I am needing to get a laptop as I need to go away to do some work.
Has anyone got real experience of "Open Office" as an alternative to Microsoft? It will make a difference to how I spend my budget if I don't buy "Office". On my desktop I use Office 2003 with Outlook - I will think of this as my datum.
That is almost an impossible question to answer... so much depends on what you need to do with it, and who you have to share docs with.
As a competent WP, Spreadsheet etc, then OO is fine. If you need to access MS docs with embedded VBA however, then you are stuffed. Round trip editing is ok, mostly (and probably less hassle than moving back and fourth between different versions of MS office in some ways). No real experience with the OO database, so can't comment. Its drawing packages are quite good though.
I use it, and wouldn't say there's much wrong with it. A few of the finer features aren't quite there yet, but it's coming along all the time.
Microsoft, of course, can provide you with dozens of case studies which tell of people incurring vast costs when they swap to OO - but then our borough has just moved the school from Office 2003 to Office 2007 and I have spent ages holding the hands of the confused who can't use it - so migration for some people is always going to be hard.
I use it all the time. Once you learn it, it's easier than MS Office IMO, and has 99% of the facilities. My only problem is an Access '97 DB that I can't be bothered migrating.
If you're used to earlier versions of MS, the new one dunnarf come as a shock, too. The new MS office document format's also not terrifically compatible with earlier versions without the conversion utility off the MS website. I'm told OO copes much better. It's also less resource hungry than MS Office, IME.
You can even set it to save mostly in MS formats by default. Databases are the only real weakness I've found.
Download it and give it a go, the price is certainly right, and support is pretty good, too, via the web.
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Yes fine suite of the usual office type programmes. Know quite a few people who use it in preference to MS Orifice let alone the cost difference:)..
Dump the outlook for Thunderbird while your at it..
Having read the other comments I would add that the conversion from .ppt to OO presenter is very dodgy. The problem seems to be with text boxes which expand in OO presenter.
malcolm
And it does pdfs properly. Which is something Office doesn't do properly at all.
Yebbut at least OO lets you embed Apple files - you ever tried showing anything remotely resembling a Quicktime format in PowerPoint? It's a copmlete and utter screwup.
Indeed it does. I use the export to PDF feature to send documents back if I'm away from base, so they can't be easily altered. Nobody's complained yet that one's come out garbled.
A bit more than a conversion utility. For Office 2003, it gives pretty seamless conversion in the forward direction, and the best job it can (if new stuff is used) in the reverse direction.
And the format is at least 'open' now.
Not sure about that bit. It feels slower on a similar machine, but it's pretty good.
It can't save new Office format PowerPoint files but it can read them.
Not defending MS (heaven forbid!), just adding some info.
If you know anybody in full education (even primary/secondary school will do) then you can have a full legit version of MS Office for
I use OO all the time - it does a pretty good job, but I always end up "proof-reading" critial stuff on the wife's PC with MS office and making a few tweaks before sending anywhere; I suspect that's a font mismatch issue between OO/Linux and MS-Office/Windows, though, so perhaps the problem goes away with OO/Windows vs. MS-Office/Windows.
Possibly it's a non-issue these days anyway - I've not upgraded OO or the underlying Linux OS for about a year.
cheers
Jules
I'm a massive opensource fan, and generally avoid MS software whenever possible. I run MS office...
OO is ok for minor work - if you are working alone on spreadsheets or word processing then it's fine. If you are hoping to exchange documents with people who use MS Office then expect some pain.
Anything that uses VBA - forget it. Powerpoint conversions - ropey at best IME. The word processor is fine, but if feeding it MS docs then there can be font issues and other odd formatting incompatibilities.
Also, you mention Outlook - if you use that as an email client then fine, switch to thunderbird. If however you use the calendaring part of outlook you may be disappointed. Outlook calendaring has it's faults, but it's pretty much the least shit option out there IME.
Also, if you plan to use Access equiv, stick with MS.
Not sure how long you are away for, but if it's only a month or so then I think many laptops come with a 30 (or is it 60?) day trial of Office 2007 installed. Would that be long enough - you could do an extensive "evaluation" while away :-)
Beware that it'll be Office 2007 or 2010 now - both massive improvements on 2003 but a bit of a culture shock. I like the new interface, and most heavy users I know do now. It was a big change though :-)
Also, Openoffice is a bit more resource hungry than recent MS Office releases IME.
I see people have suggested the home and office version of Office as a cheap alternative - that doesn't come with outlook. The standard version does have outlook, but no Access. Professional is the full blown version, but makes your eyes water with the cost...
Another thing to consider might be the online version of office. You might be able to get onto the Beta for Office365 - not sure what the schedule for this is now:
Right, I'm off to wash my mouth out with soap now...
Cheers,
Darren
You're kidding!? I use Office myself, and spend most of my working life in a variety of businesses where the users, including myself, are all 'heavy users' (ie use it pretty well all day every day) and all of whom are now on 2007. I genuinely can't think of anyone who has a good word to say about it: personally I hate it with a passion and certainly have no plans to change from 2003 on my home machines despite several years' enforced experience on 2007.
I suspect that the only people who might like 2007 (I haven't even seen
2010) are complete newbies who will probably appreciate the more contextual availability of commands).David
My first brush with Office 2007 involved turning off most of the annoying bits.
What he said. The only time I tried to use OO to edit a Word documnet it was a right nightmare with formating, in both directions. If you have no choice but to exchange stuff with MS users there isn't really any choice, bite the bullet and use MS.
Some one has already mentioned the "educational discounts" available if you are a parent or guardian of have a child (or grandchild!) in full time education. ISTR some changes to the licencing rules in the last year or so, have a google. There were several sites selling via the scheme, I think I used:
Hmmm. I do this all the time, and have had exactly zero problems going MS Office -> OO. I've come across one extremely complex s/sheet which wouldn't convert MS -> OO. I've never had any complaints from people to whom I've sent docs & spreadsheets that actually came out of OO.
I've never used the database or drawing packages. I use Presenter to display PPt and have never had any trouble with that. I've never done a Presenter -> PPt conversion.
Overall, I'd happily never use MS Office ever again. Indeed, "I" don't, since the Windows/Office laptop I have is provided by my employer. I use Linux/OO.
My experience is otherwise, I'm afraid. (I've just realised that one of the reasons may well be that I have a lot of TrueType fonts installed on this box)
Since you're buying your own laptop for work, it sounds as if you're self-employed and therefore can put a ££££'s cost on your time. I have found that OO worm processor is OK-ish for basic use (though it crashes frequently when I try to do something even slightly complex) The spreadsheet can do the basics of data manipulation and can produce rudimentary graphs.
However, if you're already used to MS-Office and need to produce complex presentations, my personal experience is that the amount of time I *wasted* trying to get OO to do things that MSO can, cost me more than the retail price of MSO.
For me, trying to use OO was a false economy.
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