[File compatibility Open Office <=> Microsoft Office]

I'm getting a new tower and was looking at the MS Office products because I need them, at a bare minimum, to do some work from home. Most critical is that I do a lot of documentation in Word and send these docs to other people.

If I decide to just use the freebie OpenOffice to creat my docs, will my counterparts be able to open them normally in Word, or will they need to have some type of converter?

I don't have an aversion to getting Office, but this tower is a temp fix until I get a laptop, so I don't really care to invest too much into it.

 

"Bare Minimum" may be operative, but it is important you understand "Bare Minimum" as it relates to Open Office. See below:

I am not aware of any major feature bugs which you could cause for recipients of your documents.
However, that is not likely to be the case for documents you receive from them.
It is important to remember, that:
1. Open Office is free (remember the adage "you get what you pay for ")
2. Open Office is intended to be a shot at Microsoft rather than a truly useful and insightful productivity tool. As such, it is nowhere near as feature rich as Microsoft Word 2003 or 2007. Particularly when it comes to actual productivity tools that one might use when sharing documents back and forth for collaboration.
3. At best, they hope to copy some of the functionality of Word, however, by definition, as long as that is the target, and as long as the product is free, it can, by definition, NEVER be as good and rich as Word. I am reminded of all the so-called butter substitutes. If any of them were ever as good and as rich as true butter, then everybody else would start chasing IT, and not butter. None the less, after all these years, no has ever been able to match butter, and none will ever match Word.

Well, you shouldn't really, or at least I would not, consider software as a cost associated with the hardware. Once purchased, Word is your, and can legally be simultaneously installed on up to two (one fixed and one portable) PCs which you own. Even if you replace the Tower later, you are allowed to remove the software from the old one, and install it on the new one (as long as you do not exceed two active installations).

 

Office .org

I have been using Office.org for a while now & have had no problems with it. Neither with sending attachments or anything else. You can also copy & paste into MS Word from it & vice versa. I think it is better than MS Word.

 

I guess what I want to know is, if I create a doc in OpenOffice and send it to someone who has Word, can he open that doc in Word and have it be fine? I'm not talking about heavily formatted, labor-intensive docs. I'm talking simple text, no images, basic formatting.

I have been wondering about this. For example, if I wanted to buy MS Office Student (which would be the quick fix, though I would prefer to have something with Outlook and Access), I have the choice of purchasing OEM or Retail. From what I've read, I can get a retail box with three licenses. If I get OEM (about $20 cheaper) It seems like it's a one-machine software and that's that. Maybe I've misunderstood what OEM is, but everything I've read seems to point to the fact that I can't install it more than once.

I guess my dilemma is that I currently have MS Office Prof on this failing tower and I am spoiled by it. The new tower has nothing but factory-installed MS Works, and that doesn't thrill me - but perhaps it won't be any different than OpenOffice.

I'm just trying to get by with a cheap fix until I can get the laptop I want with all of the software I need on it, without losing the tools I need to do my job.

 

My Mistake.
Office 2003 was one fixed and one portable

Retail licenses for Office 2007 do provide for three simultanious installations.
OEM is always, only a single machine license (I never include OEM in anything I discuss becaseu I never buy OEM, always retail).
Retail includes 90 days of unlimited support from registration date.

I'm sure Open Office is fine for some, but only until you hit that one feature you must have, and then...

Every Open Office App is documentably slow in EVERY SINGLE TESTED ASPECT (even with FAR FEWER FEATURES Office) http://blogs.zdnet.com/Ou/?p=480

Open Office (Writer) is documentably feature poor beyond basic word processing (for example, it has spell checking, but no grammar checking, no colaboration, no smart tags, etc).

 

I think if you post an Office.com text document it will open in Windows as itself. But you could easily copy & paste it into MS Word if you so wished. I have done this. It is compatible with windows.

