problem once before a couple months back, but it went away after a few days and I hadn't seen it since, so I didn't think anything of it at the time. Visio must have been waiting for a more opportune time. Like the meeting with the client. We contacted MS when we got back from that trip: US: "Arrgghhh!" MS: "Yeah, we know about that problem." US: "Any solutions?" MS: "You've got Visio Pro 2002. Could we interest you in Visio Pro 2003?" US: "Arrgghhh!" *Buy new software* *Test new software* US: "Arrgghhh!" MS: "Yeah, we know about that problem." US: "Any solutions?" MS: "We haven't got any yet..." US: "Arrgghhh!" Edit: And talk about backwards compatability! Visio 2002 won't open anything saved in 2003 format, even with some loss of format. Just won't do it at all. The versions don't even seem all that different. Arrgghhh!
Yeah did you hear the Massachusetts is going OASIS? I've been using OO2 for about 3 years now... Its been great the whole way. Despite Oasis, in all respects it is playing catchup with Microsofts Office. Version 3 should be much better then a Office XP lookalike and should actually go against office very well. It's the best free document handling program.
I've seen some screen shots from it, and...yikes. Since I haven't actually used it, I can't totally write it off yet, but it looks like AOL designed it.
It doesn't look like AOL designed it... It looks like it was designed to compliment the Aero theme in Vista.
I've been USING OOo for the past several months (since my last reformat) so I'm pretty used to it, it's just those odd things you don't think about till you need to use it that one time every four months that get me. As most of the keyboard shortcuts and icons and whatnot are identical I can't say I've been having trouble. Except that damned chart button. And remembering what app is what...biggest change right there. I really should rename them so I know what I'm opening. "Calc" seems like calculator rather than spreadsheet, and then add in "math" just to confuse me a bit more (what is that btw? equation editor type thing?)
My favorite thing is that the database app is called "Base" hurhurhur Seriously though, it's a great day for open source!
A few things: 1. I did submit it to the news thing, but it wasn't as interesting as a $150 PC I'll admit. 2. For standard office tasks I haven't had any problems with it, and prefer its interface over MS Office. (I like inserting charts without having to open a separate application.) and C: The OpenDocument format is free for everyone to use. If Microsoft wants to use it, they can. If they don't, then they won't. Either way, I'd rather go with a global standard than a proprietary one. I don't care how many toes I step on. If someone complains that Word can't open an OpenDocument file, then I'll just give them a list of the ten most popular applications that will. (most of which are free) .doc = opened on Windows and OSX after spending at least $300 .odt = opened on Windows, OSX, Linux, BSD, Solaris, etc with no cost associated. Sorry but after reviewing my help desk system at work, about 40% of our tech support tickets involve Microsoft Office. (and almost 50% were problems caused by Windows being "fidgety") I'm not saying Microsoft makes bad software, and I'm not saying Linux/OpenOffice/etc. are perfect, but I am saying from a user support perspective, Microsoft Products aren't worth half what they charge. (Maybe 1/10th, but then again, the fact that they deal in proprietary formats and ignore global standards knocks them out of the running IMO) And yes, Massachusets has joined the list of governmental bodies that are converting all .doc files to .odt and will only save documents in opendocument format. (Also included are Paris, some areas of Africa, and most of India) EDIT: Just a quick note, while I liked OpenOffice.org 1.x, I would never really reccomend it to anyone that wasn't into the Open Source Initiative. OpenOffice.org 2.0 will be going on my parents' machine, my wife's laptop, my work machine, and as many other friends' machines as I can convince. This office suite truly is a one-stop-shop for personal and corporate use. I hope to see OpenDocument become more prevalent on the web and in as many large corporations as possible. I don't want MS to go out of business, I just want them to learn about the power of a business that doesn't lock users in by forced upgrades that cost money. The reason I don't complain and give examples of hard times opening office documents with different versions is because most of us geeks have been there time and time again. It's like saying water is wet. We all know, and its just old hearing about it. (especially when you're soaking at the moment)
How? OOo has a wizard too, I'm assuming that's what you mean by the seperate app. how do you do it without the wizard? *assumes that's the trouble he's been having with the insert chart button
installed it, seems much slicker and faster than OO 1 still prefer MS Office but its getting very close
Actually I realized I had been working with an older version of word that made me open Excel in order to insert a chart. (yeah, I haven't upgraded in a long time at home.. but at work we're on 2000, and I use 2003 when my wife isn't using her laptop ) So, nevermind, I just used the wizard from OOo to insert charts. (wouldn't mind a button though)
