MS Office vs OpenOffice.org

~CombatWombat

Sat, 07 Nov 2009 20:06:48 -0500

I like Microsoft Office more.

~Tsuzuki

Sat, 24 Oct 2009 10:37:33 -0400

I use open office at home and have no problems with it. I prefer it to microsoft works, which is just awful. I use microsoft word at work.

~ecom

Tue, 13 Oct 2009 06:48:05 -0400

I've used OOo from 2003 to about 2008. I think this was version 1.x and 2.x. I found that OOo had some shortfalls like lack of grammar check. It's come a long way and I do like how it's advanced over the years but since I use MS Office at work it's a tad easier to just be proficient at one application. When it was version 1.x, there were many issues when OOo exported to MS Word such as the layout not looking the same, but 2.x solved most of those issues.

Another thing I ran into was when I submit assignments online, I often find that I forget to export to .doc and the instructor cannot open the .odf files. Sometimes the .doc files didn't look right and I'd still have to go to the office and fix it up in Office 2003.

Main reason I used Open Office was because it was free and for a while I was using Fedora or Mandrake Linux and MS product wouldn't run on that.

I recently purchased Office 2007 for $10 and so far I like it, but it does have a steep learning curve compared to Office 2003 and OOo because it's so different.

~SkullOne

Mon, 12 Oct 2009 18:07:48 -0400

mithikx

http://imgur.com/wWnKN.png
Microsoft Office 2010; vary pretty...
the picture above is a bunch of Microsoft Office programs open, while I'd never buy all of them at least I can try them out (Technical Preview). (Menus are cramp because of the resizing)

While openoffice is free and open source the main problem is that it resembles Microsoft Office 2000 and is not supported in most work places. Most IT departments go with if its not broke don't fix it pretty much. I think theres no problems with files between the two programs there may be some formatting problems how ever minor they may be and the Microsoft Office 2007 saves files in a proprietary format that IS NOT backwards compatible with older versions of Microsoft Office programs and i think its not compatible with Open Office though i am not sure. If using newer versions of Microsoft Office '07+ you need to be conscious about which version you save it as to make sure other people can open the file.

Free software suites like open office are facing competition from cloud computing alternatives such as Google apps from what I understand.

YAY for FUD! Office 2003 has an update that allows it to read .docx files. You can also change the default file extension in Office 2007 back to .doc. It takes about 10 seconds to do it.

Cloud computing will never take off like Google wants it to. Especially after the Danger outtage from October 2 to October 6. If you own a Sidekick well you have no data anymore.

Not to mention Google Docs is worse then OpenOffice when it comes to functionality.

$mithikx

Sun, 11 Oct 2009 04:25:35 -0400

http://imgur.com/wWnKN.png
Microsoft Office 2010; vary pretty...
the picture above is a bunch of Microsoft Office programs open, while I'd never buy all of them at least I can try them out (Technical Preview). (Menus are cramp because of the resizing)

While openoffice is free and open source the main problem is that it resembles Microsoft Office 2000 and is not supported in most work places. Most IT departments go with if its not broke don't fix it pretty much. I think theres no problems with files between the two programs there may be some formatting problems how ever minor they may be and the Microsoft Office 2007 saves files in a proprietary format that IS NOT backwards compatible with older versions of Microsoft Office programs and i think its not compatible with Open Office though i am not sure. If using newer versions of Microsoft Office '07+ you need to be conscious about which version you save it as to make sure other people can open the file.

Free software suites like open office are facing competition from cloud computing alternatives such as Google apps from what I understand.

$WaruiKoohii

Thu, 01 Oct 2009 14:21:53 -0400

DarkTsui

and lets you do cooler things with documents like change the file extension not to mention you can pretty much open any kind of document with open office.

...what are you smoking?

~X-Hunter-X

Wed, 30 Sep 2009 23:40:12 -0400

I just want to use free software , Ms office is expensive. I can save some money if i don't buy it. I agree openoffice has some of the functions may not work,but it's good for the people just want to read office documents.

~DarkTsui

Sun, 06 Sep 2009 14:35:59 -0400

MS is cool and sometimes easier to use but Open Office is free and lets you do cooler things with documents like change the file extension not to mention you can pretty much open any kind of document with open office.

~BobAndy

Sat, 05 Sep 2009 02:39:29 -0400

I used to use OpenOffice back at 1.03 or something, then I tried again at 2.0, and disliked it both times. I like Office's simplicity, it makes my job as an administrator a lot easier...

~SkullOne

Sun, 30 Aug 2009 08:35:33 -0400

Ssj7Crono

I've used open office before. It has most of the same features that MS Office has. I rarely use the advanced features MS Office has. 99 percent of the time all I need to do is write a simple essay for school or power point. So what's the point in paying 200 dollars for MS Office just for the same thing? Kind of a rip off if you ask me. Unless you have this blind loyalty to Microsoft.

Well if you're paying $200 you're already doing something wrong. Student edition of Office can be found for $90 or less in some cases. So how is that a blind loyalty to MS? Sounds like you're just another MS hater.

And while OpenOffice is a good alternative for some college students at times it is still subpar for others especially when it comes to those same advanced features you don't use. Not to mention the formatting issues that you may see.

For the record I used OpenOffice for a number of years and have switched back to Office because OpenOffice just isn't powerful enough. I also have doubts about the future of OpenOffice once MS releases the free web versions of Office 2010. At that point why use anything else?

~Ssj7Crono

Sat, 29 Aug 2009 15:38:14 -0400

I've used open office before. It has most of the same features that MS Office has. I rarely use the advanced features MS Office has. 99 percent of the time all I need to do is write a simple essay for school or power point. So what's the point in paying 200 dollars for MS Office just for the same thing? Kind of a rip off if you ask me. Unless you have this blind loyalty to Microsoft.

~chi

Mon, 10 Aug 2009 08:59:10 -0400

I am for MS Office but since OO is free I always uses OO. I wanted to switch over to MS Office but the product registration is crap

~mikokikio32

Fri, 07 Aug 2009 05:53:34 -0400

Office 2008 for Mac makes it easy to simplify your workday. Achieve more with beautiful docs, spreadsheets and multimedia presentations

~tomytristian

Tue, 21 Jul 2009 12:36:03 -0400

I always do a office job with open office and see no problem except if i imported documents saved from microsoft office to open office.

~reimu

Tue, 07 Jul 2009 23:02:15 -0400

MS Office is using a propietary file format. So it's not OOo fault the formatting gets weird when you open MS Office files in OOo. OOo are actually advocating for an universal office format. Microsoft is just being tight-assed about inter-compatibility...fearing they'll lose marketshare like what's happening with the browser market.

In the past few years I've both used MS Office 2003 and OOo extensively, I find OOo's formatting and UI superior to MS Office. Although it didn't had some of the advanced features MS had, but at office you won't be using those features 99% of the time.

I've tried MS Office 2007 (mac version) for a short while and frankly -in the immortal words of Stephen Fry- it could teach Linda Lovelace how to suck.

~atlacatl

Sat, 04 Jul 2009 19:30:17 -0400

It's better Microsoft Office, the documents created by it has quality, openOffice is a good solution to avoid paid but do not solve the same things like Microsof Office