 

I have used Open Office for about 3 years with few problems. I have used it as a replacement for my old Microsoft Office Pro 97. When I create a text document in Writer that I know will need to be opened in Microsoft Word, I simply do a "Save as" and select Microsoft Word 97/2000/XP (.doc). You can do the same with Calc, the spreadsheet application. I have never had anyone with Word or Excel who has been unable to open one of these documents. Conversely, Open Office will open documents created in Word and Excel with no problem.

If you don't think the recipient will need to edit the document, Writer gives you the option to save it directly as a PDF document - then you eliminate the concern about type or version of word processor.

I have created presentations in Open Office Impress, saved them as Microsoft Powerpoint 97/2000/XP (.ppt) on a flash drive, and then successfully made the presentation from the flash drive using a computer that did not have Open Office installed.

Followup Edit - the computer mentioned above did have Microsoft Office installed. The presentation ran on PowerPoint.

I have not been able to open Microsoft Access files in the Open Office Base application - but since I don't really use that it hasn't been a problem for me. May be possible - I just haven't pursued it.

In sum, I am totally happy with Open Office - especially the price.

 

Yes, I agree with that. I honestly prefer it to MS Word. Although I only really use the word processor, I think it is easier to use & better designed. I think it has quite a future ahead of it. Also I would like to add that in the UK when you purchase a computer with Vista software you have to pay at least an extra £70 just to have MS Word 'unlocked' on your computer. Otherwise you can only use it for three times as a trial. Many people find it hard enough to buy a decent computer in the first place, let alone being charged for something that is actually on the computer you have just bought!

Java (Sun systems) have always been innovators & I think Office.org is superb, considering the price!

 

You are entitled to your opinion, and I am entitled to mine.
I ask you kindly to refrain from prefacing your opinion as if it is fact by implying you need to "clarify" my comments. I am perfectly able to state my opinions and clarify on my own.
My observation is that Sun Microsystems has ALWAYS had it out for Microsoft. That battle is WELL documented.
Opinions can justifiably vary as to whether or not that has been justified, or not.

My OPINION is that it solely exists as a shot at Microsoft and its position in the software marketplace.
The fact that it is open source is completely irrelevant.

so opinions aside, what are the FACTS????

FACT:
Open Office Applications are MUCH MUCH slower than their Microsoft Office counterparts. Indisputable and WELL DOCUMENTED FACT.
OPINION:
Regardless of whatever reason or rationalization is applied to explain this fact, FACT it none the less remains.

FACT:
Open Office Applications do not contain all of the features of their Microsoft Office counterparts.
OPINION:
Some question remains up to the individual users as to whether or not those features are encountered or not. Obviously, if they are not encountered by the user, those differences may not then be relevant. HOWEVER, the FACT remains Open Office Applications ARE NOT as feature rich as their Microsoft Office counterparts.
ADDITIONALLY, it should be noted by potential users of Open Office, should a OO user receive a Word document which contains a feature not supported in OO, the OO user will be blind to that omission AND in some cases, should the OO user make changes, and then save the document for sending it back to the Office user, the features may well be stripped out of the document.

FACT:
Open Office is NOT a full blown productivity suite, or at least it is not when measured by the capabilities and performance of other productivity suites.
OPINION:
In theory it would include all of the collaboration and checking features of Office, and in theory, should even break some new productivity ground.
In theory, it should also be FAST. How productive can one really be when it take 4 to 30 times longer to process functionality???
Additionally, clear argument could be made that the reason development has not been rapid is because there is no profit motive, or because they are not really interested in rapid imporvement because it is possible the only true motivation behind it is to do only what is minimally required to send a shot across Microsoft's bow.

 

From Mimom's original post:

- Yes, using the "save as" feature - no converter needed.

From Mimom's second post:

- Yes, same as above

Couldn't be cheaper.

 

Well I've not noticed it being any slower than MS Word & I hated the grammar/syntax checker on that anyway. Contrary to popular belief there are people who exist outside of the USA & who don't use American syntax &/or grammar. Office.org doesn't have any clip art when you download it but I think you can buy it. Apart from that I still say it is better than Word.

 

Thanks for the info on the clip art.